warnings bad employers

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Permalink Reply by Jeff H. on September 17, 2008 at 8:45am

This could get interesting. The last bad employer I had wasn't in the seasonal world. It was bad enough to put in my two weeks, find a job on coolworks and hit the road. Havn't looked back since.

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Permalink Reply by 40Rob on September 17, 2008 at 1:07pm

I have to say, maybe I have been lucky, but I have not really had any problems in the seasonal world. Right now however, I have a "permanent" job that is sliding downhill and getting worse, many are bailing, and I have online apps in for four different seasonal jobs. As I said on my blog, I am so ready to hit the road.........

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Permalink Reply by Ben & Karen Anderson on September 18, 2008 at 3:47pm

We have learned to never blame the parent company because it usually boils down to the managers. IE: We hear a lot of people say that Xanterra is a bad company because they had a bad experience at a Xanterra property. We feel that it is unfair to blame the company because of what might only be one bad manager. That being said, all it takes is one bad manager and your whole season can be ruined. Just a couple of poor mangers can make a season difficult and frustrating. Unfortunately, the only way to find out about any location is to try it. And, what is great this year may be lousy next year, or vise-versa. Things in the seasonal world can and often do change very quickly. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Jim on September 18, 2008 at 4:23pm

I agree completely. Like the old 60's bumper sticker said: "one nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day." But in this case it's one bad manager, which I had this last summer with DNC in Yosemite. DNC does have a history of hiring very green, totally inexperienced managers. Sometimes it can work out if the person really makes the effort to be part of the team and learn the job.

This summer our seasonal manager did very little except hugely annoy us. She spent a lot of time doing her email and crossword puzzles in the back room while we worked our butts off. No one was brave enough to speak up about her, except me. Needless to say I probably won't be going back to that job next summer. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Eric Lund on September 18, 2008 at 7:11pm

It's important to point out that the seasonal world is very dynamic and can change a lot from year-to-year. New staff each season and frequent roll over of managers and even owners can make a big difference from one year to the next.

We welcome a good discussion of the darker side of seasonal jobs. But don't go over the top on your rants, and please don't use names.

So far, so good! ;)

Eric

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Permalink Reply by Jim on September 18, 2008 at 8:06pm

Of course Eric. Point taken. Never name names! That's poison! lol!!! I just hope I can return to the job I've had for the past 3 years in Yosemite. If not, there are other places.

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Permalink Reply by reggie on September 18, 2008 at 10:35pm

i work at one resort in wa the laundry manager didnt want to help us at all she want to do is stay in her office or take off to her apartment for awhile only time she came out is fishing for info and another place i work at she was playing favorites with the internationals she let them get away with everything

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Permalink Reply by Jim on September 20, 2008 at 1:58pm

Hey Reg, I had a similar experience with DNC Yellowstone (Old Faithful Store). The international people got preferential treatment for sure. They got overtime, but we could not. And they actually did get away with lots more goofing off. However, in their defense, in their home countries they were promised lots of overtime and better wages than they were getting. Many of them could barely earn enough to pay their airfare home to eastern Europe. Everyone was pretty miserable.

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Permalink Reply by josh on September 20, 2008 at 12:12pm

pisgah inn, nc. there's a security guard that patrols at nite. he walks around with a tape recorder and records you if your "loud" after 10 at nite then gets you fired the next day.

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