I accepted a job at old faithful

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Permalink Reply by Kate on January 8, 2009 at 11:59am

Ah, Old Faithful! I worked there for several seasons. The dorms are a range, from old and rather run-down to newer and decent. If you're getting up there in May, and are over 21, you may get a choice. Which lodge are you working at? Old Faithful Inn, Snow Lodge, or Old Faithful Lodge? Larkspur is the nicest dorm...but it's usually a quiet dorm and they put mainly OFI and older folks in it. Bitterroot was remodeled (inside) just a year ago or so. So it's not bad either. Lupine is nice too. Bitterroot and Lupine have private rooms on the lower floor (meaning one roomie, and a bathroom in each room) but on the upper floors two rooms-per-bathroom. Larkspur's rooms (upper and lower) all each have their own bathroom. Laurel (behind the Inn) and Columbine (behind the Lodge) have community bathrooms on each hallway and you'll have one or even two roomies. They are the oldest dorms. Obsidian is right next to the Snow Lodge and is normally for older folks (we nicknamed it the "nursing home" dorm) and quiet there is strictly enforced! As for cabins, well, mostly management and a few of the bellmen, etc get those. But I know there were others who got lucky, though many of the cabins do not have their own bathroom, you have to walk outside to a separate building. Laundry you'd have to do in Columbine I believe. The other dorms all have a laundry room on each floor. Laurel has its Laundry room behind the dorm in a building shared with the Personnel Office.
What else do you want to know? Lots of geysers at Old Faithful. The location is the busiest in the Park... great for tips if you work as a server especially at the Inn, and always something going on activity-wise with the Recreation Department. Unless you're back-of-the-house you will get TONS of questions about "when does Old Faithful go off?".
I worked retail when I was there, so I don't know much more about F and B. Other jobs..... housekeeping, I could tell ya some more. If you want to know about RV sites, well, I don't know much about those except that there aren't many and they get snapped up fast.
Old Faithful is a great place to work! Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Gary on January 8, 2009 at 12:51pm

I am getting there April 23. My position is OFS Room Attendant. I think the OFS means Snow lodge. And I think I might be one of the old people I am over 50 but I don't feel that old. So tell me about housekeeping. Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Kate on January 8, 2009 at 1:53pm

Yes, OFS is the Snow Lodge (Old Faithful Snowlodge). I've worked housekeeping there, in the winter. Summer season will be busier even than winter...lots of people coming and going all the time. You'll have a list of rooms to complete and you may get assigned to go out to cabins to help do those or to be one of the people assigned there to start with...assignments change daily, you won't always have the same room list... And working for RAP (Room Attendant Premium) is the goal. Which is, if you get your whole list done (and signed off on by your TL(team leader aka inspector)) by a certain time, in winter it was by 2:30 I think.... then you get an extra amount of money per room completed (can't remember now the exact amount). Working fast but doing a quality job is essential... Since you will be there to help open the Snow Lodge, you'll help get the lobbies and other areas clean as well as prep the rooms for guest arrivals on Opening Day (usually the first week in May, although the Gift Shop and Geyser Grill will already be open). The rooms will have the bedding/towels/supplies in them to be taken care of and you may do deep cleaning although deep cleaning sometimes is done at the end of the winter season. (Snow Lodge is one of the two hotels open for winter.) Stocking your cart during the day and before/after your shift, and helping count the linens in the linen rooms are other duties.
Your team leader may assign you to help others when you are done or have other tasks... and may send help to you if needed... But I have to say that (not saying you are like this but I worked with people who were) deliberately slowing down or goofing off so you get help is frowned on. Do the best you can, quality is always a great thing...I was one of the slower room attendants (I'm just not physically fast) but I was extremely thorough.
Also the NPS does hotel-wide inspections at some point during the summer, June or July. They'll check to see maintenance and long-term cleaning issues. And, there will occasionally be SPAT rooms (Special ATtention) which will require moving furniture to clean under and extra detail-cleaning).
Other than that, it is a good way to get your exercise in! ;)
There are also normally a large number of internationals that come to Yellowstone; many work in housekeeping. Yellowstone is a global community.... I found my greatest assets were a positive attitude and a willingness to learn.

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Permalink Reply by Julia Keane on March 14, 2009 at 8:50am

Kate:

I am one of the Old Folks, going into my third summer of seasonal work - '07 in Glacier, '08 and '09 at Colter Bay in the Tetons. I am VERY curious about working the winter in Yellowstone - how isolated are you? I assume you worked Old Faithful area. think Mammoth is also open in winter.
Congrats on MPL!

Julia

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Permalink Reply by Kate on April 1, 2009 at 12:28pm

Hi Julia! Sorry, I didn't see your reply here until today. Anyway, You are VERY isolated at Old Faithful in the winter which is where I worked. I loved it. Only way in or out is by snowcoach/snowmobile, and though there are, under ideal circumstances, employee shuttles out to West Yellowstone, the vehicles are old and a lot of times one would break down and they'd have to divert the one for the employees back to the guests. Also, You almost have to (I know of one exception) be working for Xanterra in Yellowstone for the summer in order to apply for the winter, and then competition is pretty stiff. Winter season has ONLY the Snow Lodge and the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel open, so that's a LOT less locations for employees to be needed at. Most positions in winter will be in F and B or housekeeping. Gift shop is only for those who have been a lead or manager in the summer, and then the people who get that return every winter, so nothing new tends to open up. Front Desk is even crazier trying to get a spot.
Don't want to discourage.... there could always be an exception.... if you got a spot at Mammoth (and you could also apply for the Delaware North company's General Store there; they're open year-round), Gardiner is only five miles away and the road from Mammoth down to Gardiner is kept plowed.

Thanks for the congrats!

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Permalink Reply by flora l. fitzgerald on April 16, 2009 at 4:38pm

julia,i beenthinking about a winter season at old faithful and i would like to know to about living conditions.can any one fill me in some surprizes,i really want to work from dec. threw march 2010.

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Permalink Reply by Di on January 11, 2009 at 10:36am

Hi Kate!
I've read your articles about Old Faithful with great interest. The thing is that I am going to be a participant on the “Work&Travel” Program and I want to get a Job Offer from one of the hotels to work there during this summer. Will you be so kind to write me the e-mail of the hotel ? I would like to write there, because I liked your discription very much!
Di

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on January 11, 2009 at 7:15pm

Out of the 8 years I worked Yellowstone my last season in "06" was old faithful. I was one of the few "younger" that did get into the nursing home dorm. we also called it the retirement home. I didn't mind it in there though my room mate was a very odd character. All the newbies heading out there need to become familiar with the term "geyser rush", because that's just what it was. mass hysteria of people that came running every time. Every time I was at work I hid just as soon as the "old girl" finished. There was so many lined up to use the bathrooms you literally had to elbow your way through the crowd. I worked at the lodge as house person in the afternoon and I found that having one of those large trash bags filled with tp was a necessity. I would just stand off in the corner with the bag and wait to hear the golden words I have no Toilet paper. I would walk over announce who I was and hand the person in the stall a roll under the door. it was that crazy. I cherished my days off. Kate already spoke of the dorms and I could tell you about a couple of them but she covered them pretty well.

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Permalink Reply by flora l. fitzgerald on April 1, 2009 at 10:57am

hey gary,make sure u get in a dorm with a bathroom in it,at old faithful,they have quite a few dorms and a couple of them is that u have to go out of your room.

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