Summer plans are set...

[GoneCamping]

Made a series of phone calls yesterday & today. I had 3 different offer's on the table for a summer seasonal campground position. There were 3 (Thousand Trails aka TT) affiliate parks in the Bar Harbor Maine area that had made me an offer, one TT park in Gloucester Va, and a family owned park in Old Orchard Beach Maine. In the end I chose the family owned park. I've worked for Equity Life Styles (ELS) for the past 3 years at 3 different parks, which owns the entire Thousand Trails Park system. It made it easy for me to move from one park to the other by just getting transfer's. But the big company came with some pretty over handed rules. I figure the Family owned Campground will be a little less heavy handed.

With ELS, I had to take 36 safety courses every time I switch jobs, they were all the same courses I've already taken several times, stupid stuff like how to use a screw driver, use a utility knife, or a ladder. Golf Cart operator safety etc. Then they had other things such as I was not allowed to use my own tools, I had to use ELS tools, and half the time they didn't have the correct tools (wound up using my stuff anyway, just didn't tell them so). The list goes on, but Corporate was/is very over bearing.

So this summer I will return to Old Orchard Beach Maine, but instead of working at ELS's Pinehirst RV Resort as I have the past 2 summers, I'll be right around the corner from them at Old Orchard Beach Campground (www.gocamping.com). Smaller, newer, seems nicer. We'll see!!

[4Campers]

Hope things work out for your summer. Isn't it always whoever sets the rules for a job knows nothing about the needs for it? And safety courses every job change? I hope that's on company time. LOL
Always liked a family CG better. Back in the 90's every holiday we camped at a family place, and the owner would call us a couple weeks before to make sure we had a site.

[GoneCamping]

Yeah, those safety/training courses were always "on the clock" and usually take about 2 full days to complete. And some of those courses were complete non-sense to me, like "Insider Trading" and "LGBQT sensitivity" etc, some real BS stuff from a very "Woke" company.

To top it off, today at Lake Magic I was informed by my Puerto Rican co-worker that our supervisor quit the day before, and that they were putting him in charge because he was the only full time Maintenance worker left on staff. He's got like 2 months experience, doesn't know how to fix much of anything, and usually has me help him to do the simplest stuff (like installing a TV in a rental cabin). Kind of burns my butt they didn't ask me to go full time and take that job being I have 3 years experience working Maintenance for ELS. Oh well, I'm not going out of my way to hold his hand. Personally I think he's being set-up to fail, as he's way over his head on this. He told me himself that he was not the answer to their problem and didn't want the job.

Oh well, wonder how much longer I'll last here?!?!

[4Campers]

Oh my, drama at work. Sounds like your co-worker is going to have to learn a few things. Does he at least know which way to turn a screwdriver? If he gets fired or leaves, who's left to run the show?
Not sure what I'd do in that situation. I suppose you have your own tasks to do. If you end up doing other (his) jobs will they pay for your hours?

[GoneCamping]

I can tell you this much, I'm not actually interested in taking the supervisor position, not here anyway! I've got my plans laid out, and in 2 months I'll be done with this park.

[4Campers]

Can't say I blame you from the sounds of what's going on. I got pushed into a supervisor's role in a few jobs over the years. It was ok until something went wrong and you got the blame regardless of how/why it was caused.

[GoneCamping]

My gut feeling is, who ever winds up in that supervisor position, is being set-up for certain failure. This park & manager seems to have very high expectations, wants to see things done etc, but won't put enough money behind it to make it happen.

[GoneCamping]

Update... Change in plans. I had stated above that I was not going back to Pinehirst RV Resort, but they called me earlier this week, and offered me MORE money to come back to them, and much MUCH lower rent than last year.

Actually, the lower rent is across the board for all employee's in the entire New England ELS Park system. And I'm probably one of the strongest reasons for that. After I got raked over the coals last year, I pitched a fit with anyone and everyone that I had access too, including the Regional Manager and one of the VP's of the company. Last year they charged me $733 per month, plus electric, and somehow threw a $400 charge at me for the 1st two weeks (at a park that I can actually stay at for two weeks for free using my Thousand Trails). My total bill last year came out at $3700 for 4.5 months.

So this year all employee's will pay $200 per month plus electric. So that same 4.5 months would cost me $1,000 instead of $3700.... (plus electric)

[4Campers]

Well, big change. More money is always good, but those perks help too. I always thought that most parks gave any employees or Hosts a free campsite, electric/water not included. However, for that free site they were required to work X number of hours per week for a minimal wage.