Breaks, and how do they work?

In merchandise, your breaks were an hour and a half if you worked an O-C. People were usually scheduled for a half hour around noon, then an hour for dinner starting around 5PM. If you worked an open to 3PM you got a half hour. If you worked a 3PM to close, you got an hour, depending on what time close was. If you worked in a larger store, you had enough people to cover your break, and in the smaller stores, sometimes you'd have a person called a breaker come in and cover your break. The TL or area supervisor of your location usually made out your break schedule. The cafeteria can be crowded around noon to 1PM, so be prepared to stand in line. I only ate back at the Stockade a few times when I was a sweep filling in at zone 4. The food is pretty good, and prices are not bad, so take advantage of it, and by all means RELAX when you're on break!

It really depends on the department. Rides are usually more structured on their break schedules because it takes a specific number of people to run a ride. Other departments such as merchandise or foods will largely depend on crowds and weather.

If the park is slow, expect to be offered additional break time or to be sent home early in either department. If it is raining, you can forget about breaks in merchandise or indoor restaurants unless you are a minor. In foods if it is slow, sometimes you will be told that you must take a 60 or 90 minute break, or in some cases you will be sent home to be on-call for the rest of your shift just in case it gets busy.

In many cases, especially in merchandise, your full-time manager will be in charge of preparing your weekly schedule, but it is left to your TL and supervisor to give breaks and/or send you home early. There are days where I would just look at the schedule and think "what were they thinking" when they wrote the schedule because we'd know that we had too many people scheduled and often times the supervisor would just wait to make sure everyone showed up and then cut someone 30 minutes into their shift. If the weather looks bad you might even get a call before your shift starts telling you not to come in.

With the pressure to run at bare minimum staffing, even giving each person on your crew an extra 15 or 30 minutes for their breaks can go a long way in making your labor budget numbers look better to management, and it keeps your crew happier too!

If you work until 7 or 8 and have a decent manager you may be able to swindle your break for the last 15 minutes or 45 minutes of the shift. I used to work the 11-7 shift at the Frontier Inn consistently. My manager was pretty decent and would let me take my break for the last 45 minutes of my shift. I would use that to clean up and get my clothes changed for partying in the park. As the drinking age in Ohio was 18 at the time, it was fairly easy.

Remember not to try to smuggle in liquor. They look for that sort of thing now.

Breaks...

To steal a quote from a future favorite movie of mine...

"remember to save up a couple in case you have to go number 2..."

:-)

I miss stockade! I loved breaks there. I was friends with the people who made the food so they would have it made for me. It's always good to befriend the foods people in employee break areas, and not be rude to them. In return, you order and pay for one fry and they give you two. or they see you come in for break and have your food waiting for you. It's always a general rule to be nice to everyone but sometimes you cant help the long lines. Just be patient and if it turns into a big deal, pack your lunch!

Also, as for rotations, I apprecited being rotated every 30 mins but I didn't care if it was longer or shorter. On the train, I wasruler of Meanstreak gatehouse and I as allowed to stay at Meanstreak gatehouse my whole shift as long as I had water, and a lot of times it was an O-C i'd be at Meanstreak Gatehouse and I loved it. I was always dancing and singing to the guests and often times Meanstreak crew laughed at me from the loading area. Especially in 07 when I was ATL and always worked the back station! I always played DDR to the music. I had fun working the train and the best memories were while working the train.

so bck to the point, every 30 min rotations are very appreciated but not a big deal if it's longer.