Cedar Point mistreating its employees?

Of course you can blame the employee. If it's good enough that people keep coming back, there's no incentive to change it. Your straw man question is irrelevant.

I think sometimes people post this type of stuff to make themselves look all bad and macho....kind of like, "Look at me, work sucks, but I can endure it. I'm big, I'm bad!"

This type of crap doesn't make you look good! It makes you look like a crybaby!

The amusement industry isn't for everyone. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

There are plenty of others who would GLADLY put up with the b.s. just to provide food on their table.

Whiners make me vomit.

^^ I don't think that was a straw man question, you said that since they came back five years in a row they should be blamed. All I was asking was if they only stayed one season if your take on the matter would be different. I'm not necessarily saying that employee's are being treated horribly, but if breaks are ever being skipped or OSHA requirements are ever being broken, then the park needs to fix this. Also, treating the employee like they are not disposable could really help with retention.

At issue is not how employees are treated or how crappy the dorms are. The hours are long and the housing sucks. Everyone knows this. Whether you want to deal with this scene is still your choice, one year or a decade. And that's the thing... if it really bothers you and you bail on your first day or in your first year, you move on to something better and don't spend any more energy on it. Have you noticed this crybaby douche bag hasn't made a single follow up? Why do you suppose that is?

'Crybaby Douche Bags' would make a pretty good name for a punk band.

Let me preface this by saying I worked at Cedar Point for 7 seasons (started as a little one) and was generally well-respected within my division. I like to believe that I saved and made Cedar Point a lot of money. I was a two-time cornerstone winner, but not necessarily because I particularly cared about any cornerstones. I did enjoy my time at Cedar Point, but it was only because I was in a position to make it enjoyable for myself and the others I worked with. That being said, it is absolutely true that employees at Cedar Point are needlessly mistreated. Here are a few things I had a problem with:

Mistreatment of minors

I have personally seen the mistreatment of numerous minors while working at Cedar Point. It is pretty much standard operating procedure that when a minor goes over 5 hours without a break, you're just supposed to make times up to make everything match. I have seen managers talk to minors and tell them that they should just change their break times. I mean really, what minor is going to have the guts to stand up to 2-3 grown managers looking you in the eyes and telling you that you more or less have to change your times? It's not right, but I have never seen a minor stand up for what is right in that situation. They are put in a situation where what is wrong is encouraged and much easier. I wouldn't be surprised if a minor was fired indirectly because of a refusal to change a break card.The sad thing is that these kids don't know any better. Some of them are 14! They've never had a job before so they just go with it. How some of you people are blindly defending Cedar Point is shameful. Maybe we should plan a trip to China, go into the sweatshops, and berate all of the children working there as well. After all, if they don't like it, they should just giiit out!

College Recruitment / Housing

It is pretty messed up how kids are put in situations where they live in a box. Not only that, but they don't know that they are going to be living in a box. And guess what, many of these people come from a ways away and don't have the luxury of simply leaving. It's more of a "we're going to lure you into a situation that is economically impossible for you to get out of" than "if you don't like it, then leave". I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but I'm pretty sure that most workers at Cedar Point are pretty damn poor. These are the people that don't have the luxury of saying that they don't like a job, leaving, and spending 1-2 months finding a new job. By that time, college is started again and they must have saved money by then.

Managerial Incompetency

Pretty much every lower/mid level manager I have seen at Cedar Point displays a varying but high level of incompetence. Half of them are college dropouts, and the other half are graduates of Central Ohio Nongraded Academy of Sports Literature. They are paid next to nothing, and they know nothing about management. Cedar Point lets any semplance of talent slip away because they refuse to pay livable wages. What results is a domino effect of incompetence. Bad managers make bad decisions, which leads to the hiring and promotion of bad employees, which leads to bad leadership and supervision. At times the level of incompetence was baffling. Like the time when my first manager didn't believe me that if a machine pays out more in stock than the money it takes in, we are actually losing money. This one actually took years to convince someone that something needed to be done about it.
I wrote a LONG rant on this subject on my last day at Cedar Point, but to keep it short, I firmly believe that Cedar Point would benefit from actually making their jobs attractive. Let's face it. No talented person will work a crappy, low-paying job. No talent = a bad product. Cedar Point would be more efficient, more profitable, and more professional if it were a better place to work and attracted actual managerial talent. The incompetence of management starts with Kinzel and really does work its way all the way down.
In my past department, it is pretty much common knowledge that there has always been widespread employee theft. You'd be surprised at the things people told me when I no longer worked there, and you'd probably be even more surprised at the level of apathy from management when I told them half of their staff is stealing. Good employees don't steal, and good managers are able to institute a system that prevents theft. I'm quite certain that the highest paid people in the Merchandise department were not managers, but thieving base-level employees.

Corporate Attitude

Probably the most annoying thing about Cedar Point is the corporate atmosphere. There literally is no reason why someone who forgets to wear a belt one day should be sent home to get one. It became almost a relationship of solidarity between myself and base-level employees. I'd keep an extra belt in the desk, or I'd tell them to untuck their shirt just enough to hide their lack of a belt. This is just one example of MANY ridiculous rules at Cedar Point. I remember one year they made all managers and supervisors carry brooms and dust pans whenever they walked around the park. Really? I bet they wanted the employess to get really fired up when they saw Jon Hildebrandt walking down the midway sweeping! In reality, nobody cares about this kind of stuff. If you want a clean park, institute some real changes instead of corporate posturing. The list is nearly endless. We'd get news about how some higher-ups would be in the park, and sure enough we'd be getting on our hands and knees, sweeping and scrubbing things that look the same after you cleaned them as they did before. It just never made any sense.

I didn't read the original article posted on here, but I have seen what everyone has said about him. I can assure everyone that I don't have any personal vendettas against Cedar Point or anyone working there, I'm just telling you the truth, from my prespective. I really enjoyed my time at Cedar Point, but it definitely was not because of the job, it was because of the people. Personally, I met and was influenced by many interesting, good people, and it made enduring the crappy working conditions worth it.

^SMH....comparing Cedar Point to sweat shops in China is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Bottom line is, I've worked for Cedar Point, so I'm not blindly defending them.

Seems like those complaining have a grudge against management. I think one common thing people forget about WORKING at Cedar Point is that it is just that "work".

If you wanted to enjoy the park for the summer, get a season pass. If you wanted to make an honest living at the park, then get a job there.

Working at the park = a job. a job isn't meant to be fun, although it's always a bonus when the job you have is something you enjoy.

^SMH....comparing Cedar Point to sweat shops in China is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

1) How can you HEAR an ACTION?
2) The point is that Cedar Point exploits children just like sweatshops. Obviously sweatshops are worse, but the premise is the same.

Seems like those complaining have a grudge against management. I think one common thing people forget about WORKING at Cedar Point is that it is just that "work".

1) I have no grudge against management. I just feel they aren't very good at what they do. IMO if management had any sort of talent, Cedar Point would be a better place for employees as well as customers.
2) When did I say anything about not wanting to work or the work being too hard?

If you wanted to enjoy the park for the summer, get a season pass. If you wanted to make an honest living at the park, then get a job there.

-This doesn't even apply to the argument I was making.

Working at the park = a job. a job isn't meant to be fun, although it's always a bonus when the job you have is something you enjoy.

-Neither does this.

If you want to try to discredit my opinion, argue against the points I am trying to make.

campfreak06 said:
If you wanted to enjoy the park for the summer, get a season pass. If you wanted to make an honest living at the park, then get a job there.

This is awesome. Well done. +1.

I've known people who were very high end, and got to full-time positions around the company, even moving to take those jobs. They're exceptional people who scored a small number of jobs. Most also moved on after a few years, but they didn't bitch and moan online about why they left.

OK, we have a new entry in this thread.

Minors- Yes, I agree with you about the minor break cards, they sometimes have been altered. BUT, it's not that simple.Part of being a minor employee is learning responsibility. And since the break card is probably the most important thing as far as laws, I always told my minors to care for it more than anything else. And to watch it, just like I have to, like a hawk. Don't wait to the last minute and all of a sudden show up and say I need a break. It's not that the employee never got the break, it may have happened 15 minutes late. Most of the hard working minors can't stand the break cards and the rules that make them outcasts. They don't like letting the team down by having to bail at a busy time.Saying that, I understand the break laws and why they are in place. Thus I complied with them. granted many of the minors I worked with didnt like me giving them breaks 2 hours into a shift. But I had to do it sometime, so I figured out how to work the system.

I dont know about the recruiting, but I do know about housing. And the housing is clean before the tenants move in. It's up to the tenants to keep things clean. And lets face it, some of these people havent been without mom yet and have no concept of how to live on their own. Sometimes you have to man up and clean up for others. Of course them you need to pin point who the problems are and fix the issues. Housing was my favorite part of CP because everybody basically was in the same class. We all had the same daily issues and problems. And it was the source of meeting some great friends I still have.

Management - I always had respect for the management because I knew they didnt get paid well. And they had to answer for anything that may have come up under my watch as a supervisor. I hit my breaking point and left the job. But what it did for me personally was point out a weakness in myself. And I'm grateful for it. They didn't try to make me feel anything but comfort when things went wrong. They normally would understand since they too had been there. Most management had worked their way up the same way. Thus the reason they didnt have to be paid much more. Management also is pushed just like any employee. To get maximum results.

As far as theft, I refuse to comment on something like that. Stealing is wrong, and covering it up makes you an accomplice in the theft. They do have an auditing staff that I have on several occasions taken part in the sting to bust crime. Does it all get caught, no. But you can only do so much within the law to stop it. But it sure sounds like you know more about this.

Then as far as the corporate rules, all companies have them. And they make sense. Dress code is something that reflects professionalism in a person. And taking pride in it should be important to a staff member. Is it that hard to remember your uniform? It's not hard to remember to shower, shave, wear a belt, and tuck in your shirt. If you forget your belt it's your own fault. And if you don't want to go to the dorms, they have them at wardrobe. Sorry but the pants on the ground song is truthful , looking like a fool.

As far as management carrying brooms, thats more for the guests. Your there to do a job, and shouldn't care what these people do. Granted we are trained to pick up anything we walk past. And they will do it too. But I also took pride in making sure they couldn't beat me to it when there was something to pick up.But again, it's not that hard.

Cedar Point makes no secret about the long hours in stressful weather conditions. They dont talk about vacation time, personal days off. They talk about work. People think they are up to it, but most have never had to work that long. Yeah, most that come may be broke. But you can make money at CP. If you learn not to blow your income at the bars, you will be fine.

I guess I'm sorry that I tried to interrupt your circle jerk with a steady dose of reason. If anyone wants to have a logical debate, let me know.

"If you wanted to enjoy the park for the summer, get a season pass. If you wanted to make an honest living at the park, then get a job there."

-This has literally no application to anything I said. As a matter of fact, it almost has no application to anything. How does this statement have anything to do with people who have no means of leaving being drawn into skeptical working conditions? How does this address my statements about poor management? This type of statement has no argumentative value. Using it makes you a poor debater, and agreeing with it makes you a poor logician.

"Most also moved on after a few years, but they didn't bitch and moan online about why they left."
-Fallacious. Just because your buddies didn't debate the ethics of Cedar Fair online doesn't mean that it is wrong to do so.

pointless quotation removed

Wow, an actual well-thought response. Thanks for your opinion.

H-town Spartan said:
How does this statement have anything to do with people who have no means of leaving...

So working for Cedar Fair is slavery now? That's dramatic.

"Most also moved on after a few years, but they didn't bitch and moan online about why they left."
-Fallacious. Just because your buddies didn't debate the ethics of Cedar Fair online doesn't mean that it is wrong to do so.

Talk about unrelated issues. Let me give you a life lesson in reality. No company gives two ****s about you unless it's your own. It's a business. The arrangement is that they pay you as long as they feel you have some value. That's all there is.

Your side of that relationship gives you two options. You can do what the company pays you for, under whatever conditions that involves, or you can not accept the job. And we're not even talking about "real" career jobs here, we're talking about a crappy summer job where all you really hope to achieve is to save a little money, get drunk and laid now and then, and survive.

I'm the first person to stand up and say that Kinzel does not understand the value of people, as evidenced by the exodus of Paramount people after the acquisition, and crappy dorms that could be better with even the most minor of investment. I've said this for years.

However, if you want me to play violins and give hugs because some schmuck had ridiculous expectations and put up with a suboptimal situation for five years, that's not going to happen. That's pathetic. Find some self-respect and do something with your life instead of being a victim.

This type of statement has no argumentative value. Using it makes you a poor debater, and agreeing with it makes you a poor logician.

If you would spend your time arguing your point instead of calling people names, you might once be a great debater yourself one day.

This whole thread is a bunch of crap. Not the thread but the subject of it.I spent three wonderful and happy summers at Cedar Point and I went in blind 10 years ago. I cannot speak for what it is like now, but never once while working there did I ever feel exploited or discriminated. I did not get to read the article posted because I was not about to join a website I know nothing about. But I have gathered enough from reading this to know that whoever wrote it was very disgruntled with their experience. But I want to ask this: Did you do your homework prior t oeven applying for a job there? Because if you did, you would have known about the pay (which a decade, was much lower than today. And even then, I believe it was still above minimum wage.) and the housing and the hours. Yes the hours are long and the pay is at minimum wage now but it is a seasonal job. If you ask anyone who works seasonally, they will be the first to tell you that the hours are going to be long. That's how you make your living. And as for the housing, what I was told is that I would be there just long enough to sleep and it's the truth.

The biggest problem with people, especially the younger crowd (and this is saying a lot since I'm only 31) is that they want more for less. They want to have all the fun with out any of the work or responsibility that comes with it. And I suspect that is what the poster's problem is with Cedar Point. He or she thought that they were going to go there and spend a summer having fun and never gave a second thought to the work aspect of it. All they could see is spending their days riding roller coasters and having fun. But throw in the long hours, the hot days, and the crappy housing and all of the sudden it's not so fun. And it's shame they thought that because working there can be fun if you let it. No job is perfect but if you are doing something you enjoy, it can come very close to it. I have had several jobs since Cedar Point and none of them have been as great or as interactive or fun. I work in a hotel now and it is the best job I have had since Cedar Point.

I know I have turned my post into a rambling novel but reading this thread got my dander up and I have to say something.

^^^ I think this is where the misunderstanding lies. I don't think the people who are arguing against the point on this one are doing so to have a pity party for the person complaining, but are doing so because the working conditions are wrong. You are confusing me by playing both sides; it seems as if you agree that conditions at the point need to be changed, but the reason you don't agree with this article is because of the person who wrote it coming off as whiny. Is that a fair assessment? Not trying to sound like an asshole, just trying to get everything straight.

Wow...a lot to chew on with this thread and I'm sorry I didn't get to it sooner.

I don't think Cedar Point intentionally mistreats it's employees. Do I think that they take advantage of their employees? Yes. Do I think they could treat them better? Yes. Do I think some of the employees have blinders on? Yes.

Some thoughts:

Someone mentioned that "you get what you pay for"...and did so in reference to housing if I'm not mistaken. Well, you get what you pay for as far as personnel too. If Cedar Point is going to offer a crappy wage and crappy housing then they are going to attract a number of crappy employees. Them's the facts.

Could the housing be better? Of course. Disney offers significantly better housing but does so at a significantly higher price. Of course, I was willing to pay that higher price because of the value I got. Swimming pools, air conditioning, full kitchens, tennis, basketball, good transportation for work, cast member activities, etc. Oh, and did I mention a ton of good looking women from around the world?

IF Cedar Point were to offer better housing options there is no doubt in my mind they could draw a better employee. It is the one thing that can set them apart from just about every other summer job in the midwest. What teen/college student doesn't want to spend their summer away from their parents? It is a no brainer but one that Kinzel just refused to pay credence too. Terribly shortsighted on his part as far as I'm concerned.

For the most part, the working conditions at the Point are fine. Are they great? No, but they are fine. Working in a kitchen at the Point isn't much different than working in a kitchen anywhere else. Working outside in the amusement parks sure beats working outside on a farm and plenty of kids do that every summer. The working conditions get complicated toward the end of August when kids start going back to college and those employees remaining are thrust into working double shifts and then some in order to keep the park running. Again, I think I could make an argument that the college kids might be willing to come back if the housing was better. And, as far as I've heard they have really butchered the bonus program and that hasn't helped retain staff through the fall.

Jeff touches on what might be considered a mistreatment, and that is Cedar Point's (and I suspect Cedar Fair's) penchant for stringing seasonal employees along with the hopes of landing a full time job...that will likely never materialize. As a full time employee myself I was witness to that. I can see someone working four or five seasons at the park to work themselves through college (I worked five at Geauga Lake) but when you start talking about people who have been around 7, 9, 10 seasons or more then that is where I think it is pretty obvious that reality hasn't set in with those folks. And, I think Cedar Point should just be honest with them and tell them they are going to need to revise their dreams.

I think there could be a little more honesty in the recruitment process too. I was pretty honest about the housing conditions. I told the potential employees the housing wasn't good but that they would not spend a lot of time in the rooms. Since I worked at the hotel I had a little flexibility to offer somewhat better housing there for those employees who I REALLY wanted to snag. I was honest about the job responsibilities. I told potential housekeepers that there wasn't a lot of glory in cleaning up someone else's mess but I also told them that they had some of the best schedules in the entire park because they were guaranteed to have their evenings available. I overheard MANY recruiters trying to "soften the blow" to potential employees and I think those are the folks who were most disappointed when they got to the park.

And, I will take a minor exception to what Jeff said. Some companies do actually care about their employees. Those are the companies you REALLY want to work for. I could make more money in any of a number of positions but I consciously stay where I am at because my agency does value me and care for me...and they show that same sentiment to my family. Granted, it is rare, but it does exist.

I've heard speculation that Ouimet might be getting ready to really change the Cedar Fair culture...for the better.... If he can do that then I think that will have a greater impact on the future of the company, the future of the employees and...as a result...the future of the guest experience. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that if he can turn that ship around it will have a more lasting impact on the company than any capital decisions he makes over his first decade.

LOL! I think this guys view is skewed or a full out lie! The reason I am saying this is because of what he said about the hospitals and clinics charging CP employees $100 to see them and denying to let them use there insurance.. This is NOT TRUE! they cannot discriminate someone from using there insurance just because of place of employment... Do you think that they ask every patient where they work to make sure they don't work at CP before running there insurance ? NO! they can't make CP employees pay there bill cash just because of where they work.. I quit reading after that.. Just because someone works at a certain place doesn't mean the hospital has the right to "charge" them any different.... I highly doubt the clinic and hospitals in the area break federal law just to make a quick dollar off of CP employees....

I'm just going to throw out there what I have experienced working at the park this summer:

1) Disgusting housing. The housing they place us in is a straight up dump. The people who do the cleaning only cleaned the bathrooms ONCE a day and that was at 8 o'clock in the morning when everybody was trying to get ready for work.

2) Constant fire drills in commons. It will be 3 o'clock on a Wednesday morning and we get rudely awoken by the alarms and have to stand outside for another hour until they shut the damn alarms off! To top it all off, most of us have to be at work at 9:00am. Come on now!

3) Unfairness. I am very familiar with and understand the quote "life isn't fair so deal with it", but the department I worked in seemed to favor more than others. For example, if you are a first year red tag, and you have an issue with a blue tag, automatically management will take the blue tag's side no matter who is right in the situation. That's all I'm gonna say about that. If you want to know more, PM me.

4) Supervision and Management on different pages. This often occurred frequently! One Supervisor will tell you to do it this way, the other one will tell you to do it that way. Bottom line, who gets in trouble? The person performing the task...NOT the supervisor

5) Employee Food. Now I didn't expect to go in and receive a full course meal and have it brought to my table, but the quality of the food at the price offered was outrageous. Not to mention the caf is the #1 place for people to sit there and gossip about eachother like we're in high school again!

6) Higher ups having it out for you all season. If you get more than 3 guest complaints, they are going to try everything in their power to watch every move you make. I'm not saying that guest complaints should happen, but let's not fool ourselves, they do happen and quite often. And to top it all off, they don't want to hear your side of the story, but pretty much take the guests side as if they were right and you are new to your job and you haven't been there all season and that (For example) it is your fault the manufacturer of the ride you work at didn't make big enough seats for them to fit into.

7) Going by the book 100%. Rules are rules and we have to follow them. But let's face it, some of the rules that us employees have to follow are basically asking guests to get pissed off, get in your face, and have security called on them. Once again, whose to blame and whose side do the higher ups take? That's right! The guest's!

8) Hidden exceptions. In the manuals we have to follow, they state what they do and do NOT expect of you. No details about any exceptions at all! So say I work in rides and there is a line jumper trying to get with his/her group and I tell them that they have to go to the entrance because they just cut all of the people in front of them...They throw a fit, go to Guest Relations or Park Operations, and make a guest complaint with an excuse saying "I have a bladder issue and needed to use the restroom and just wanted to rejoin my group", instead of the group waiting on that one person to come out of the bathroom and THEN getting in line all together. Well once again, it's my fault because I made a guest angry just because I was following the rules no matter how polite I was with them. All of a sudden, it's an exception and they get to come right up our exit after going to Guest Relations or Park Ops and once again cut everybody just to make them happy. Because I followed the rules, I am the one that is at fault! Happens all the time! Don't get me wrong, I am all for making the guests happy and in no way, shape, or form am I there with the mentality that I want to ruin their day, I'm blaming it all on the manuals we receive that tell us ABSOLUTELY NO LINE JUMPING. The manuals need to be more detailed on what exceptions apply.

8) No motivation to come to work. I'm not asking for a pizza party every time a crew does something right, but something as simple as a pat on the back or having someone higher up than you actually getting to know everybody in the area you work in, or even coming over to let you know that you are doing a good job and to keep up the good work, is enough to motivate somebody to come to work the next day with a positive attitude (it motivates me atleast). No positive reinforcement whatsoever!

FINALLY, to those of you who say "The biggest problem with people, especially the younger crowd is that they want more for less. They want to have all the fun with out any of the work or responsibility that comes with it." Ok, well everybody has their own opinion and I respect that, but it sounds like a very strong opinion to me. If that is how you feel, talk to Matt Ouimet! He took one round around commons and basically called it a hell hole...AND THEN PROCEEDED TO SAY "you expect them to live here and look forward to coming to work here?" He also said that he is "all for the employees at Cedar Point and not the employers". He really sounds like the change CP needed all these years.

BUT, enough about my rant and rave, I just wanted to give my own personal experience on working there. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself this summer and made so many friends while accomplishing many goals, but these are just some of the main gripes I have with working there as a summer job!

I dunno. I'm usually on the employees' side, but most of the things you pointed out, I've experienced at many jobs in the past. I don't think you're gonna win much sympathy.