Security

I recently got accepted for a security position at Cedar Point. I'll be working 3rd shift and (obviously) living in Bayside Appartments. Pros/cons? Anyone else working 3rd?

I worked years ago (mid 2000's) on 3rd shift for CPPD and when compared to what the 1st and 2nd shift officers had to deal with, it was the best shift to have. Pros and Cons are based on opinion and may include more and a lot may have changed since I worked there

Pros-
-Not dealing with park guests-meaning you really don't have to be too customer service oriented, no telling people where to smoke or dealing with line jumpers, etc. As well as you won't have to answer questions of the guest.
-I don't know if you are 3rd shift normal or 3rd shift resorts (if they even have roaming security in the hotels anymore).
-Your shift is during the more tolerable temperatures: you are not in the sun with black pants on getting wonderful tan lines and sweating through your shirt. It can be very warm at night, but you have the benefit of no sun.
-Speaking of sun, you get to enjoy both a sunrise and sunset on your way to work...I found that to be enjoyable.
-You always work in pairs, so you at least can have a conversation with someone.
-You will most likely be patrolling the employee housing areas all night. After 3am or so, it becomes dead (with the occasional walk of shame) and at least when I was working we would all gather at the commons gate and shoot the **** the rest of the night.
-You will mainly deal with employees, some of which will be drunk. Always great when you are trying to hand a drunk employee over to their roommate to take care of and they think they are going to the club.
-You have the advantage of having most of the day to yourself depending on when you wake up. I would get up by at least 1pm and go to Soak City and relax on the river.
-You get to stay at Bayside. It may not have the air conditioning, but Commons dorms and apartments get to smelling really bad after a while. You have only so many roommates and they are all with CPPD as well, so you can hang out after shift.
-You get to stay at Bayside AND "patrol" your building, which may or may not include going in and getting something to eat or watching a little tv.
-Some nights you may be stuck in the car, which is boring but you really don't do much and have air conditioning.

Cons-
-If you are stuck in the car, you may end up going to Firelands hospital to pick up employees, like a taxi service.
-If you get stuck in the bitch seat (center seat in the back) on the way back from Commons to the station in the morning and don't brace yourself on the cage you just may end up eating that cage. When I was there, if someone driving asks if you like waffles, hold on because the breaks come next.
-You have to deal with employees....who may or may not think they have to listen to you (which they actually have to do)...just annoying.
-You may miss out on some of the employee perks they often tout, like ride nights or their big party at the end of the season (which you work during), but you tend to be a little isolated from other employees anyway due to your job. EMT/Fire tend to get along with CPPD, but a ride op may be pissed at you because you pulled their ID for being a drunk idiot falling on the bridge.
-You have to get used to sleeping during the day, not everyone is courteous and will make noise.
-You may have to park in the employee lot once the entertainment performers arrive (they have priority with parking at Bayside because they are "talented" apparently). My opinion if they can sing and dance and skate then they can also walk across the bridge and street like anyone else.
-You may get stuck at a gate for a night...it sucks. Especially marina and hotel gate. They used to have spiral gate, which was a bigger office and you could watch movies on your laptop without anyone seeing you. The other gates offer no/little cover for entertainment.
-North car/North patrol on foot is boring. You walk through gold and cedars and wander the park, and you are basically away from the rest of the rotations so you can't really gather and bull****.

The shifts when I worked were 9pm-4pm for AP shift (the earlier shift) and 11pm-7am for the regular shift. Busy nights were Thursday and Sunday nights as those were the popular bar nights for employees as they drank their paychecks away at Louie's. If you want Friday and Saturday off, it is not that hard to get. If you are female (which I'm guessing from your screen name), you may end up being the token female of sorts...which means that if a female needs to be transported to the county jail, you get to ride along (which can be amusing depending on the sobriety of the person being arrested). After work, your shift may end up going out for breakfast (or a weekly Hold 'em game). There are plenty of bonded officers on your shift, so if you are non-bonded, you play sidekick and scribe, or you may get all the invalid ID reports.

All in all, I thought my summer on 3rd shift was fun. You see the park empty at night, can even slalom the trash cans on the midway with the car. Seeing the things 1st and 2nd shifts had to deal with, I was glad I was on 3rd, even if it was more isolating (other shifts could get together at night for drinks, etc). Enjoy your summer. And really consider spending free time at Soak City, I had an amazing tan that year (and it wasn't the Cedar Point tan where you look ridiculous out of uniform with sock, short, and shirt tan lines...you'll see them walk past you on their way to Louie's, hilarious).

Also, you may become nauseated by the smell of McDonald's after a while, as it seems to be the only food employees bring in. If you are at the Commons gate, you will smell it...a lot.

Also note that since I have been there, it seems they have built a new gate at Commons, so I don't know if you even have to stand there anymore.

You will want to have a flashlight with you during your shift. You may also want to have a set of handcuffs, though I never had to use them. You will either need black shoes or black duty boots. I suggest the black duty boots (you can buy them at law enforcement supply stores or online like Galls.com) and put memory foam insoles in them. The boots provide more support than shoes. Some people bought duty belts as well to keep their handcuffs and flashlight on (not required though). You will probably want to buy a police coat at wardrobe as the evenings in May can be a little cold (the moisture in the air doesn't help the temperatures out at all). Don't do anything dumb while you are there, like underage drink, etc....you are working with a police department.
You will have a list of codes (signals) to eventually memorize and will be tested on it. I memorized the list while waiting in an 1hr+ line for Millenium.
If you are north patrol, you may end up having to check on building alarms and see if doors are locked (flashlight helpful).
Your hours will be generally limited to your shift. Getting one or two days off during the week. So when people complain about working splits or open-close shifts, you can enjoy the fact that you don't need to. If they still have AP shift, you may end up staying until 7am with the regular shift so that is 3 extra hours.

You won't have the same type of work experience as the majority of employees at the park as depicted in some of the threads on this forum. But you are not really missing much, and will have a more relaxing summer without too much stress or annoyances.

Thank you so much for all this information! I really appreciate it! Everything you said is going to help me and fills at least most of a curiosity about the position. Thanks!!

No problem...if you have any other questions I will try to answer...though my answers may be dated (things change).
Oh, and white v-neck shirts were required under the uniform shirt. And the report date, there will be a briefing for the whole department (probably still at breakers).

What is described above is pretty accurate. I am a former third shift officer as well, and I enjoyed it, except for a few issues.