As summer grows closer and closer, everyone is beginning to make plans. Occasionally these plans will include at least one trip to the local amusement park. You begin to plan what rides you want to wait in line for and what food you'll fill your stomachs with that day. You may begin to wonder what merchandise you'd like to purchase, or even what games you would enjoy playing. Now, for the amusement parks to be open for guest enjoyment all summer, there must be employees working. We work the typical seasonal job hours, but it's a little different.
1. Holidays.
If you want the Fourth of July off, good luck. I hope you have a valid reason to even ask. While everyone gets to sit around at the park and watch the fireworks, it's likely you're making transactions, or cooking food somewhere, or operating a ride. The chances of you getting to peek outside to watch the fireworks for even a minute or two are slim to none. So much for the family picnics on Memorial Day because it's difficult to get that day off also. I was lucky enough to catch the firework show on my walk to my break one year, but that was the extent of that.
2. Halloween.
Many amusement parks have special Halloween attractions. This is where I got my start. Before I worked in a food stand I was an actress for my local park's Halloween Haunt. All of these employees stand out in the rain and the cold for hours on end, whether there's a lot of people in the park or not. Actors and actresses in these attractions have to deal with guest reactions. Personally, I've been punched, cursed at, and much more, simply for doing my job and scaring people as they proceed through the attraction. If you're walking through one of these attractions, do not try to scare the employees. The amount of people that do this is incredibly high, and it is irritating to the employees, trust me. Please fight your reflex to hit the employees, it's our job to scare you and you know it's coming when you enter the attraction.
3. Internationals.
No matter how many times I tell myself at the beginning of the season that I'm not going to get attached, I end up almost in tears the day they're leaving to go back to their home country. As awful as saying goodbye is, I've learned so much and made such good friendships with people from all over the world. I'm able to say that I've worked with people from Taiwan, Colombia, Hong Kong, etc. The list goes on and on. Each year I get to learn a little more about another country's culture from a coworker, and to me, that's pretty awesome. This also makes my Facebook friends list very diverse.
4. Culinary students.
If you work in a food stand, like I do, you encounter culinary students, or chefs, alongside internationals. This means that there are more people that you can learn a lot from, however, it's also more people that don't live in the area. This means more goodbyes. Goodbyes suck. A lot of the time you're not sure when you're going to be able to see someone next.
5. Team.
You work with the same people every day for three or four months. These people can either become your biggest enemies, or best friends. You become this well-oiled machine that's completely ready to take on the day. You begin to rely and depend on your coworkers, and the bonds that come out of this are incredibly strong. There's going to be drama, but working with a team makes a family. You're not just coworkers anymore. You're so much more than that. You see each other for eight hours almost every day for three or four months straight. You work alongside each other. You deal with stressful nights, both busy and slow. You build bonds that are difficult to break.
6. Hours.
Like many other jobs, whether it be full time or seasonal, we work long hard days. We work outside, rain or shine, hot or cold. Our days are filled with making sure that every guest has the best experience possible. We have to constantly keep a smile on our face and levels of enthusiasm high. I've had days where I've been scheduled for an eight hour shift and ended up working an eleven to twelve hour shift without a break to eat. I've had days where I've left the park at two or three o'clock in the morning, only to drive a half hour home and be back by nine in the morning.
7. Sales.
I'll never forget the dollar popcorn/cotton candy day when I almost passed out. I had been making popcorn for at least three or four hours nonstop on a hot summer day, and when I turned around to get a drink, it hit me. I almost fell over and ended up needing to sit down in a cooler with some water to rehydrate myself. Sales days are as big of a pain for us as they are for you. While you complain about the wait in every line, we are working our hardest to have things done in a timely manner. I've had many days where I've either made cotton candy or popcorn for hours on end. I've burned myself, cut myself, and felt like I crushed every bone in my finger before trying to get things finished and to a customer in time. It's not easy work.
8. Guests.
I've encountered many different kinds of guests. You have the nice guests who appreciate the hard work that you're doing or you have the guest that has had a long hard day and takes it out on you. Whether dealing with one end of the spectrum or the other, you must keep your enthusiasm high and continue to do your best work. My coworkers and I have experienced, not only being yelled at by the customers (too many times), but also having things thrown back at us. There's been fights, and there's been laughs. It all depends on the day.
I'm not saying working at an amusement park is harder than your typical job, because every job has its own pros and cons. Every job is difficult it it's own unique way. All I'm saying is that working at an amusement park is not always fun and games like people sometimes think it is. There are definitely perks involved with working at an amusement park, and the relationships I've built will last forever (hopefully). However, it can be a long and rough summer working at a place that constantly needs to be in tip top shape for guest approval. "Amusement park employees are the backbone of the nation" - This is something I've heard from many people throughout my two and a half years that I have worked at the park. While everyone gets to go spend a day at the park having fun, we're there every day making sure it's ready for you to have a good experience. Next time you encounter a grouchy employee, don't take it out on the others. I can almost guarantee that they've had a long day too and don't need the backlash that another employee created.
I'm more than excited to begin my third year working at the park. Things will be very different this year, as we have almost an entirely new team, however, that simply means there are more relationships to be built. Making a summer job like mine enjoyable is simple, create a team environment that cannot be broken.
