Yellowstone Adventure - Day 22

  First day back after my two days off.  I worked the late shift today.  Got in at 11:25 and off at 9:45 with a three hour break in the middle.  The shift is timed so that the early shift can eat breakfast before going in and lunch when we replace them at 11:25 and dinner when we come off our break at 5:30.  So the split shift does work well to get everyone fed and rested from being on their feet for 3 to 4 hours at a time.  Speaking of being fed. The EDR (Employee Dinning Room) had a special lunch theme today.  It was a Hawaiian luau theme where the place was decorated up with music from Jimmy Buffett and the food was island theme.  Everyone who entered the EDR was given a lei to wear while they ate and if they chose they could wear it while they worked.  Have I told you we have the best cooks in the park?  Lunch was great and I am glad I had to work right after it to work off some of the meal.
  The work day was pretty steady but not overly busy.  I got to work with some of the new people who came in this week.  Most all of them are young people who are attending college.  Kyra, who I worked with tonight, attends a college in Missoula Montana and her contract will take her to mid August, then she and several others will have to get back to start the new semester.  She seems rather nice and polite and her major is political science and it seems she is leaning toward government work or embassy work as she is learning a language also.
  Not too much happened at the shift today other than getting off early because it slowed down a lot after 6PM.  I met several nice people today and my favorite was a couple from Italy.  They were from Milan and we tried to communicate as best we could but it was sometimes choppy.  They asked a lot of questions about Old Faithful, many I could answer now that I have been here for more than three weeks.  I had a few customers ask me what they could do or see in the park that would be special.  I told them that it all depended on if they liked to walk or not.  You see the park has quite a few areas where you have to get out of your car and hike a little.  Some tourists that come here really expect the attractions to be by the road where they can see it.  That is just not so here as most take a little effort to get to. 
  One thing I have neglected to talk about is the staffing for the park.  There are two contractors that most tourists deal with and they are the contract employees for the hotels and lodges and the contract employees, like myself, for the stores.  All are temporary employees and many are returning employees but most are brand new like myself.  The biggest issue that I see is many new employees were sold a bill of goods by the human resource department of the firm that hired them.  When the employees get here to work they find that the job and living conditions were not exactly as described by the HR that hired them.  So three weeks into my employment I have seen employees up and quit because of broken promises.  It is very hard for the supervisors to deal with seasonal employees and to get them all trained properly, but sometimes the big disconnect between HR's promises and the reality can be more than people can handle.  The biggest issue I see is over working some people because HR did not get enough people to fill all the places needed.  It is a spiral effect that if you continue to work people more and more without days off, then they quit.  When people quit the ones left have to work more and more hours.  In my case I was told that I would be working 32 hours a week and have three days off.  So far that has never happened, as I have been working just short of 40 each week with only two days off.  I have waited to talk to my supervisor about this issue because I knew we were getting more help in.  So I will wait and see what the schedule starts to look like as we get a few more cashiers trained.  Another issue is the living conditions.  It is not the physical dorm that is the problem but the employees who break the rules on noise and personal hygiene.  Every employee hired has to agree to a level of personal conduct and grooming, as this is in everyone's contract that they signed.  I have been amazed at how many grown up men can't seem to take care of themselves by washing regularly and doing their own laundry.  So here is the spiral effect again.  The supervisors do not come down hard on these individuals because they are short handed and do not want to lose any employees over discipline, but those that try to keep the rules get frustrated when nothing seems to happen to get the problem people taken care of.  So what happens is the rule followers up and quit due to living condition issues and more work is then assigned to others to take their place in the store.  To say the least I pray for my supervisors to do what is right and to have wisdom in these situations.  In the mean time I have had to be a dorm guard and call some people on the noise and also make not so subtle comments to those that  fairly stink that they need to bath or clean their clothes.  I just thought I would let you know that sometimes this job is not all roses and great mountain views.  Just in case anyone is planning on following in my footsteps.  But the one thing I can say about the group I am with is this.  Our group has less problems than quite a few other groups working in this park.
  Well that is all for now.  Take care and please pray for Tom Chambers.  I was notified today that the cancer has moved to his brain.  Tom and Karen both need prayer and support now.  Thanks and goodnight.