Thats exactly what I meant. I could understand bringing over people to work in the related lands such as England, Ireland or Germany to employ authentic "towns people" but just bringing over busloads of the cheapest workers they can get is crap.
COVID-19’s Impacts on BGW
- Thread starter WDWRLD
- Start date
In BGW's defense, their raising starting wages to $13 puts them well above poverty-level wages. Unfortunately, it might just be too little too late - especially with an extremely tough employment market right now.
I may have fudged the numbers, but I think I'll pass on trying to live on about $26K a year.
To be fair here.....its not like it's an uncommon practice.
Disney does 500+ international college students a semester. I'd be willing they rely on this much more than one would think.
I mean, like where I agree they should pay a livable wage, BGW is a business at it's core, and if they can make more money by saving money somewhere (like hiring labor that will make minimum wage) they should. Now.....does what's happening right now show flaws in this structure? Absolutely. Does it mean they were wrong for doing it in the first place? Not at all.
I just feel like when I visit parks like Knoebels and Hersheypark I see way more older employees who to me work much harder and do their job better than what I see at BGW. Kids spending more time looking at their cellphones than paying attention to guests or various positions just talking between each other on attractions while the ride sits ready to go just waiting on the thumbs up from all involved. The exception I see at BGW is the checkout positions at the Festhaus, they always are attentive to you and they try to carry on a conversation while checking you out. Thats how its done....and thats how it should be parkwide.
I can't say I disagree with your idea I just know when I worked at KD in high school in the late 90's there were international workers then who didn't care the hourly rate. Working one summer 50 -60 hours a week would cover the entire year for them in their home country. Today they probably still don't care and a business like BGW loves a worker like that.
That's 102% greater than the 2021 poverty level. Not too shabby for a summer job worked mostly by high school and college students.
That's not a pay issue though, that's a staffing and policy issue to allow them to do things like that. Other parks like Knoebles and HP might be more Disney Universal like and ban employees from having personal cell phones or have strong enough policies around them. Also both hire their fair share of High School kids. Having worked at both I can tell you they hire a ton of the HS/College age kids, they just usually end up at other positions than ride ops (not sure if that's still the case or not).
And let's not forget age doesn't indicate if someone is good at their job - sure, generally speaking many older people are less capable of keeping up with a physically demanding job, but that doesn't mean there aren't some absolutely crushing it - same goes for younger people that put pride and effort into their jobs too.
The difference is that now that many places are hiring and someone can get a decent paying job year-round vs seasonal at the park (doubt they'd keep all summer staff for year-round ops), they may find it more advantageous to not work at the park... Hence the current staffing issues.
The difference is that now that many places are hiring and someone can get a decent paying job year-round vs seasonal at the park (doubt they'd keep all summer staff for year-round ops), they may find it more advantageous to not work at the park... Hence the current staffing issues.
Cant wait to see the Trappers menu. Hopfully its close to what we remember.
I literally just committed to making a trip to the park on Sunday and emerged to discover I can finally start using my meal plan again? Everything's coming up Milhouse.
When are they going to open the water fountains? Were open until Dec. or something last year, surely we're past freezing? I waited hours for lines to reduce last Sunday so I would only need to wait 15 min. to get a cup of water. Of course this has to be about the only park with warm water in the bathrooms...
Perhaps this is just the germaphobe in me, but for years - starting way before Covid - I’ve wondered why water fountains even still exist. They’re gross. I like the fountains that are built for people to refill their water bottles or cups. I realize that not every thirsty person has a bottle or cup with them, but I wish someone would come up with a less germ-spreading water fountain configuration, especially after Covid.
Regular old water fountains are mega gross yes. But i am a big fan of the ones that have been out for a few years that dispense water from above for a water bottle. obviously that would incur an expense to BGW that they probably are not willing to spend for the forseeable future but yeah. They are much more hygenic.
I love those things. For anyone who doesn't know what @panopticon31 is talking about, it's this:
They're becoming increasingly common; I've been seeing them everywhere from schools to office buildings. KD has even installed a few of them. I totally agree that adding some of these would be a great idea for BGW. They would definitely reduce the lines at restaurants and drink stations (especially now when the park hardly as any of either open!), and would make drinking water far more convenient - and sanitary.
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Are drinking fountains safe to drink out of? | SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy (psu.edu)
" Surprisingly, even a dog’s bowl is safer to drink out of than a water fountain. In a study done by the Toronto Star comparing bacteria count, the water fountain had 4,529 bacteria and the dog bowl only had 172 bacteria. "
" Surprisingly, even a dog’s bowl is safer to drink out of than a water fountain. In a study done by the Toronto Star comparing bacteria count, the water fountain had 4,529 bacteria and the dog bowl only had 172 bacteria. "
Although that article didn't seem to say it, it sounds like the bottle filler portion of a fountain weren't part of the testing so no scientific conclusion can be made from it as to their safety.