Gatlinburg TN
When Don, the campground manager, heard that our dental bills were going through the roof and my insurance was falling short, he offered us jobs. In exchange for at least 20 hours of work each week, we could have our campsite for free. That amounted to a savings of about $450 per month. While it wouldn’t pay the dentist, it sure would help out.
Our duties include:
We both have uniforms – ball caps with the campground logo on them. Kelly’s is blue and mine is red.
The work is harder than it sounds. There are 60 sites for tents and RVs; the two shower houses each have four toilets and four showers; there are five cabins.
Fran and Paul clean the shower houses on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We are expected to keep an eye on the shower houses on their off-days, making sure there is plenty of soap and toilet paper.
Today was our first day. I cleaned a cabin floor and Kelly dealt with the county pool inspector (note: dealing with the swimming pool is not on the list of duties).
Later in the day, we found out that Fran, who used to clean cabins for $15 a pop, had been “let go” from that responsibility.
Fran was incredibly upset about losing her job. She thought she was let go because she wasn’t doing a good enough job. I thought she’d been let go because Don couldn’t afford to give us a free site and pay her for cabin cleaning. Reality probably is the latter, plus a new trend in cabin rentals. In the past, cabins tended to be rented for a week at a time. This season, people have been renting them for just a night or two. Don can’t afford to pay a cleaning fee from the revenue of just one night’s stay.
Kelly and I had a serious talk with Fran, and then with Don. Neither of us was willing to take work from someone else. For Fran and Paul, the money she got from cleaning cabins was substantial – it really made a difference for them. Don advised us, and reminded them, that payment for cabin cleaning had been a temporary agreement, and that its time was past. He would no longer pay for any clean-up services at the campground.
It’s going to be an interesting experience.
When Don, the campground manager, heard that our dental bills were going through the roof and my insurance was falling short, he offered us jobs. In exchange for at least 20 hours of work each week, we could have our campsite for free. That amounted to a savings of about $450 per month. While it wouldn’t pay the dentist, it sure would help out.
Our duties include:
- Picking up litter
- Cleaning the shower houses
- Cleaning camp sites
- Cleaning cabins
- Greeting new campers
- Selling firewood and ice
- Being around when Don can’t be
We both have uniforms – ball caps with the campground logo on them. Kelly’s is blue and mine is red.
The work is harder than it sounds. There are 60 sites for tents and RVs; the two shower houses each have four toilets and four showers; there are five cabins.
Fran and Paul clean the shower houses on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. We are expected to keep an eye on the shower houses on their off-days, making sure there is plenty of soap and toilet paper.
Today was our first day. I cleaned a cabin floor and Kelly dealt with the county pool inspector (note: dealing with the swimming pool is not on the list of duties).
Later in the day, we found out that Fran, who used to clean cabins for $15 a pop, had been “let go” from that responsibility.
Fran was incredibly upset about losing her job. She thought she was let go because she wasn’t doing a good enough job. I thought she’d been let go because Don couldn’t afford to give us a free site and pay her for cabin cleaning. Reality probably is the latter, plus a new trend in cabin rentals. In the past, cabins tended to be rented for a week at a time. This season, people have been renting them for just a night or two. Don can’t afford to pay a cleaning fee from the revenue of just one night’s stay.
Kelly and I had a serious talk with Fran, and then with Don. Neither of us was willing to take work from someone else. For Fran and Paul, the money she got from cleaning cabins was substantial – it really made a difference for them. Don advised us, and reminded them, that payment for cabin cleaning had been a temporary agreement, and that its time was past. He would no longer pay for any clean-up services at the campground.
It’s going to be an interesting experience.
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