Good - Upper Management Carolina Renaissance Festival Employee Review

Fun Environment, Feels like Family, Managers are understanding

Short staffed, hard to get breaks

WONDERFUL coworkers. I made friends working here that I still get in touch with occasionally nearly 4 years later. Excellent customer base. In my 3 months (the entire season) that I worked here, I only had 3 interactions with customers that were extremely negative. These were so negative that I still do remember them to this day, but they were extreme outliers because nearly every customer interaction I had was good. There were some that were really enjoyable like meeting with festival regulars who wear exquisite costumes, etc., and most were exceedingly patient. People come from all over the world to see this festival and there was actually one family that was from South Africa which were really incredible to meet and talk with. That was my favorite part of the job; the performance acting, the friendships, and customer interactions.

Because the position is Saturdays and Sundays, your supervisors (called Cash Managers) do not take the job seriously because it is a part-time, seasonal thing for them as well. I experienced a lot of rudeness (which was more than simple 'direct'-ness) from my first manager, and even in my own kitchen there was a lot of office politics. Each kitchen will have 2 sections usually: separate sections for beverages and food, and sometimes a specialty area with 2 handlers that will sell something like sandwiches. So in our kitchen, I was one of about 8 handlers (front-end cashiers). Unfortunately, we had some resignations and transfers about a month in, so while we started with 3 handlers for beverages, it was down to just me and one other handler for the rest of the festival. On the off days where I was lucky enough to be assigned a temp, we would have a third person to help. Oftentimes though, there would be a shortage of temps and it would be just me and one other cash handler — because they knew that we could and would handle the workload. The people who didn't have the willpower or the capability to handle the workload would end up getting temps, instead of being fired and replaced with people who wanted to be there. The festival is only 9 weeks so they figure why bother going through the hiring process again. Depending on where you are stationed, you may experience a much bigger workload than other handlers. I worked in beverages across from the joust, and EVERY day around 2:30, once the joust ended the line would be backed up all the way to the stadium. Some days we'd be so dehydrated we'd be on the verge of fainting and management would need to come disperse the line. One of the biggest cons for me and the reason I decided not to return for the next year's festival was that I simply was not paid enough. I made $8.25 an hour, and from what I've heard from my coworkers that is what just about everyone was making. There are a couple people who were older, had more experience, had higher cost of travel or from a temp agency that were making 9 or even 10 dollars an hour. I had to punch in at 8 am every Saturday and Sunday for 2 months straight and I wouldn't punch out until 6:45 and even almost 7:30 somedays if the cleanup was bad enough. I was so exhausted physically that I could barely walk to the parking lot. They are very strict about the time clock, and if you are a minute over your 30 minute lunch break they will dock another 15 minutes from your pay. One of the bigger kitchens farther up the festival is HUGE inside compared to the one I worked in, and most employees would go for lunch up there. If you come in through the kitchen's employee entrance and exchange your ticket for a meal there, then by the time you go and sit on the bench in the employee area you're already down 15 minutes. I barely had 10 minutes to make a phone call and then I had to clean up and get back in my kitchen to clock in. In addition to that, there were some people in upper management who would just be downright rude or condescending and overall it was just a very toxic work environment. Management is very distrusting of staff and that's why cash handlers are very rarely allowed to work alone. It wasn't until the end of the season that I was allowed to be alone with my tray at my station waiting for other people to get there. We also couldn't take quick breaks as cash handlers because our stations are nearly 6 feet apart so they can't just leave their tray. There were times that someone would want to go get some air or take a smoke break and would ask me to watch their tray. Even if my supervisor was okay with it I would say no I'm sorry but I'm not going to put it underneath mine because if there is a shortage at all in this kitchen then it's going to be me on the line. So because none of us wanted to go through the lockup procedure we never got to take 15 minute breaks like backend staff. Of course this translated into resentment and discord between employees because (to use Glassdoor-appropriate language) I was known as uptight, or a stickler, Management also doesn't let you use the styrofoam cups we have sleeves and sleeves of to make your own beverages. Even though I worked IN the premium beverage section, selling sodas and milkshakes etc, I was not allowed to consume any of it. If I wanted a milkshake, I had to pay 4 dollars for it, despite lugging the ice into the kitchen for them to make it with. I also couldn't just open a water bottle and drink it. That was a no-no. Even if it was recorded with the kitchen manager who was responsible for inventory. No no no. We had to use the tap. We couldn't use the styrofoam cups and put water in them either, because according to them it's a theft risk and we could smuggle money out in those cups. We had to use little 6 oz clear solo cups, the kind you get at the dentist's office. Even if we had one of those, we couldn't even keep them at our station because it "looks bad" to the customers. So we had to ask back-end staff to keep them refilled and whenever we needed a drink between customers we had to wait for them to be in earshot and then ask for our drinks. The other thing is that we were NOT allowed to receive tip money. If I was allowed to accept tip money I would have had about $2,000 more than I actually made. We do not receive tips often, considering that we serve hundreds of patrons a day, but I would usually get about 15-20 guests that would offer to give me a 5, a 20 and one guy even tried to give me a 50. While we couldn't receive tips, the people working in bar just up the way COULD, and a lot of my fellow handlers would tell them that while we can't take the tips, they can. This really upset me because they would take the food and drink they ordered from us, take their change and then give our tips to someone they hadn't even met. It was also confusing and emotionally charging for the guests because they were upset that they could tip them and not us. Any time they said to keep the change I had to decline, and they would usually just wink or roll their eyes, and then just leave it on the counter and walk away. I had to inform them that if they choose to leave the money on the counter I am obligated to report it as lost and put it in the drop. Keep in mind that all of this, in addition to managing my station, (because I was basically head handler for my section) doing the setup and clean-up, as well as some of the stocking, I had to remain in character at all times. Yes, because this is a renaissance festival, everything that needed communicated between coworkers, supervisors and guests HAD to be in fantasy/medieval speak whenever the customer was in earshot. We had phrases we had to learn, like "How farest thou?" etc. And even when I had to decline tips, which was already uncomfortable, I had to say things like, "oh but sir, if I breaketh the rules, Lord Mayor Bullfrog will have my head!" Every interaction, even confirming the orders had to be done creatively, comedically, and incredulously so that it was actually enjoyable. The first 3 weeks were spent perfecting our characters. My line was always, "Sir, can I interest you in some Dew from the Mountain? Our peasants just went up to collect it this morning," Some of the more dark humor would be like, if a handler needed to be called off duty while serving a customer, they would say "I'm sorry to interrupt, do you mind if I borrow him for a moment? [So-and-so] will finish serving you, it's time for his flogging." Despite sounding crude, most of the customers enjoyed it. The ones who had no affect didn't understand what it meant. Myself along with some of the other handlers actually thought that this joke was pretty funny, and we would use it among ourselves, like telling each other that it's time for their flogging whenever it was breaktime. Others actually really hated it and were made uncomfortable by it. It has the potential to be a very rewarding experience but the way they treat their employees is just inconsiderate at best.