Saturday, June 29, 2013

'13/#12 A New Home, A New Adventure

We are no longer in Alexander Springs. As much as we liked the area and had made some awesome friends, management was making living and working there intolerable. We found a new RV park with better jobs, better pay, and what seems to be competent management. On top of that we are almost 2 hours closer to the kids and grandkids, and at least an hour closer to the uncles on the east coast. As a bonus we don't have to travel 45 minutes each way just to get a gallon of milk. It is a win, win, win all the way around. Our new home is closer to civilization so we can get satellite TV, make cell phone calls, and connect to the internet. It's nice to be away from it all sometimes, but then you start to miss it all and want it back.

Mary will be working in the office doing all that is implied by that. Phone calls, computer billing and reservations, and anything else that is involved. I will be working in maintenance. For now that is grounds keeping. I run the lawn tractor, weed whacker, and generally keep the place looking nice. I'm sure there will be more once I get familiar with the park and all the amenities.

We are pretty much settled in so we decided to do a little spring cleaning. RVers live by the "one in, one out" rule to keep the rig's weight down. I always joke that Mary follows that rule....when she buys herself one thing one of mine gets thrown out. Well it appears that Mary has not followed the rule at all. After going through the closets I got rid of one sport coat and a denim jacket. Mary filled 3, YES 3, large trash bags with stuff she hasn't worn in a while, won't ever wear again, or has never worn in the first place. That doesn't count another bag of stuff that we will be passing on to the grandkids. We now have 30 extra empty hangers to store. At least they don't take as much space as full hangers. When the rain stops I will load the truck (hopefully only one trip) and head to the dumpster or Goodwill. I can talk now but the next spring cleaning project will be the garage. That is when Mary will be able to talk bad about my pack rat habits.

Well it looks like the rain is letting up so I will sign off and go load the truck. I also have to find the nearest Goodwill drop off since we are new to the area. So this good bye for now from our new home here in Zephyrhills Florida because.....

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

'13/#11 Frustration!

We work with some great people but as usual there are always a few that ruin a good situation. Also not surprising the duds are the ones in charge. Here in the "springs" we are service oriented employees. We try to make the guest's experience the best it can be by making the campground and day use areas as clean and pleasant to use as possible. It appears that we have been successful based on the comment cards we are receiving. Even our supervisors are telling us we are doing a great job. So why are they changing the way we do our jobs?

Our jobs have a policy that states that it is the responsibility of the employee manage hours. Then the supervisor tells us how to manage our hours. How does one manage hours while being micro-managed? Just goes to show that the Post Office isn't the only company screwed up by management yet is still operated successfully by the employees in spite of that management. AL&L has one major difference from the Post Office. Employees will put up with a lot for enough pay and benefits whereas AL&L pays minimum wage and no benefits. That may be why this park has had 5- 6 sets of managers over the past TWO years. Heck, if you figure the hours managers put in based on their salary they are getting a lot less than minimum wage. We are happy to be lowly camp hosts at an hourly wage with a lot less headaches.

On another subject we got to see all the kids this past week. Everyone is doing great and is was fun to see them. It was a welcome break from the insanity that was Memorial Day Weekend at the springs. The park was so crowded that we had to close the gates at 10:30am all 3 days of the holiday weekend. Then there was the mess that comes with large groups of people in small areas at one time. I won't go into details for those of you who may be squeamish but the restrooms/showers need extra attention.

Well that is enough for now so I will sign off from our home here in Alexander Springs because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank and Mary