Hi everyone. I have worked at a summer camp for many years now. Most people work as a counsellor which entails leading a new group of campers each week. The counsellors work underneath their designated director who works with parents, takes on tough situations involving campers, plans programming for the campers, manages the staff, and much more. I began as a counsellor and worked my way up to becoming a director which was a wonderful experience.
However, when interviewing for a director position I was specifically interviewing to be the director of our exceptionalities program. It is a program dedicated for children with all sorts of exceptionalities and I worked in this program for two years before applying to be the director. My university degree is also related to this field. The interview was a success and my boss told me the job was mine and that a contract would be written up for me to sign. However, after interviewing and being told the job was mine I was informed that the previous director of the program decided to return for the summer so by default she receives the job. I was quite annoyed by this as I was so excited to receive the job and then disappointed to be told I can’t do it. That being said however, my boss had me work as a director in a different program at the camp which was a great experience.
The following summer covid hit and the camp didn’t have the resources available to operate during a pandemic, as such the camp was closed for the summer. The following summer, the camp was open again however I could not work there as I needed to do a semester to complete some courses for my degree. Although, I was able to come in for a week to work with a camper who had some exceptionalities.
It is now the current spring/summer. Unfortunately, I am not able to work as a director as all the previous directors are returning this summer so by default the job goes to them. I was totally ok with this and interviewed to work in the exceptionalities program as a counsellor again. During the interview, my boss informed me that the director of the program is working a different job during spring and so will be unavailable to interview the campers with exceptionalities, assess them, tour them around, plan the program, prepare for training the staff, etc. He asked if I may be able to help out with these responsibilities and I agreed to do so. However, after the interview and thinking on this, I regretted agreeing to take on these responsibilities. I genuinely feel that my boss is responsible for hiring someone who is available during both spring and summer and if a director is unavailable for the spring to plan things than they should not be working as a director. Essentially, my boss wants me to take on the responsibilities of the director without allowing me to actually be the director or receive monetary compensation.
I really feel that the camp is essentially trying to take advantage of me by asking me to do work beyond what my job requires of me without me receiving any sort of compensation or being able to work as the director – as well, no one has been in communication with me about any of these responsibilities and camp begins in less than a month. I will be extremely annoyed if I am expected to do all this work with such little time. And this is likely what will happen as I have been hearing indirect chatter from people about me taking on these responsibilities. However, my boss has yet to speak to me about this.
In my many years working at this camp I have never refused a job. I have worked in almost every section and am capable of taking on any task from working with extremely difficult campers, to doing work in the office, and even taking on maintenance jobs such as constructing literal buildings for the camp. I am an extremely quick and thorough worker as I have been told numerous times by my boss and others. I am often running out of jobs to do at the camp because I complete my work so quickly and thoroughly. And I have never once felt annoyed for doing all this hard work for a simple minimum wage pay check, I love working primarily outdoors and being in the sun all day which makes up for the small pay check. However, I feel I am really being taken advantage of and I am increasingly becoming annoyed. Especially because I now have a university degree and I am qualified to work elsewhere for much more money and I am questioning why I am still working at this camp.
Overall, I feel it is unfair for me to take on the responsibilities of the director (planning the program, assessing/interviewing campers and parents, training the staff in the program, etc) without actually getting a chance to be the director or receive some sort of compensation. I especially feel it is wrong for me to be training the staff because everyone will become comfortable with me throughout the training and then the director is going to walk in and work with them instead. I feel like they want me to be the face of the program until the actual director comes at which point, they will throw me aside. And what’s even more difficult for me is that I would actually love to plan this program and train the staff because I know I would do such an amazing job as I have in the past with a different program, I just simply feel like I will receive nothing in return for doing all this work.
In all honesty, I feel like I am being very petty and that I am in the wrong for considering to refuse taking on these responsibilities. Especially because no one else is really qualified to do it and the program may take a hit if I refuse. As well, it is likely that the current director will not return next summer and I assume that after refusing to take on these responsibilities that the camp wont want me back the following summer. This means there is no one qualified to run the program and I predict a bit of a staffing issue for next summer.
I do not know what to do or how to manage this situation and so I am seeking outside opinions. By nature, I am a very agreeable/passive person and have a tough time advocating for myself which is why I sometimes end up in situations like this and often over think if I am in the wrong or not. If I am being petty or irrational, please just kindly tell me.