I will start off by laying out the conditions of my work, and then grievances will be put into bullet points. If I can succinctly fit all of this info into a TL;DR, then I will! But here is all of the shit.
First off, I work an 8:20 AM-3:20 PM shift everyday Monday-Friday. There is one night each session that we are required to work until 7:20 PM.
There are also opportunities for extra hours, such as working an extended day either in the morning or in the afternoon, but I did not take that opportunity.
I am not paid by the hour, but if I was, it would average out to about $12.50/hour. I am in Illinois, but since camps aren’t subject to the same laws (or at least I had heard that somewhere) it’s okay that it’s under minimum wage? At the end of the summer, I will have made about $3500. My technical title is “assistant counselor” since I am under 18, but I do the same job as a regular counselor. The way one of my coworkers put it was “they give the high schoolers a different title with an excuse so that they can pay you less.”
The campers’ parents pay $3500 for 4 weeks, and if they opt for the full 8-week program, it is about $6000. This is for my specific group.
The summer, for the sake of an operational definition, is defined by 44 days. We had the fourth of July off work, but otherwise, it is a 1-week orientation and two 4-week sessions. All in all, 9 weeks, and Mon-Fri in those weeks.
Now, the issues that have come up.
- One of my bosses (we will call her Lily) fired a counselor and gave extremely vague reasoning. This was AFTER another counselor complained about her, so they had her just become a substitute counselor— which is not the job she signed up for. Besides being extremely vague, they brought up her mental health issues and said that they “know [she] had issues, that maybe she could work on and come back next summer”.
- In the pool, if you don’t get your hair wet, they will pour a bucket of water on your head. This was one girl’s last straw. After what had happened with the counselor above, AND getting water poured on her head, this counselor quit. The reason she was frustrated is because the motto of this environment (as created and enforced by the owners of the camp) is for everyone to feel “safe, comfortable, and positive”.
- In the second session’s late night, Lily got into an argument with another counselor, Justina. I’m unsure what had started the argument, but Lily** had begun to yell at Justina in front of Justina’s campers. This was actually a reason that a couple counselors had quit last year, or at least that’s what I was told by my co-counselor. This in and of itself is not great, but it got to the point where Lily had put her hands on Justina and pushed her. It wasn’t a shove, but it was definitely a push. Lily had also claimed there were “parent complaints” about Justina— but Justina also has the most difficult group out of the entire camp by far. Anybody who tries to substitute for her group just can’t do it.
- In my coworker Dasher’s group, he has a kid who at one point began touching himself in the locker room. This kid also just generally is not behaved well, but leadership staff had promised he would be separated from the group and never followed up on that.
Here is some of the issues that I have personally taken up with leadership/the camp in general.
- Leadership people have asked other counselors about MY RELATIONSHIP WITH ANOTHER COUNSELOR. This leadership staff member asked if I was currently in a relationship with another counselor, but they did not ask me— they asked the other counselor, who did then confirm it. Just to clarify, I never show any signs of PDA at work; this was based off of a picture sent to a groupchat where I was sitting next to him. That’s it. And, you know, it’s totally not weird for a 30-something year old staff member to ask about a high schooler’s relationship status, right?
- Leadership staff decided to show us how much they appreciate us by giving us one 30-minute no-kid break. This was the only break we had gotten for the whole summer and it will continue to be the only break we will get for the remainder as well, even on those 11-hour work days.
- We are required to give the kids swim lessons every day. We are given a group of about 3-6 kids, and the swim level varies from week to week. This sucks ass, y’all. That’s not my job, and that’s not what I signed up for. I was told it would just be lifeguard/CPR training. There were a couple times I left swim lessons crying because fuck that part of the day. It’s the worst part of the day. We had two 10-5 training days on just swim instruction before the orientation week even started and it was so mid
- I had to have a discussion with my other boss, who we will call Sally. Sally, at one point during the discussion, which I will admit got very emotional on my end, said that she “knew [I] medical stuff going on” but “will still need to be here every day for the rest of the summer”. And, this wasn’t great timing, but I came down with a bad cold that same day (even before that discussion). I have been hella (HELLA) sick the past two days, but powered through BECAUSE of that discussion; however, I took today off, which I was very apologetic about, but Sally said she required a doctor’s note from me. Can she even do this if this is a part-time job? I’m not getting PTO for anything… This was literally today and I’m feeling like this is my last straw. They literally guilted one counselor to come in when she had food poisoning AND SHE THREW UP FIVE TIMES AT CAMP like girlll be so for real
These are only some of the issues that have arisen, but they’re what I felt like typing out. I wanted some advice on what to do— and if it’s worth it to quit. I love these kids with my whole heart, and I don’t think I could abandon my co-counselor— but it’s getting to be too much for me. I have to take panic attack pills at work, and I dread every second that I’m there. The only thing is, I only have 6 days left at this point. Is it worth it to quit?
If I quit, my counselor friends would quit too. If they quit, I would also quit, no hesitation. It’s been a rough summer, no matter how much I love the kids.
TL;DR: Work an 8 AM-3 PM shift Monday-Friday at a day camp, and am paid under minimum wage. Counselor was fired and given vague reasoning other than her “mental health”, another counselor quit because she felt humiliated, boss PUT HER HANDS ON MY COWORKER, leadership staff makes empty promises + asks about high schooler’s relationship statuses, we have to give swim lessons everyday and it’s ass, no breaks, and I have to give a doctor’s note when it’s not PTO and is just a bad cold.