WORKAMPER DISAPPOINTMENTS

Workamper jobs are much like any other. You may like your boss, you may NOT. You make like the people you work with, you may NOT. The work may be what you anticipated, it may NOT. Even doing all the research does not assure you of a great experience.

On her "Work for RVers and Campers" blog, Coleen Sykora, recently featured letters from RVers who were disappointed with their workamper poitions. I am going to copy them for those of you who may want to consider workamping.

Job Ended Before It Started (a work camper writes...) We arrived as agreed for our summer position. After we had been here four days, the owner met with us. His office manager had been training us. He said he was separating from his wife and moving into the park; he could not afford to pay us. He would give us our first month pay, which is $200.00 short of our travel cost. We can stay about another week, but today, he gave my husband the money in cash. I want to talk to him and let him know our travel costs are not covered and ask why he could not have made this decision, before I drove three days to get here. Any suggestions? Coleen, the RVing editor replies:  I so, so, hope that you followed my advice and did not travel to that location solely because of a job. I trust you went to that area because you want to be there.  So, on the bright side.... You are in an area where you want to spend time. You've worked four days and been paid for a month. You have a place to stay -- at no cost to you -- for another week while you scout the area for another position.  It is typically much easier to find work after you are already on location, or at least in the general area. Campgrounds and other businesses are hiring now for the season. Take a few hours time to study the articles on Work-for-RVers-and-Campers.com to get some ideas for finding jobs locally. Put those tips into action and you will come out of this ahead of the game. I wish you all the best! Workampers Are People, Too! by: Lyndsey I'm a little disappointed in Coleen's answer. Why not take the issues of CG owners disrespecting workampers? We have bills, some of us need to work for pay. What happened to honoring contracts, whether verbal or written? I think that issue needs addressed. The very same thing happened to us. We researched for a job in Wy. We are thrilled to be here and the job is great, except now the owner tells us his business is down some this year so he will not be paying us anymore! We can work for our site only. We have a contract with this owner. We did our homework, asked for a contract, and have been excellent employees. We budgeted to break even when we took this job; now we will operate at a loss. Coleen, the RVing editor replies:  Lyndsey, I'm sorry to hear that your experience isn't working out the way you planned. Thanks for sharing your story. Coming from you, a campground worker, it will probably have more impact than it does coming from me. Your story reinforces what we try to explain to RVers -- that no amount of research and no contract is going to assure you that a job you accept from across the country is going to turn out like you imagine it will.  Are you planning on taking action to enforce your contract? Our First Workamping Experience: (LonSharon) We had a contract dating March 2011 for a workamp job in which we would receive a free full hookup site. We drove from central Missouri to south central Texas in mid October for the job which we had looked forward to with much anticipation. We felt tense in the situation from the very beginning. We had four work schedules in two months. Then, after ending up with six workampers for a fifty site park, the owners had the manager ask all the workampers if they would volunteer to leave. "Business is down and we need someone to leave". No one volunteered to leave. Then, the manager is sent to tell us, you will have to pay a reduced rent and work a reduced schedule. Fair?? Maybe, maybe not! Certainly not what the "contract" called for. Our response was, No we don't have to accept this deal. We will move on. I agree with Coleen. You shouldn't travel to an area of the country just for the workamper job. If it doesn't work out at least you need to be somewhere you want to be. You can look for another job. As we have all learned, "Life is not fair". Campground owners, like workampers, are not all reliable and do not always honor the contract. It appears to me these contracts are not really worth very much. I doubt that retired workampers are going to want to go through the expense and stress of going to court to see if they can enforce the contract. I don't know if any of this will help any of my followers. If it does, it will be worth the time it has taken me to post it. If not, I needed something to do anyway on this cool, wet Texas Hill Country evening. Good Night! Lon