This is a shout out to all the hard work and solid stoke from most of the people we work with on the daily.
Obviously to all the instructors and indoor staff in the CLC absolutely killing it. It's hard sometimes with the li'lluns, but the solid work and beautiful smiles of the staff really kept it going (Kaisea O, Sean Hitchcock, Sean Hwang, Kelley, Forrest and Aden, Val S, Humaira, Ashley, Jenn, Geoffrey, Lucy S, Marissa, Walker, Misha, Ryan Colesar, Immo and Orion, Ben Johnson, Kristin Lago, Adam C, Rayna, Cole R, James F, Nate H, and El, Josue, Gerardo, Vicky, Broddie, Laura, Ikumi, Annie, Manny and Manny, Christian, Greyson, Abi, Kendall, Aliyah, Lauren, and Gracie). And without ya'll it would be a serious struggle.
And of course the people with whom we work closely every day, Daycare and Funzone staff, you keep the littlest littles happy, and their parents too! (Clifford, Yasmeen, Rebecca, Shannon, Jennifer, Gilberto, and Julie forever)
Then there's Food and Bev Warehouse (Jim Ferrel, Josue Salgado, Allen Bajaras, Nic, and a few others whose names we missed), who kept up on food orders even when we forgot to send out the email. We saw all of them hustling through the holidays, and they were there for us and the kiddos the whole way through. Totally bad-ass and we dig it! Also, Zach and Arturo from the Core Kitchen, you feed us everyday and we rarely get to see your faces! That's true love right there.
The MLC sales and ticket staff were incredible. Through the roughest of times they persevered with a smile (said with an Olde English accent). Helping out upset guests and keeping the happy customers happy, they did it all. (Taylor, Raul, Serap, Joe Towne, Emily, Laura, Gage, Ben Jackson, and Kathy and Jamie F who help with greeting).
And to all our Adult line-up brethren and sistren (is that right?) (like Phil D, Francesco, Rachel, Nachos, Cole, Caleb, Kaitlin, JesseSend, Callahan, Scott, Greg, Brian, Richard Mario, and so many more) we don't see you much, but we "see" you working your heineis off.
When people think the CLC desk is the place to go for all things Meadows (we do look pretty official over here (?)), we send them to Concierge! Thanks for being rough-and-tumble, and fully capable (Cayce, Aaron, and the rest of the crucial staff up there).
Let us not forget the awesome baristas at Higher Grounds who championed the holidays and got everyone perfectly fed and caffeinated.
Rentals, we didn't forget you, promise. You tolerated us stealing gear right from under your noses all through the holidays! (KC, Mason, Michael and all you peeps)
And to all those folks we don't work closely with in all other depts (HPC, Parking, Stube, Vert, Schusssssssss, Maintenance, Parks Crew, Grooming, Lift Ops, Merch, IT, DPS), we sincerely appreciate all the good work and effort that goes into each day.
And to all the Supervisors and Managers, thanks for keeping all of these folks happy, because they're all necessary for us to be anything.
So if we missed anyone, this is to all of you who work hard and perpetuate the stoke every day! Mad Love
What an awesome shout out! - Tyler, Learning Center Operations & Training Manager
Just a couple shout outs this week -
-Rafael in Higher Grounds has been killing it. He was the only one working today and was juggling a bunch of different orders flawlessly and quickly.
-IT's follow up with maintenance requests has been great. I really appreciate the explanations and how to problem solve them in the future
-Jeremy's check in's and communication on Saturday when we closed early was awesome and much appreciated
-The check-in's from the Leadership team this year have been awesome. I've gotten great feedback from our staff about Meadow's feeling like family and feeling valued as an individual here, and I think our leadership staff stopping in to chat and get to know our staff has been a part of that.
Thanks for the positive comments!
-Jeremy Riss
The team is a well oiled machine. Love the leaders who not only try their best to support us under tough times, because lets face it this is a tough environment, but also help to prepare us to bring our A game every day. Teaching us not to just complain without coming up with helpful suggestions, and hopefully knowing what the other person or department faces instead of only thinking of yourself, makes me happy to work here. Leadership is trying their best to do their best by us. What's not to love about that?
You guys do a good job making us feel important and needed.
That's so great to hear!
Tyler
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Tyler Barnes
Learning Center Operations & Training Manager
The lift gates on easy rider are displaying the incorrect time. (Off by about an hour and twenty minutes or so.) As instructors we often rely on checking the time to see that our lesson pacing is going well and make necessary adjustments, or to know when the lesson is close to ending. I'm sure the guests rely on it for different reasons as well.
Thanks for noticing this. I'll pass this along to someone who can check that time at those gates.
Tyler
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Tyler Barnes
Learning Center Operations & Training Manager
I want to give a huge shout out to all involved with the struggles that we have faced the last 2 Saturdays! So many guest didn't realize that we had a massive power failure last week on top of races and the best day at the end of winter break. Also so many guests were understanding of shutting the mountain down due to wind this last Saturday. It was brutal.
Neither were great circumstances, but the info we were given in such a short time frame was flawless!
Kudos to all involved that got info to the folks that were the at the front lines of guest services. It made our job really easy.
And I know that no guests see this, but the level of optimism they had was huge. They understood and respected the decision of management this last Saturday and were understanding of the challenges last Saturday. So the way it filtered down from the top, keeping the stoke in crappy circumstances, was crazy awesome.
I rated how I felt this week as a 9. Only because it sucks to be cut early and have to wait for hours for a bus while being unpaid. It's honestly my only complaint and reason for the lower score. I love the stoke, the vibe of my fellow teammates, how Mr. Pack and other high level management is actively involved with the happiness of the team and the guests! It's awesome! That said, if I were to base it on the following, I'd rate it a 1.
I want to first of all say thank you for having the employee bus option. It's a really great benefit. Waiting for the bus sucks but it's still a great benefit. However, if I see one more bus unchained when ODOT has the mandatory chain advisory for vehicles over 10,000 GVW and the driver says "I don't feel like chaining up and unchaining", I'm calling ODOT and OSP. I will also do so when the drivers are driving like they are invincible. Bombing down the hill at 10 over the posted speed (which is a speed advisory for absolutely perfect conditions, sunny and 75 degrees with no traffic, in a passenger vehicle), passing where it isn't safe, doing donuts to turn around, cutting people off, or being 15 feet off someone's bumper at 10 mph over in conditions they shouldn't be unchained in to begin with and then flashing their face of the sun bright LED lights at a the car that is probably going slow because they can't see because of said headlights in their mirrors, it flat isn't cool. I may not be a seasoned enough driver to know a lot, but I know going 55 down the mountain in near white out conditions, locking up breaks to the point that the bus goes sideways because the road disappeared, and passing a dozen cars headed west through Govy (which is technically a 3 lane road with only one lane headed west and no passing zone) isn't right. Going 3 wide just to pass people before Govy isn't remotely ok. Just because the white and yellow lines are covered with snow, doesn't mean it's a free for all to make ones own lanes. Chains don't make a bus stop faster or make anyone a better driver. The safety of your employees and others on the road isn't worth the benny.
I personally applied at Meadows because of the employee bus benefit, but I won't stay here unless this changes. My life isn't worth it. Getting into an accident where others are impacted isn't worth it. This needs to change immediately.
If you look at the math, these drivers are gaining a few minutes and escaping some pain in the ass conditions by not throwing chains. I know they want to get home just as much as the rest of us do. But the time to do their job safely isn't worth the time lost. Just as it isn't ok for the lifties to half ass their job, culinary to cook chicken half way just to get it out to the table, rentals to say they think they set up equipment ok enough, guest services to sell the wrong product. The drivers are kinda set at a higher standard due to the fact they have to answer to the state and have higher training to get their CDL.
We are Mt Hood Meadows and all team members should be at our absolute best. We are the highest paid team on the mountain, we have the best terrain, the best lifts, we are the creme de la creme in this area and have been for decades, all areas of our team should emulate that. All of us have no reason to not be at our absolute best for each other and our guests and others in the area.
Thank you for reading this far and if you'd like to have a conversation about this, I'd be glad to. Just tell me who to talk to.
I would like to give a shout out to Emily Hearle for her efforts to upgrade the Adaptive program in the Learning Center. She is enthusiastic, always smiling, well organized and focused on serving our clients. She is a delight to work with, and we can already see increased professionalism in the program. I think this is a great way to give back to the community.
Emily has been a great addition to the team. She is a true pro and is devoting to the excellence and growth of our adaptive program. And I know the instructors who work with out adaptive lesson guests are truly enriched by the experience. Thanks for sharing your obeservations.
Tyler
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Tyler Barnes
Learning Center Operations & Training Manager
Everyone should get the same food discount. We are all employees who work hard and it just doesn't feel good to pay more than management.
It was less than ideal to have a mad rush of people trying to get on a second 415 bus to HR last Saturday 1/4. Some of us who didn't push ended up standing. Any chance we could have a separate 4 pm employee bus on Saturdays?
Is there a way to have a Meadows Marketplace? A place were employees can post things they are selling and/or what they are looking to buy?
It turns out there was a free plugin I was able to install to allow posting classified ads on the site. If you look at the main menu in the upper right hand corner there is now a "Classifieds" button. Check it out, I hope it is helpful to the team.
-Jeremy Riss