Sleepaway camp demanding son to work 14 hour days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is normal for a sleep away camp? I worked at one throughout college. Great experience. If he doesn’t want to do it then don’t have him go. What did he think when he got a job as a counselor? Did he ever go as a camper?

Agree, we were with campers from wakeup between 7 and 8 to bedtime between 8 and 9, so normally a 13-14 hour day. and we got 1 hour off a day and one 6-hour long break per week and every other Saturday off. And got paid NOTHING because room and board was technically included.

I don't mean literally nothing, I mean it felt like nothing. Less than minimum wage, definitely.

Room and board is not nothing. Its over half of my expenses.

[Anonymous]

He's not getting paid $400.
He is getting paid $400 plus room and board.
Sorry Dad, but I am with camp on this one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is normal for a sleep away camp? I worked at one throughout college. Great experience. If he doesn’t want to do it then don’t have him go. What did he think when he got a job as a counselor? Did he ever go as a camper?

It's a sleep away camp. Aren't the hours pretty much 24/7?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They hired him as a hybrid position (singular) of maintenance/counselor. They are trying to have him work maintenance 7:30-4 and then 5-10:30 as a counselor (presumably relieving the fulltime counselors). Yeah. Not cool.

Those are the exact working hours I had when I taught at a boarding school. I was so exhausted that I spent my days off in bed all day. It is not sustainable and I will never understand why anyone thinks it is safe or healthy to have people caring for children stretched like this. Your son will be exhausted, and if something happens to one of the kids, he will feel terrible. Not safe, not fair, and not something that is going to be ultimately fulfilling for him. Have him quit and learn that his time is valuable now.

[Anonymous]

Wow a religious camp scamming money, quelle surprise. Grifters gotta grift.

I'd pick him up and report them for fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They hired him as a hybrid position (singular) of maintenance/counselor. They are trying to have him work maintenance 7:30-4 and then 5-10:30 as a counselor (presumably relieving the fulltime counselors). Yeah. Not cool.

No way, that's not reasonable.

That works out to far less than minimum wage. Why are they only paying him 400$ a week to do two jobs when they're short staffed. His conversation should be a request for more money, if that makes him happy, to do the two jobs. But working 7 am to 10:30 pm as a teenager sounds pretty miserable to me. I would suggest he does only the maintenance job he's doing which at a 9 hour day is still below minimum wage for 400$/week.

also he may be owed overtime too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They hired him as a hybrid position (singular) of maintenance/counselor. They are trying to have him work maintenance 7:30-4 and then 5-10:30 as a counselor (presumably relieving the fulltime counselors). Yeah. Not cool.

Those are the exact working hours I had when I taught at a boarding school. I was so exhausted that I spent my days off in bed all day. It is not sustainable and I will never understand why anyone thinks it is safe or healthy to have people caring for children stretched like this. Your son will be exhausted, and if something happens to one of the kids, he will feel terrible. Not safe, not fair, and not something that is going to be ultimately fulfilling for him. Have him quit and learn that his time is valuable now.

What boarding school was that? Both of my kids went to boarding schools and that was definitely not the case there. They graduated last year and four years ago. Both went to one of the HADES.

[Anonymous]

I worked at camps as a college student, and then worked for a few years on the front office as year-round staff.

This is not normal. Yes, long hours are the norm, but having someone serve as both maintenance staff AND cabin stuff is highly unusual. I've worked at six camps and never saw that.

Typically, cabin staff would have some "down time" during the day. They might be with the kids physically, but they are just supervising art barn time and the art staff is in charge, or hanging out at the sidelines while the sports staff runs games.

But someone doing maintenance is literally working all day, and then being in charge of kids? That's highly unusual for the same reason we would not make water safety staff (lifeguards) work the overnight cabin shift.

With that said, I doubt the camp chose this. Summer camps are heavily reliant on overseas labor, usually college students or young adults who come from all over the world to work. With travel bans, and uncertainty about navigating US Customs, and parents advising their kids not to go to the US, those numbers are WAY WAY down.

So the camp is stuck without the correct ratios, and forcing folks to fill in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They hired him as a hybrid position (singular) of maintenance/counselor. They are trying to have him work maintenance 7:30-4 and then 5-10:30 as a counselor (presumably relieving the fulltime counselors). Yeah. Not cool.

Those are the exact working hours I had when I taught at a boarding school. I was so exhausted that I spent my days off in bed all day. It is not sustainable and I will never understand why anyone thinks it is safe or healthy to have people caring for children stretched like this. Your son will be exhausted, and if something happens to one of the kids, he will feel terrible. Not safe, not fair, and not something that is going to be ultimately fulfilling for him. Have him quit and learn that his time is valuable now.

What boarding school was that? Both of my kids went to boarding schools and that was definitely not the case there. They graduated last year and four years ago. Both went to one of the HADES.

The school is in the UK.

I wouldn't be so sure it wasn't the same at your kids' schools. I was a full time teacher with "house tutor" duties, which meant being in the boarding house from 5-11 pm to do rounds and regular check-offs, offer tutoring, make sure study hall was enforced, bed check, as well as actual tutoring and talking/spending time with kids. It was intense. Really intense. And really exploitive. There were teachers at the school who had worked at Choate and Andover, and one of them was also on the same schedule and the same boarding house; neither of them indicated that our schedule was in any way unusual.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like this camp is short staffed and cheap OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked at camps as a college student, and then worked for a few years on the front office as year-round staff.

This is not normal. Yes, long hours are the norm, but having someone serve as both maintenance staff AND cabin stuff is highly unusual. I've worked at six camps and never saw that.

Typically, cabin staff would have some "down time" during the day. They might be with the kids physically, but they are just supervising art barn time and the art staff is in charge, or hanging out at the sidelines while the sports staff runs games.

But someone doing maintenance is literally working all day, and then being in charge of kids? That's highly unusual for the same reason we would not make water safety staff (lifeguards) work the overnight cabin shift.

With that said, I doubt the camp chose this. Summer camps are heavily reliant on overseas labor, usually college students or young adults who come from all over the world to work. With travel bans, and uncertainty about navigating US Customs, and parents advising their kids not to go to the US, those numbers are WAY WAY down.

So the camp is stuck without the correct ratios, and forcing folks to fill in.

There are plenty of college kids who are unemployed or who have had offers rescinded (particularly in the DMV area where so many federal internships were cancelled and so many lay offs have occurred). I am sure the camp admins are very busy but hiring people to fill in is not an unheard of scenario.

But if OP’s kid makes it easy for them by working ridiculous hours for very little money, why would they bother to find someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked at camps as a college student, and then worked for a few years on the front office as year-round staff.

This is not normal. Yes, long hours are the norm, but having someone serve as both maintenance staff AND cabin stuff is highly unusual. I've worked at six camps and never saw that.

Typically, cabin staff would have some "down time" during the day. They might be with the kids physically, but they are just supervising art barn time and the art staff is in charge, or hanging out at the sidelines while the sports staff runs games.

But someone doing maintenance is literally working all day, and then being in charge of kids? That's highly unusual for the same reason we would not make water safety staff (lifeguards) work the overnight cabin shift.

With that said, I doubt the camp chose this. Summer camps are heavily reliant on overseas labor, usually college students or young adults who come from all over the world to work. With travel bans, and uncertainty about navigating US Customs, and parents advising their kids not to go to the US, those numbers are WAY WAY down.

So the camp is stuck without the correct ratios, and forcing folks to fill in.

That may be, but the problem will only get worse as OP’s kid quits, then another, then another. OP’s kid isn’t responsible for keeping the camp running (or for policy decisions make elsewhere).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's not getting paid $400.
He is getting paid $400 plus room and board.
Sorry Dad, but I am with camp on this one

+1

And all meals paid for. He is getting paid way more than $400.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Normal, I would not have him go.

I'm proud of him for being willing to be his own advocate by having this conversation tomorrow. If it works out, great. If his reasonable concern is dismissed, he knows we support him if he chooses to quit. I worked at this same camp when I was his age and I was not asked to work practically round the clock. I'd like it to work out, but if he needs to leave, I support him. I would hate to lose my personal affection for this camp over this, but who knows.

A religious summer camp and you are surprised? If you think
Him talking to them will change his schedule you are literally stupid.

Tell him to quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By comparison, my son works at a STEM day camp in Bethesda for $17-something an hour, 7:50 to 4:20, and during the week of pre-training and clean-up, about 9 to 4.

I think your son's situation isn't right - either he should work less or be paid more. If he doesn't get what he wants, he leaves politely. That way the camp understands that they cannot keep exploiting young people. He'll be doing future counselors a favor.

Your son isn’t also getting room and board, which I’m assuming OP’s son is.