land manager

Chipmunks Playland and Café

First owner underpaid us all. Managers over worked us and made us feel guilty for taking time off. 
New owners come, pay us right which its good. But put down older staff members, cut their shifts,  refuse to train them in more things (being trained in more things leads to more shifts) and never took our feedback even after we voiced unsafe procedures, e.g. Looking after an after hours party with over 300 people by yourself. 
Do not work here unless you enjoy being belittled every day and made to feel insignificant, especially after asking to be trained in more parts of the company. 
To the new owners, this job is for teenagers because they are cheap and don't care. 
Most of my colleagues were amazing and were the only reason I stayed there for longer than a year. But no one deserves to feel the way that I was made to feel.

Waited over a month for the outcome of my interview. After I was accepted, waited over two weeks for a single unpaid trial shift. After that, I received zero communication from
the management for about another month, before I had my access removed from the workplace app with zero prior notice. Management ghosted me when I tried following up on it. I get the sense that I was never needed in the first place, at which point I feel that they should not have hired me in the first place - I had to reject other job offers to take this one, which has made finding a new job much more inconvenient, and it is frustrating that I turned down actual work for this horrible experience of ghosting, poor communication and poor management. Do -and I cannot stress this enough- not recommend.

A typical day at work would be supervising the kids on the playground and rides, serving customers, making coffees, clearing tables, booking birthday parties and events. I learnt how to work as part of a team and made some hospitality skills such as ; making coffees, clearing tables the correct way and cleaning to guidelines. Safety and supervising kids by guidelines. Chipmunks has great managers and they definitely taught me a lot about working in a workplace. Chipmunks is full of fun, productive people with positive attitudes. I could say there was not one hardest bit of my job besides the frustration of not knowing how to work everything on your first day. The most enjoyable part of my day was being able to be part of a fun team and knowing I contributed to that and working on the rides.

The actual job itself is fine, it includes being a mascot or hosting parties, cleaning and sanitising tables and the playground, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning bathrooms, serving and cooking food and coffee, and booking parties. The pay was about a dollar over award rates, and because of that, the management saw it fit to only provide juniors and all staff with 20 minute breaks even for 9 hour shifts. Management expects 15 year old employees who have had a full day at school to be able to clean bathrooms extremely fast, and at the speed an adult would do it. Forced to be very strict on the no outside food rules, so a lot of negative feedback from the community. 

Worked at one of the newer centres, work was ok although shifts were only 3 or 4 hours which wasn't worthwhile. Always understaffed and one person is expected to handle entry sales, cafe sales, along with making coffee and taking out orders to customers. You are also expected to work in the kitchen preparing food orders, clean toilets and play structures at the end of the day. Basically a maccas job without the benefits or security that things are being handled legally. There is favouritism to staff members and it shows, treat your employees right and they will treat your customers right.

A Party Host usually has 2 or more parties that day. make sure the set up ready in the storage room or in the room. you must have a watch if you want to manage your time well. the time management is knowing when to bring out the food, cake and gifts for the kids. the hardest part of the job is making sure the customers are satisfied with everything because sometimes even the smallest things could get the parents to complain. the most enjoyable part is probably when singing happy birthday. 

Being a small business, management from the owners was not that bad. The job was quite doable but a bit stressful during weekends and peak times. While it wasn't the most glamorous job- cleaning party rooms, tables, bin duties, there were other okay opportunities like bookings, coffee, and kitchen. 


The new current owners now though do not take on any feedback from staff, cut shifts, understaff during weekends, set unrealistic expectations, and are demanding. Yet they still need the staff to explain booking and system processes as they are new. Almost all staff currently are looking for new jobs. 

New management do not bother to give any feedback to employees, they simply continue hiring new staff and then suddenly cut shifts to those who have just become comfortable with their role. All roles are casual and you only realize you have lost your job  when you stop getting shifts and unexpectedly cease your account in their rostering software!

chipmunks was an amazing place to work and there was nothing more i loved. everyone working there is friendly and we got along like family. the owners are incredible people and make work feel like another home. i left due to me starting study but always go back to visit.

Work wasnt too bad but my manger was just the hardest part about working there. He would micro manage us, if he wasnt working he would sit on his phone and watch us on the cameras. As a young kid i loved working there hosting partys etc but never again could i work at a chipmunks they also dont ever clean the playgrounds to the highest safety standards…

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