The Quest for the Holy Ski Bum Grail: Part-time Employment

Going against what some consider true ski bum style, we've all been trying to acquire jobs for the winter. Job hunting in Rossland isn't cheap...photocopies are 25 cents each and drinks at the pub are six bucks! The job market in Rossland (as much as there can be one) is so different from the job market in a regular city that I've had a tough time sorting it out. 

Not much use checking the paper for jobs here...most are obtained by knowing the right person!

Here's summary of the experience so far:


1. Evening and weekend jobs are the cream of the crop. Not so very long ago, I was searching for a job in Edmonton and whining about only finding opportunities to work evenings and weekends, and mostly part time. Now I'm whining about day jobs and full time work. And I'm not alone in my rant, is the universal rant of the partially-employed ski bum: "Who the hell wants to work full time? Forty hours a week! I'd never get any skiing done! Isn't there work to be done somewhere after the lifts stop running?!" Oh, the distress of it all. 

Not my to-do list, but not that far off...

A friend of ours that we met in town has struggled with finding a job. She managed to find an opportunity working for lodging on the hill, and although it comes with a free ski pass, she will be required to work a minimum of forty hours a week. A terrible deal if skiing for the season is your goal! Only two days a week to ski, and that's providing you don't need to clean your house, buy groceries, or sleep in.


2. Ski bums are notoriously slackers. Many of the places I've inquired about work mention how they don't want people calling in on a powder day. There are many people in the town who work all summer and enjoy not working at all during the winter. When talking to other ski bums about employment, they've often said "You don't have to work, do you? Which is generally followed by a look of pity followed by wistful looks of disgust as they remember their most recent bout with employment.

Habit 1: Smoke pot. Frequently.

3. If getting a job, the first place a ski bum looks is the ski hill itself. Ski hills around the country prey on the desperation of visiting Aussies and destitute ski bums. Here are some horror stories from hills that are not Red Mountain:

• Waitressing at a pub for the season where they withhold your tips every night until the end of the season. If you quit before the end of the season, you don't get your tips.
• Sending you home unpaid for the day for showing up ten minutes late, and then also revoking your pass for the day so you can't ski.
• Revoking your pass on your days off for incidents like writing found on a locker, or cleaning that needs to be done before you're allowed to ski. 
• Management getting bonuses for saving money, which results in cutting back staff hours as much as possible. Not enjoyable when you've budgeted for x hours/week for the season.
• Starting work less than a full month before Christmas to ensure you don't get paid extra for working Christmas/Boxing Day
• Offer bonuses for staying the whole season but strategically firing most of the employees before the season ends. I'm told that most hills don't offer bonuses anymore.

Although some of those experiences may be the fault of the employee, it's still an uncomfortable situation when your employer has that much control over your free time and days off. It's obvious why some are very weary of working for the hill.

4. You have a degree? Higher education? No one cares. What they really want to know is if you have experience serving coffee. Or cleaning. Or selling stuff. Traits and qualities which can only be gained in a previous life, so forget learning on the job. For the first time in my life I am beginning to wish I spent less time studying and more time being a barista/bartender/server. Even for something like being a lifty (a job which is infamously done mostly by stoners) I was lacking the experience to even land an interview. I feel both over and under qualified at the same time!

Do you know that minimum wage in BC is eight dollars an hour? Do you know that it's the lowest minimum wage in Canada? Do you know why I know this? Because I can now count myself amongst the proud ranks of Canada's lowest legally paid workers!


That's right, friends. I have renounced my hippie ways and become a productive member of society! Cleaning condos for a lodging company on the hill! I get up in the morning, scrape off the car, drive up to the hill, clean for four hours, come back and dig out my curb-side parking spot, and enjoy the rest of my afternoon knowing I made 32 pre-tax dollars. Ah, the good life! No free ski pass, but I only have to work three days a week. I'm sure this will all make sense once I start "shredding pow" down the glorious peaks...or at least will hold me over until I find a better job.