Complaint Review: Knott's Berry Farm - Buena Park California

I started working for Knott's Berry Farm in March 2003. I had gone there growing up, and had good memories. I wanted a job in Park Services (sweeping), but they talked me into becoming a Ride Operator instead. Bad enough I had to put up with immature, overbearing and generally rude guests, but until I was forced to quit in December 2005, management made life a living hell for myself and everyone else who worked there.

We weren't given much training; about six months before I left, I found out that training, such as it was, had been reduced. Management required us to attend "training sessions' aimed at improving employee morale, but they were actually some really stupid things that didn't even relate to us. I mean, how can you keep a positive attitude when guests are calling you every name in the book, your shift leaders are unresponsive, and management is out for itself?

During special events in Ghost Town, we were given line control instructions that were contradicted by every manager, and angered the guests. Example: a walkway constructed over the tracks of the Calico Railroad was initially to be two -way, but then we were told one-way only. Guests became angry and confused, and I and my co-workers were yelled at by guests and could only watch helplessly when guests decided to get around their way, despite it being unsafe. Guests flagrantly disobeyed rules, and we were powerless to stop them.

Occaisonally, a guest would be a trouble-maker,and exaggerate a minor incident or non-incident into a major thing. I had people of color claim I was discriminatory in giving rides to their children, claim I had pushed and injured their child, or made what they considered to be inappropriate remarks to their kids. Not true! But then I would get called into the office, bawled out, and the Rides Department manager, Joey Toyoshiba, who thinks everybody in the world is wrong but him, yet can't understand why everybody hates him, would write me up. The guest would get rewarded ( comped), even though it involved me enforcing park rules or just doing my job.

Security is a joke. They are never around unless someone is about to get killed, or a guest becomes ill or injured. Through a website for current and former Knott's employees, www.kbfdrama.com, I have been informed that Knott's has changed their security officers into safety officers to get around California law regarding security officers needing guard cards.

As regards ride safety and maintenence, Knott's was cutting back on purchasing cleaning and maintenence supplies, and if someone threw up or had an "accident", we had to hustle to find absorbant. One more than one occaison, a seat belt on a ride unit would break, I'd call maintenence, and not only would I have to wait awhile for a response, but often the maintenece worker would be called away during the time he was fixing my ride. And once a too-small belt was put on temporarily because they didn't have the right size for that ride.

I might also point out that whenever DOSH and OSHA were in the park, we were warned in advance, even though it was supposed to be a surprise inspection. Knott's management would escort DOSH and OSHA around to the better-maintained rides, and keep them away from the problem rides. Even if a ride got shut down for non-compliance, it would be allowed to re-open a short time later.

There are at least two rides that I am aware of, that have been mentioned in the news media, that literally are falling apart: Log Ride and Mine Ride. There have been several reports of guests and employees who have been struck by falling pieces of roof material, though no injuries have been reported.

The Health Department has inspected all the eating places in and just outside the park, and none can pass a health inspection to save themselves. The worst is the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. It has been reported by employees to be crawling with roaches, and in fact a guest who ate there suffered food poisoning and sued. Knott's got a slap on the wrist.

During the last year to year and a half of my employment, I had trouble getting a relief person when I needed to go to the bathroom during work hours. At least three times I either lost partial bladder control waiting for my relief, and twice I was forced to stuff paper towels into my pants and relieve myself by degrees, or else slip a styrofoam cup into my pants and relieve myself that way. Fortunately, these occurred at night, and my ride was not busy at all, but still I should have had someone relieve me when I called. I would be told--usually by a shift leader named Debbie--that she "had an emergency" and couldn't send anyone. Otherwise, we were short-staffed and they didn't have anyone. Or so they claimed.

What got me out of there is I had a spell of diarrhea due to the stress I was under. During the last week I was there, I missed a couple of breaks because of general disorganization in scheduling. Anyway, I was starting to open the Calico Railroad one morning, and had a bathroom emergency. I had two choices--take the time to call my supervisor and risk having loaded pants, or yell to my co-worker to call while making a mad dash to the bathroom. I opted for the latter. The problem is, the park was about to open, and the opening ride-through was supposed to be done before opening. Furthermore, the depot was not to be left unattended, and it was only me and my co-worker. One of us had to be on the train. I barely made it to the bathroom, and it was twenty minutes before I could get out. I got bawled out, and sent to Camp Snoopy.

Thing is, I was on a Final Warning at the time, because of a similar bathroom need, and at no time did anyone ever stop to consider the fact that I am a human being, cannot control this, and they need to be more understanding. At the time of hire, I told them I was healthy, and I was. Everybody gets the runs from time to time, so I didn't say anything about it. But we lost alot of people, the scheduling worsened, and it was obvious the place was going downhill. Thing is, when I was walked out, I was told I was being suspended, and the investigation would be three days. They accused me of lying on my application about the diarrhea, and refused to listen to my side of the story. I called three days later, they said they were still investigating, going through my file. I finally gave up and handed in my stuff after getting my last paycheck.

It got really interesting when I filed a complaint with the state. The state labor board rep talked down to me, minimized my claim, and closed the investigation. They made it seem like it was my fault, when it wasn't. First they have OSHA and DOSH in their pocket, now the labor board. And they keep dodging other state laws. Recently I learned from kbfdrama.com that now not only is Knott's making people from other departments run the rides with virtually no training, they now are making employees clock out, then come back and work some more--without paying them overtime!

And one more note on safety--one young lady and her family came to Knott's, and their first ride of the day was Ghostrider. After the ride was over, this woman experienced severe pain in her neck, and had to lay down on a bench and request an ambulance. Doctors said she was lucky not to be paralyzed--her neck was broken, and it sure wasn't broken when she got on the ride.

Over the last few years, roller coaster enthusiasts who come to Knott's, as well as people who regularly ride Ghostrider, have said it has gotten rougher, and their have been other injuries and incidents, including a boy who was thrown from his car and landed head-first in the back of another car while riding Ghostrider. The reports about Ghostrider, including the account of this lady, are at www.themeparkinsider.com, check under Knott's Berry Farm in the Accidents section. But this is really ghastly--Knott's claimed the woman had entered the park with her neck already broken, and blamed her for her injury!

It's nothing for Knott's to badmouth its employees, but to call a guest a liar is extreme, even for them! Word is finally getting around, that Knott's is no place to work, and it's a totally ghetto park.

How Knott's has managed to shield itself from a major lawsuit, I don't know, but for them to create a hostile workplace, create safety and health hazards for both guests and employees, and obviously have state officials of safety and health as well as workplace issues in their pocket will guarantee them a place in the lowest hell one of these days. They deserve to rot in prison for the rest of their lives, and Knott's should have everything removed that Cedar Fair put in, totally revamp everything, and put in place rules that are strictly enforced and not let guests try to wrap them around their fingers.

If Walter and Cordelia Knott could see the park the way it is now, it would break their hearts a thousand times over.

Ihateks

Tustin, California

U.S.A.