powderfreak

If that's towards me, and it must be (?), then I think I must be not saying it correctly. Is that what people read from my posts? I'm not having a philosophical discussion. I'm not trying to pass judgment or an opinion on the situation. My wife and I both lead a large staff trying to satisfy high-end income earners. It is rough when you don't have the staff to do that. I sure as hell don't own a business, but I bet it would suck to own a business with some demand and not be able to staff it. What's the answer there? How do you make it appealing for people to work for you so you can meet demand? Shame them? Pay them, offer them affordable housing, offer benefits? Some might say it's babying those employees. But it's a reality in parts of the service industry if you want to operate tomorrow, and next month, or the year after that. Revenue won't come if the guest experience sucks. Skilled or unskilled, doesn't matter. You need to get people to work for you who obviously find some barrier... what do you do?

Yeah it's going to be cheaper to go that route than hire people soon... especially as the expectation of higher wages continues to gain steam. Parts of the service industry will be tough to replace.... but eventually economics will win. Wonder if that becomes the new "manufacturing" industry at some point. Seeing a lot more unionization of the service industry, more demands for benefits and employees feeling like they have some leverage in places that can't fill positions. The biggest issue in the service industry is that many are pushing back on companies saying it's not possible to make a career out of it... but most of those service, food, hospitality jobs weren't designed to be careers except for the highest levels/management. In the ski industry, unions are starting to become a thing, particularly in ski patrol and I think ski instructing. When Big Sky, MT and Breckenridge, CO ski patrols unionized last month, it was because it's hard to make a career out of it. The counter was that it's a 5-month a year job, not meant to be a career per se. But these jobs are needed, they are unionizing, and collective bargaining type stuff is happening in the service industry. Parts of the service industry are mirroring some aspects of the old automotive, ironworks, mining, manufacturing type jobs.

Ah I see what you are saying... no they aren't people with mortgages out of necessity. It's usually younger aged folks. The situation I'm describing isn't "dumping money into salaries" because the staff member needs to pay a mortgage. It's pure staffing shortages 100%. Places are not able to operate unless they raise their wages to pretty high levels all things considered... because they cannot get people to fill those roles. There are no more high school or college students (or that age that used to work for very low wages while living with Mom and Dad) to fold towels and that middle aged person won't do it for that rate. So the businesses keep raising wages until someone will take the job. Eventually those rising costs will be passed off the consumer at some point for sure. And like I've said, this is probably a different economy. These aren't "local spas and small hotels" like one thinks of in N.NH or other areas of VT... the Stowe area is a bit different I think in that regard. The history of high-end tourism goes back to the 1800s when President's used to vacation here and then in the 1930s this was really the birthplace of VT skiing/tourism. There are certainly some of those small local owned lodging (usually owned by money made in NYC or BOS that want to play in VT), but I'm talking about places that are often boutique properties owned by large companies. Like my wife's owner is a hospitality group that has high end small properties in places like Stowe, Lake Placid, Boston, Montreal, Aspen, Jackson Hole, etc). The hotel that Cpick loves to visit, Stowe Mtn Lodge/Lodge at Spruce Peak is managed by Hyatt.

The hand is getting forced here. Certainly much different than other economies but places are being squeezed now to pay like $30-40k/yr for non-skilled service starter jobs. They literally can’t operate without raising wages significantly. Pretty soon you’ll be able to answer phones at a hotel switchboard for the same wage as a teacher, if you can’t already.

Yeah I thought I read $18.33 an hour for a starting full-time officer. Obviously there’s a lot of overtime and special detail work available... but for what seems like a very well funded PD department (lots of taxes from tourists and million dollar second homes) it shocked me. If there are homes on the market for like $14 million and the ski resort tax base, I’d think they’d do better for public safety than what my wife pays for a high school graduate to work at a Spa front desk checking guests in.

Yup, a lot of that in low level service industry spots. Touches back on the discussion a week or two ago about high school and college students not filling entry level jobs like when many of us were in high school. The dishwasher, delivery guy, gym attendant, pool server, etc are not the people who used to take the $10-12/hr job... this is causing places to raise their wages for those positions to like $30k a year jobs to try and attract another sector of the population. Still shocking that area hotels around here can start at $17/hr or more for entry level service positions because they need to fill them. Mom and pop stores were not designed with that budget in mind though. Stowe PD and EMS start lower than an entry level front desk agent at Stowe Mountain Lodge, or as it’s called now the Lodge at Spruce Peak.

Yeah agreed. I like that term, flex point over critical point. At some point the temps would overwhelm it but like you said, that’s a long way off in New England, especially NNE.

Ha yeah man, I won’t AC at 84/45 but I will on a rainy 68/67 day.

A buddy said it was snow, graupel, ice pellets at top of Superstar, but those photos definitely look like straight snow. Is this Alan B? Several former SkiVT-Listserve folks on this forum now.

That’s always been my take. Temperatures are still cold enough to produce snow in the means, even with multiple tenths of a degree of warming ongoing. Physics says more water in the atmosphere means more snow below 32.0F. Conceptually one would imagine a gradual increase in snowfall until at some point it starts to fall off a Cliff once that critical point is hit, no?

Yup, this is why COVID is such a loaded gun now. It’s been so strongly tied to policy and that in many minds it’s hard to separate COVID the sickness from policy. Everyone has an opinion on the resulting policy which then alters their opinion on COVID itself. My dad’s a retired ER doc... ask him to make policy it’s going to solely try to prevent accidents as he readily admits, not worry about freedoms or economy. He always jokes that backyard trampolines would be the first thing to go based on the volume of maimed kids and adults that originate from those things. He’s seen more people paralyzed from suburban trampolines than car wrecks, ha.

Ha yup late 80s and 90s in the suburbs. Every little news story or freak event would cause some parents to lose it. “Can’t do that, a kid got maimed in Ohio last week doing that!” That was probably the start of the news media freaking parents out. Watching the nightly news filled with stories of one-off accidents and everyone saying here’s how you prevent that.

That protective or over-protective stuff has been going on long before COVID though, it just highlights it more. I don’t have kids but growing up we all knew those parents and kids. My sisters and I were joking just yesterday at Mothers Day gathering about our neighbors who had the most over protective mother on the planet... if they put rollerblades on, the kids had pillows like duct taped to them as padding, eat a cracker and can’t go near a pool for a full 30 minutes (might get a cramp and drown), could only sled on the mellow side not the steep hill, would stick her head outside while we played whiffleball every 3-5 minutes to make sure everyone was still breathing, etc. Inside at dark, no questions asked. Can’t socialize with those kids because of of them swore once. Parents will be parents. Those kids missed out on a lot of fun back then even without COVID, ha. They turned out awesome though in the end.

Yeah let’s get some sun and dry weather for these extended daylight days.

Good soaking straight through Providence County it looks like. Ginxy too.

It’s a heady topic psychologically in all aspects for sure.

4 generations today for Mother’s Day. Everyone vaxxed and living. We move on. Red Sox best record in the MLB. Good times.

No I get it, I only used that phrase because I know he’s called himself a conspiracy theorist that tends to get it right. It was too far, out of line. Just reacted to a sad way to live is not caring about wearing a mask. All good, I appreciate everyone’s opinions and love the dialog.

Ha yup, my wife wears glasses like you and hates it, hated it from day one... doesn’t care what science says it’s a damn inconvenience. We joke all the time about it. She’d rather wear a football helmet over a mask. But I also need to get out and see some of the rest of the northeast. The way you guys talk about folks being scared and it’s a badge of honor to go out to dinner at an Olive Garden or TGI Fridays. Interesting. Some perspective that I’ve come to realize for myself, is that here we live in one of the most known tourist towns in VT... people travel from all over the US, even internationally in the winter to ski here. They come for foliage and the come in the warm season too. So the vast majority of people I come in contact with since like last foliage season, are all traveling. And by nature if you are going on vacations or taking weekend trips, you aren’t very “afraid”... hotels busy, restaurants breweries, several hundred thousand skiers over winter. I think all I see is the segment of the population that *is* traveling and living their lives normally. By nature it would be hard to come spend a weekend or a week in a tourist town if you were truly frightened of COVID.

Sorry you hadn’t bolded the other part at first. But c’mon, you said it’s a sad way to live.... like at the time following guidance was the wrong thing to do. I’m definitely too naive and quite sheltered up here. My first thought isn’t that there is some larger conspiracy going on, just that hey, we wear a face diaper for a time and can get on with life. Maybe the next time they want us to wear a football helmet to go outside, we all have our limits though .

I just try not to live in fear that everyone is trying to pull a giant conspiracy over my head... it’s too much energy to worry all the time that every decision has an ulterior negative motive. Constantly trying to figure out what someone is really after or if they are trying to screw me over. I’m probably too naive.

Yup, you’ve resisted since day one so no surprise there. Because you didn’t want it to be a default. It would never ever become muscle memory for you because of how much you dwelled on it since day one. For us sheep, it was just another way to get on with life. Conditioning happens real fast if you don’t care or resist.

Muscle memory for the most part, IMO. It gets burned into you pretty fast, like putting pants on in the morning. See it a lot too and honestly I do it without thinking I think. We are out all the time, and regardless of risk it’s habit already within a year of COVID starting. Like getting in the car and putting a seatbelt on. You don’t think about it or why you put it on, you just do. Humans adapt real fast to carry on with life. I don’t care one way or another, I don’t need or care to wear a mask but it’s muscle memory at times. Like if people just told you when in a car, you don’t need a seatbelt anymore.

HFD showing upper 50s at 10:30... Though that airport is only at 16 feet elevation, probably chilly air pooling at the bottom. Your warm season stuff is pretty funny, every day is beautiful and warm where you are. Summer is a mentality, right?

Getting out at .6 is looking like it was a good decision by the hour, ha.