Ok, Blue Jays
It’s taken me a while to figure out how and what to write about my time working for the Toronto Blue Jays.
This was definitely one of those jobs that had some epic highs and lowest lows. With any job you hope the good outweighs the bad.
I started working for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2018 as an usher. This was, for the most part, a dream job, I was being paid to watch baseball was like a dream. I only worked 81 days and knew my schedule months in advance. This made planning my summer super easy. I had some great times, and some not so great experiences. Like any customer service job, it was a lot of hard work, super busy moments and times when it was so boring!
Like any job I’ve had, I gave it my all. I won Stadium Star (like an employee of the month award) in my first year. Supervisors, leaders and colleagues recognized my hard work, that made me feel great.
If you remember, the team wasn’t all that great in 2018 or 2019. Working in a stadium that had only 10,000 people in attendance made for some interesting interactions. But at the end of the day, I knew I was lucky enough to work in Canada’s only MLB ball park.
2020
2020 started like every other year. The Toronto Blue Jays ran their second Winterfest and a great time was had by all. Tons of Blue Jays fans came down to the Rogers Centre on a cold, January weekend. They met players, rode the rides, ate the food and there was a general air of excitement as everyone was pumped for the upcoming season.
Then, we all know what happened.
On March 12th, it was announced that spring training was cancelled and that the start of the season, scheduled to start March 26th, was delayed by two weeks. MLB then announced on March 16th that the season was postponed indefinitely. The only other event to postponed baseball was the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.
When the season resumed, Toronto Blue Jays fans sat in shock as they learned our boys wouldn’t be coming home. The Canadian government denied our team permission to play in Toronto. Being the only Canadian team, it would mean multiple cross-boarder trips and that was a risk they could not take. This also meant all the stadium staff were now out of a job.
Many other MLB teams stepped up and paid their part-time employees. TBJ employees were denied money due to the governments general assistance program. Their thoughts were basically “if they are paying you, why should we?”. I am not here to debate the legalities and such of their decision. Basically, I was a slap in the face during an already awful time.
In hindsight, this was the very start of the things to come, and the start of the downhill slope of how they treat their part-time staff.
The 2021 Return
The Toronto Blue Jays returned to the Rogers Centre on July 30, 2021 after 670 days. We were all thrilled to be back. But I will say this, in generally the fans were down right awful. The Rogers Centre had to follow a ton of rules outlined by the government. We had a reduced capacity, social distancing and a mask policy. Did fans think that an usher making minimum wage came up with these rules? Staff were called nazis on a regular basis along with many other horrible names. They were sworn at, degraded, rude and just generally awful. How did management help? “Just do your best” was what they said.
The weird half season did have some perks, for me anyway. In the last week of the season, I was asked to be a “team lead”, which was not a defined role, but did lead to my new role as a supervisor.
2022 – Present
I’m no stranger to management, has it has been my background for over 20 years. However, management in a major stadium is different than in retail store. The fundamentals of the job are the same. Be there for your staff, assist fans (customers), make the day the best it can be while upholding the companies policies and procedures.
I loved my job. There were so many great moments and honestly, I made some truly great friends. I can’t pin point the moment, or moments, when we knew things were just on the worst downhill slide, I was still thrilled to go to work everyday.
I don’t want to speak negatively of the job or the management. In an organization like this there are so many people making so many different decisions, it can be really hard for part time staff to feel appreciated, I won’t go into details about the “staff appreciation” week but lets just say…good grief!!
It’s hard to say goodbye
I have always said, whether you agree or disagree with your companies policies and procedures is relevant. You are hired and paid to do a job. I believe in doing my job to the highest standard I can, but I will always fight for my staff.
When employees are happy, fans/customers are happy. While I do believe that there could be a lot more done to show the employees that they are appreciated and valued, I would go back in a heart beat! Watching some of the walk off home runs, epic double plays, and amazing catches was always exciting. Talking with fans who are visiting for the first time, or fans that come to every game is always a joy.
My favourite nights at the ballpark were always Canada Day, Pride night and the home opener. Not being there is so hard and I miss it every day. It wasn’t just a job to me. Good, bad or crazy it was one of the best jobs I’ve ever had!
I want to thank everyone I worked with. No matter what, I will miss this job and these people. Go Jays Go!