I’m pretty stoked to have found the job that I have today. After the Gelato Factory that I had worked at for 3 years closed, I had to find a new job. I did some thinking about where I wanted to work. Sadly, the butcher’s shop wasn’t looking for help. So I applied to work at my favorite disc golf course. In April 2022 I’ll have been working here for 3 years.
We’re hiring for summer positions again and it seems like a great opportunity for a blog explaining what we do at Sabattus every day. And it seems like a great chance to tell the players who come here what we do at SDG.
I work the afternoon shift most of the year, from when we open full time in April until we go to winter hours in November / December. So I walk into a ready to go shop. I put my dinner downstairs in the basement fridge and come up to the floor ready to work.
So what do I actually do in a day?
- Help anyone who has questions about discs. We get first time disc golfers in the shop almost every day of the week during the summer. I answer their questions as well as players who want to know the difference between a TeeBird and TeeBird3.
- Work the register. It’s probably where you see me the most during the summer, sometimes I don’t move for an hour or two, especially on the weekends. It takes a day to learn, and a couple of weeks to get good at. Then you’re going to be 1000 rated as a cashier after a few busy weekend shifts.
- Hand people things they left behind. This actually takes up time during the day, you’re going to have people forget discs and towels they just bought. Iced coffees that they brought with them, their bags, everything. If you see them on hole 1 you can rush out and yell to them to grab their stuff. Or text/Facebook them if they’re your friends. Otherwise I mostly put a sticky note on it and try to find them later.
- Pick online orders. The printer will start rolling out sheets and you get to go out onto the floor and do a treasure hunt to find the discs or items ordered. This is an important part of the job, but it’s also fun.
- Answer the phone. This is important because folks always have questions about the store/course that aren’t answered online. Every once in a while you’ll answer the phone and get a pro on the line. I got to have a really cool conversation with Gregg Barsby once, but I’ve also spoken to Garrett Gurthie, Will Schusterick, and Dana Vicich. You never know who’s going to call.
- Restock the food and drinks. This is an end of night task where I take inventory and then depending on how thirsty you all were, I make 1-7 trips up and down the stairs to get all the drinks cold for the next day. You’ll work a weekend shift and see how much water and Gatorade we go through in a day, it’s staggering in July/August.
- Cleaning. We always clean the floors, counters, tables, stairs, and bathroom every night. After a few hundred people walk on a floor after coming in from a dirt parking lot we occasionally get some dust. This is a nice part of the night, and it’s kind of done as everything is winding down.
- I get out every night at dark. We wait to leave until everyone is off the courses and then head out. If you’re a closer you just want to make sure that everyone can find their way back. Some people have too much fun out on the course and it gets dark before they know it.
- Openers have a slightly different day. They come into a shop and get the music going, the tvs on, wake up the register from its slumber. And then they try to get the early morning crowd taken care of. Opening means you start your morning with a rush of players. You may also be tasked with some stocking of products, but generally that job falls to Chris/Amber.
- Probably other stuff. There’s a whole handbook and training to go through. Everyone has different tasks that they’re good at. Sabattus puts you in a place to succeed.
What are the benefits to working at Sabattus Disc Golf?
- Free rounds. It’s honestly a great perk considering how much I spent on rounds at SDG before I worked here.
- There’s a discount on some discs and other items as well, but that’s something that you’ll learn about if you get the job.
- Always paid on time. I can’t articulate how much I appreciate that. Not every job has been like that and being able to pay bills reliably is excellent.
- You can’t buy scheduled discs ahead of time. I hear this question a lot from people, but I’m not able to buy a disc until it hits the floor. You can find the discs you like ahead of the drop though, and you’ll be ready to buy them when they go live.
- Jomez/CCDG/Gatekeeper/DGPT Live on Tv at work. The only rule about the TV’s is that they’re playing disc golf. You can pick whatever tournament you want to see. You’ll catch some of it and work through it but you’ll still see most of the tournament.
- Talking Disc Golf. Does your family not understand your need to talk about how big Ricky leaving Innova was? Come here, you’ll talk about disc golf all the time.
- You make lots of friends. I can’t count the number of people I’ve interacted with online who come in through those doors. Do you know the theme tune from Cheers? 🎵 “Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.”🎵 Basically I see friends every day. I don’t think I’ve worked another job like that in my life.
- Work in a positive environment. You’re going to hear the word “wow” a lot, basically every time a first timer to SDG or an out-of-stater comes in and wants to take pictures for their group chat.
I love that feeling and it’s awesome to work somewhere people love. 99.9999% of the time people are happy here. I mean think of how your mood improves when you’re about to play a round of disc golf. People are smiling and laughing from the moment they walk into the shop. We’ve got busy days, but it’s rare I have a day that’s not overwhelmingly positive overall.
I love working here. And I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to work at a disc golf course. If you’re interested in working for Sabattus Disc Golf click here. It’s how we all started, clicking that link.
If you’ve got any specific questions about working at Sabattus Disc Golf you can ask me, Amber, or Chris who work here.
May your discs miss all the trees,
Andrew Streeter #70397