Last week a letter to the editor told a one sided “tale” of a Turkish student who had a “disaster” of an experience while working for a local employer. As the owners of that business, we feel compelled to correct this one-sided story.
Our business works incredibly hard to hire only locals. When we do hire from overseas, it is our least favorable option and we only do so for strictly seasonal staff. It is not related in any way to wages, it is based on needs alone.
We hired this particular student last January. When she accepted the contract with us, we urged her to try to find a Turkish friend because we are located in a remote area with few transportation options. She immediately declined this request and said she “was coming to work and work only.”
We reluctantly accepted her as we had already signed a contract. When she arrived, she started complaining that she wanted more hours—this was before she even began to work! We told her she would get plenty of hours, more than she probably would like once she was trained.
After driving her to Duluth to get her social security number, the student informed us she had found another job and a place to live in Grand Marais. This was okay with us even though it left us shorthanded for the summer— in this economy we decided to do her work ourselves.
The student called us two days later and asked if she could possibly occupy the housing we had provided that Mr. Nordstrom finds so “substandard.” The housing she thought was available in Grand Marais did not work out. We told her that our housing was only for employees and hoped she could work things out with her friends in Grand Marais. When called by the Grand Marais employer for a reference, we gave her a good reference.
CIEE made a decision to retract the student’s contract based on her failed commitment to us. We are glad they did! A strong message should be sent to students who accept these contracts, which clearly outline housing, pay, hours and meal arrangements. They need to understand that the employer hosting them is relying on their help and quite probably passed somebody else up to hire them. Our obligations to this employee were met in every way.
We still have three other students who are doing well here. We drive them to town regularly and have provided rides to Duluth on occasion. We are a small, family operated resort and busy with our own four children, nonetheless, we have always treated our foreign students with the utmost care and have always met our commitments to them. Mr. Nordstrom never called to find out our side of the story; having met the person in an airport, he took her story to be entirely true.
Michael and Maureen O’Phelan
Owners
Cascade Lodge and Restaurant
Solbakken Resort
Lutsen
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