Off-Time Labor in Resorts

Abstract

This article examines off-time labor in a resort hotel, drawing on 6 years of participant observation and in-depth interviews. Operating around the clock, this resort, like others, offers the temporal freedom of continuous openness, flexibility, and convenience to guests by tethering employees to an incessant time clock, forcing a good proportion to work extended hours of the day, days of the week, and seasons of the year. The resort's managers' conquest of the traditional agrarian-based temporal rhythm alters the pace of life for workers as they strive to augment commercially profitable hours of operation. The article tracks the ebb and flow of rhythm and pace within a resort organization, the adaptations required and made by its employees, and the consequences for their lives, their community, and the broader society. In so doing, the article shows people's resistance to the rhythm of incessance and the limitations on technological control over nature.