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Job description
Attendants keep towels, sheets, and other supplies stocked, reordering before anything runs low, and assign locker or storage space to patrons at gyms, spas, athletic clubs, and bathhouses. They also monitor how people use shared spaces to keep things safe and orderly, clean the facilities themselves, and refer any bigger disputes or complaints up to a supervisor rather than handling them alone. It's an on-your-feet role that puts you in regular contact with the public, including the occasional frustrated patron.
Pros
- Faster than average projected job growth (6.4% over the next decade)
- Only a high school diploma and on-the-job training required to enter
- Straightforward, service-focused daily routine with clearly defined tasks
Cons
- Entry-level pay can be quite low
- A relatively small field (4,200 jobs nationwide) with limited positions
- Regularly deals with frustrated patrons and must escalate bigger complaints to a supervisor
A typical day
The country club's locker room opens at 6 for the early golfers, and the attendant has the space ready: towels stacked warm, lockers wiped, shoe-shine station stocked, and the coffee going. The morning runs on names — greeting members personally, handing over locker keys, shining a pair of golf shoes to a mirror while their owner plays the front nine. Laundry cycles between rushes: towels perpetually washing, folding, restocking. Midday brings the small services that build the job's tips and reputation: a blazer brushed and hung before a member's lunch meeting, a forgotten phone guarded and returned, a first-aid kit produced for a blistered heel. The evening event shifts the role to coatroom mode — tickets issued and coats retrieved with speed and zero mix-ups. It's a service job with an old-school soul: discretion, memory for names, and hustle worth more than the wage suggests, and it's a doorway job — managers notice the attendants who treat it like a craft.
Tasks at the job
- Provide towels and sheets to clients in public baths, steam rooms, and restrooms.
- Check supplies to ensure adequate availability, and order new supplies when necessary.
- Clean facilities such as floors or locker rooms.
- Assign dressing room facilities, locker space, or clothing containers to patrons of athletic or bathing establishments.
- Monitor patrons' facility use to ensure that rules and regulations are followed, and safety and order are maintained.
- Refer guest problems or complaints to supervisors.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and most of the day is spent on your feet.
You'll regularly deal with frustrated or upset people as part of the job.
Education necessary or common
High school diploma; some on-the-job training or apprenticeship
Licenses & certifications
- No certifications required
- CPR/First Aid — valued at athletic facilities
- Food handler card if the facility serves refreshments
Related fields
Courses to take
- Business Math — cash handling and tip income tracking
- Health — hygiene and sanitation standards
- Public Speaking — polished, personable service
- Family and Consumer Sciences — garment care basics
- Business electives — hospitality context
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Team sports — locker room culture from the inside
- Part-time work at a gym, pool, or club
- Volunteering at school events: coat check, equipment management
- Golf caddying — the adjacent club job with the same service ethic
First steps you can take now
- Apply at country clubs, gyms, and athletic clubs — these jobs hire teens and tips add up at good properties
- Learn to fold towels hotel-style and shine shoes properly — small crafts, noticed
- Practice remembering names deliberately; it is the job's core skill and it transfers everywhere
- Ask a club manager what jobs attendants get promoted into
