Staff
Club Med staff are called "GOs", or Gentils Organisateurs (Genteel Organizers). Clients are "GMs", or Gentils Membres (Gracious/Nice Guests/Members). The resort is known as a village. The resort manager is called the chef de village (Village Chief).
The special feature of Club Med is that the GOs and GMs play, dine, drink, and dance together every day and night. Outdoor buffet dining (usually on tables of eight, mixing GMs and GOs), daytime sport-playing, and evening shows with extensive audience participation, are part of the holiday experience.
A particular institution is the communal dance or crazy signs led by the GOs at varying intervals during the day and evening (the frequency varies by village). The dance steps for each song are standard across the organisation with some new ones introduced each year. The evening shows, often requiring detailed choreography, are also standardised and include both new and established routines.
Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart) by Ottawan is regularly played to accompany the crazy signs during the evening shows.
GOs are moved between villages and many work both winter and summer seasons. All GOs, regardless of their area of specialty (a sport or administrative function), are expected to regularly participate in both the show and "crazy signs". Their work is supplemented by locally-recruited support staff such as cleaners and cooks, known as "GEs" or Gentils Employés (Gracious/Nice Employees).
There are 15,000 GOs of 96 different nationalities working in the villages around the world and most of them reside in the village.
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