Waiting for that bright sunlight

You know how you get so used to doing something in a routine that you forget to do it? That was me this morning with turning off my alarm.

Sorry Alex x.x

She's up and wandering around now, looking for her phone. She said my alarm wasn't the reason she's up, which is "unseasonably early" for her as she put it, but I'm sure my forgetting about it didn't help. I had just shut the bedroom door too when it had gone off.

Anyway, as per my usual morning routine, I'm sitting in the main room of the apartment, now-empty cereal bowl by my side, browsing Disney things on my computer. I actually had to turn on a light in here, otherwise things just seemed too dark and creepy in the computer light. I know it's darker because we're technically in Fall now (right?) and the Earth's shifting, but it's so weird to me to have the dark later-part-of-the-year lighting with a lack of cold and weather change. Yesterday I'm sure it was in the 90s and was very bright and sunny. It's not a bad thing, but I know my body's expecting the weather change when I look at the darker mornings. Kind of nice to not have that morning chill, but I do miss the concept of "seasons" here somedays.

I have to write, however quickly, about yesterday, because yesterday was...something else. I had wanted to go to the Salsa sale (Spend A Little, Save A lot), which started at 7am, so I actually ended up getting up early in hopes to try and get a little browsing done before I had to go to work. Misako was up when I opened the door, a little surprising, but we chatted a little bit and then it was off to get ready and go. When I arrived, just a little after 7am, I noticed that there were already a good solid bunch of cars in the parking lot. The Salsa sale's open to all Cast Members, and with 60,000 of us (or more), a sale's going to be a little busy. I parked, and took a long walk up towards the Josten's Center. The event was being held at the Wide World of Sports complex, which I'd never been to, so I was looking around as I walked. It was weird to see all these sports things, mainly just because it's my sister who's the big sportsperson (I just found out not too long ago - she's on the fencing team at her college), and here I was, coming on my own. Honestly, as I stood in line waiting to get in, looking over the various sports fields and trimmed grounds, I kind of felt like joining a team, doing something "sporting", and just generally getting out there and having some fun. Weird.

The line, because there's always a line at sales events (maybe), was a zigzag line, and due to the time I waited in it, I didn't even get past the first zig before I had to leave for work. Even though the event started at 7:00am, it looked like the people running the event were only letting Cast Members in a few at a time. Why? I'm not sure, although there's probably a good reason behind it. But that wasn't very helpful to us Cast Members who had to go to work. I did spot a guy named Anthony whom I know from work as I worked my way back through the line. On my way out, I talked to a woman who was looking to park. I explained to her that the cars were all for the Salsa sale and mentioned the line, to which she replied "Forget it. I've gotta get to work". So did I.

I got over to Hollywood, changed, made a bathroom stop (wasn't feeling well), and headed back out to my car to finish getting ready, only to have sunscreen blop down onto my apron. Well that's no good to wear out for the Guests, so I did a quick Costuming stop and apron swap and continued on my way. I met up with a girl named Kelsey once I got to Sunset and we walked together to the meeting with General Manager (is that his title? It's been a while since my assessment) Perry. I had figured, since this was a roundtable, that there would just be a small bunch of us, so I was surprised to see a group of Outdoor Food Cast Members going up the stairs in the Operations Building (number 2). Following them, I soon found myself in the midst of a bunch of different Food and Beverage people. Shortly after, Perry arrived, and he explained that this was a sort of "Welcome" meeting for the people new to Disney and to Hollywood Studios. We introduced ourselves and our favorite Disney characters; we talked about bad shopping and eating experiences (just like at Blockbuster...imagine that!); we watched a video about kids and families being told they were going to Disneyland (a cute compliation done by marketing, the separate videos of which can be found if you go to YouTube and search "Disneyland surprise"); and we talked briefly about how much Guests pay to come here, and that after all that, we should be offering them nothing less than the best (my words). He also managed to squeeze in a little discussion about our opinons on our training, which allowed me to discover that things seem to be a little diffcult beyond Sunset. Break-downs in communications, training by people who'd only been there two weeks, standards varying from person to person. And then just hearing about the seating charts in the table service restaurants, or the variation between all the outdoor food places: Sunset still isn't all "yaaaaaay", but, apparently, neither are some of these other places. Although these may just be little experiences and not reflective of the whole.

Anyway, Perry ended the meeting and I got a plastic cup featuring the Fab Five (and Tinkerbell and maybe someone else), each dressed in an outfit reflective of one of the lands at Magic Kingdom. I don't know why they had these cups, I don't know what they were for, but they were free, and I think having the characters dressed up is a neat concept. I then got to wander around backstage for a half-an-hour, since it was 10:15am when I got back to Sunset and I wasn't supposed to start work until 10:45am. As I was begining my wander, one of the character golf carts go by, and, amazingly, Annie from The Little Einsteins waved at me. Yes, yes, I'm a dork, but usually the characters are going to work and we're working, so there isn't much acknowledgement that goes on. Kind of sad :(

Backstage wandering was neat. I found a Roy O. Disney Productions building, but it looked like there was construction work going on inside, because fixtures were ripped out and it was dark. I also got something caught in my eye for the longest time. Alas, all too soon it was time to head back, which I did, and found myself assigned to condiment bar. Don't get me wrong, I'm okay with condiment bar. It's just sort of busy with the stocking and restocking of one, having to move and stock and restock the other, and especially during the rushes, trying to keep up on them both. And then to have to do tray runs on top of it all...well...that became the issue of yesterday.

I won't name names, and I'll keep this part really short, but there was one woman who kept telling me to do tray runs. And, granted, I know it's my job, and that they need to be run to the dishroom to get clean, but she wasn't exactly helping. More like throwing her weight around. The trays end up on top of the trashcans, you see, and there's about eight or nine around the dining area. So even when there's a lot, it doesn't look too terrible (in some spots) because they're spread out. Well she'd go, grab a bunch, and stack them all on top of one garbage can, so the pile appeared large and untidy. When I told her I was looking for a cart (which I need to run the piles of trays, and is hard to find because the stockers use them and hide them places), she found one, proceeded to gather most of the trays (I managed to grab a few) and then told me she shouldn't be doing my job, when I had asked her three times to let me take the cart and do the run. Just making a big show out of it, in my opinion. And when I was stocking a condiment bar, and she had to tell me yet again to do a tray run (I was just about done with that particular condiment bar), she got a little peeved that I was putting the barbeque sauce away, rather than leaving it haphazardly on the condiment bar while I raced at her beck and call to go clean up the trays.

I'm not saying that I'm not at fault here. I've ended up doing condiment bar later in the day, where I can get into the rhythm of stocking before the rushes come and I absolutely have to do the trays. And I know my asking "How do they {the trays} get stacked up?" wasn't exactly a question that would lead anywhere good. But I was aware of the trays. I knew it's part of the job. I just wasn't doing it enough, in her opinion. And my lack of finding a cart wasn't exactly helping either. Why can't condiment bar have a cart? Technically, I'm a stocker too at that point.

But the woman had said something about the trays in the beginning, and before her, the manager Susan, so...it just wasn't a good time. Not to mention that there was a little breakdown and build-up in the communication. Jon, one of the guys I've worked with, was stocking things, and he offered to let me use his cart, once he was finished making a stocking run. Since both condiment bars were full, I decided to grab a quick drink, mostly to get out of the heat, but also to avoid the woman asking me about the trays again. When I stepped back out into the sun, I saw Jon, but he was disappearing backstage. I tried to run after him, but when I got back there, he was gone. That's when the woman got the cart...ugh. She could've just handed it to me too. Sorry, sorry, anyway, Jon did reappear later, and asked if "they" had told me he was looking for me, which was a no (the breakdown in communication), but he then said that he was being moved elsewhere, so he'd leave the cart for me by the prep kitchen (the build-up). It was still there once I began being bothered again, which was absolutely wonderful, and I ended up hanging on to that cart and possessively guarding it the rest of the time I was on condiment bar.

But that woman's attitude brought my attitude way, way down. It wasn't a great day for the rest of the day.

I did manage to see a character cart, which had Mary Poppins, a penquin, Chip and Dale, and (finally) Max and Goofy on it, and that perked me up a little.

Oh, and I must applaud Disney on their design techniques. Right after I did MY first tray run (as opposed to the one before that done by that woman), I went to go take them back to the dishroom, only to find out that there was a fire going on. Something had happened with the broiler, but there was now a firetruck and an ambulance sitting behind the restaurant, as well as a bunch of people running around and, oh yes, an alarm going off. Nothing too terrible, I didn't see any smoke or flames, and I got to make two piles of trays on the ground (on the advice of Area Manager Deb and Coordinator Tammy) while I waited for the firemen to do what they do best. But besides Rosie's having to close the Guest windows, and one Guest who had noticed there was a fire in the back and was apparently yelling "fire!", none of the Guests noticed what was going on. Seriously, I walked from backstage to onstage where all the people were, and I had no idea there was an alarm going off and fire vehicles and people around not twenty feet away. Amazing! And then, later on in the day, catering trucks were rolling in with food and chairs and people were pushing carts of flowers and chefs were wandering around, all backstage of course, and not a single scrap of it was evident onstage. They were setting up for a convention of some sort, and it was all hidden!

Amazing work to be able to hide all of that from the Guest through barriers and music and, I suspect, a little magic as well.

One final note, once Rosie's was ok, and I managed to grab more trays, I brought them into the dishroom, only to find that woman was there too. She said thank you. Not very friendly-like, but she said it. And then, when I was leaving work for the night, she was sitting in the prep kitchen and she smiled at me. I said good night, neutrally friendly-like I hoped, and sped out of there.

Ah, what fun, what fun.

Speaking of fun, I've got a ten hour workday today, so I best get started getting ready. I'm still going to try to make it to the Salsa sale, at least to look, and I've gotta make a couple of other stops along the way.

Here's hoping that today I know what I'm doing.

Oh, and I wanted to mention this just randomly. The Hub website features a bunch of different stories and articles, and they have one that comes out every week called "WDW Weekend Happenings". Naturally, it describes things that are going on this weekend, such as the Salsa sale or sporting events or people coming to the House of Blues. This one also mentioned the Epcot Food and Wine festival, which is exciting because it means, one, it's almost been a year since I visited, and two, that I can have me some food and maybe taste a little wine.

But I do like that Disney posts things like that, as well as info about what's happened this week in Disney history. Fun to learn, but also, it reminds me a bit of college and the information they'd pass along (and print up and tape to walls) regarding weekend events. Makes me miss Lewis a bit...

It's just kind of funny how there's things that seem so familiar. Like the Blockbuster business tactic of "You've had a bad shopping experience, would you ever go there again?" popped up in the meeting with Perry (although my Mom said it's because business is all alike). Or the weekend happenings reminding me of Lewis. Or my having homework, or hearing about Ralph and his schoolwork. Or having Penny Hightower as a professor and thinking that, wow, if there was another person to look up to in regards to imparting knowledge, she'd be one of them (one of the others being Dr. Wielgos). Different, but familiar.

And now I'm running late, woo hoo!
Here's hoping for today...?

She's a filthy girl

I just washed my face with Apricot scrub, and because Alex is still working, I'm getting ready for bed in a room all by myself. It reminds me so much of my college dorm at Lewis...

Anyway, this'll have to be quick, as I'm really tired and tomorrow's my first day of Marketing You, so I'd like to at least look like I'm awake. This morning I woke up in the middle of a dream again. This time I was living with a host family of Christians. I was lecturing them because I felt that they should be Christian because of the possibility of there being no God, and yet believing in a God anyway because that was their choice of faith. Not just being Christian to be Christian and to follow along with everyone else that they knew, which is what they were doing. Needless to say, this brought our relationship to a really uncomfortable level, not to mention that everyone else in town wasn't happy to see me. Awkward.

I woke up, stumbled around for a little bit, and after seeing bits and pieces of the first X-Files movie, which Rut(h) was watching, headed off to work. I brought a sandwich in the sandwich holder my Mom got me! Work was...well...work. I was stuck in Fairfax on register for about four hours, which wasn't...terrible...but there were issues with my computer not registering when I touched it, one of the soda fountains being broken and spraying foamy soda spray all over, and the Yungling (I'll spell it right later :P ) running out in the middle of a two-drink order. Then it was all foamy...blah. The Guests were all right, although I did have this one guy and his son who decided to stand at the window next to mine. So whereas it was obvious that there were three registers open (because there were three lines of people), they decided that the fourth one was open and chose it, despite there being no one there and no one showing up to take their order after five minutes. Eventually I leaned over and asked what they'd wanted (wasn't sure if they were just taking in the air at first) and the guy said he wanted a bottle of water. I motioned him to come to my window, or at least in my line, and he got a little snappy, saying that we should've had a sign saying the register was closed. Granted, but c'mon people, use your brains. If there's lines of people, no lines at one window, and no one's coming to that window while the other people working hard at the registers are taking orders...doesn't it seem a little obvious?

I just blamed it on vacation brain. And the heat. Sure, why not?

I could've acted a little better though. I mean, I apologized, and I got him his water quickly, but I could've done better I suppose. At least been a little friendlier.

Oh, and a woman and her family ordered seven ice waters. That was fun to do :P

Ice water is free, you see, but there's a two-fold problem. First, water isn't just a button one presses; it's a little tab that one must push and hold and keep an eye on while the cup fills. Second, for whatever reason, the tops to the regular-sized cups are just a pain in the ass to get on. They don't just slide on the cup, you really have to press and bend and hope that the side of the top doesn't get all bent inward, because then it'll never stay on. And even when it seems like the top's on, you have to check, because they like to look like they're on, but not stay sealed. The large drinks actually work.

But yeah, seven ice waters, woo!

My break eventually came, and with it was a bit of the Bears/Steelers game. Pitsburg was up by 7 when I had to leave, but it was nice to see a little bit of Chicago via the external stadium shots. Then it was off to bussing, which I like because I can meet people. I met someone from Algonquin and a husband and wife from Peoria today, which is nice because it's kind of like randomly being connected to home. Things started to get a little crazy as dinner-time rolled around and people started lining up for Fantasmic. It got so busy, all the tables were full. People lept for tables as soon as they were open, and in one case, it looked like the new family was sitting at the table waiting for the old family to finish up. I was called over a bunch of times by different people wanting their tables cleaned, which was fine, and kind of fun because I got to talk to people.

I had a hard time understanding the littlest kids though, and it's not just because they mumble something fierce. My ear's been bothering me the past couple of days, and today it was stuffy. That made Fairfax really "fun" with our fans blowing and people talking quietly, but out amongst the people, it was really really "fun".

And speaking of fun, as I tossed some trash out for this one family, I spotted the man of the group wearing what looked like a Hawaiian shirt, but with the sharks from Finding Nemo all over it. I complemented him on it, cause it was totally cool, and he told me that he'd been getting compliments all day. People had also been asking him if he was a doctor or a dentist, which made sense, he said, what with all the teeth. No, it seemed like his wife had made the shirt for him. They left, and not two minutes later, he was back. It seemed he might've thrown his Key To The World out with the trash.

This is his hotel key, so you know, but it's also a park ticket AND connected to a credit card. It really is a key to the world. He'd checked all his pockets and all the little pocketted bags that tourists carry, and had found nothing. Knowing how important it was, having one myself as a momento from my vacation, I walked over to the trashcan and began digging through.

Yeah, that was fun.

I didn't want to take out the bag, fearing that it might shift everything around, but I was having no luck. Another busser stopped by and said I should remove the bag from the can, which I did, and then it was partially open on the ground and I was still sifting through it. Mind you, I did have the fantastic Disney-issued plastic gloves on, but the guy was trying to reach through with his own hands. No good; I kept looking for him. Still nothing...but then he remembered...maybe possibly...wrapping the key in a receipt.

He checked one more pocket...and there it was.

Hooray!

Well it was good that he found it, and he thanked me for digging through trash for him, which was fine. He left, and now I was faced with having a trashbag sitting out in front of the Guests. Now, really, I should've gotten another trashbag to replace the one I'd been digging through, and tossed that full trashbag away. But I couldn't just leave an open garbage pail and a bag of trash on stage. And I had run into another problem.

In order to make sure that while I was searching the trash no one would toss any more in on top of me, I had used a tray to block the flaps. But then, when I couldn't see into the trash pail in the trash can, I had moved the trash pail out and into the light. And then I shut the door. Problem? The way we open the door in the side of the trashcan is by reaching through the flaps. And these flaps were now blocked by the tray.

I had a locked garbage can.

By this point, Tiffany, one of the girls I work with, had wandered by, and I laughingly told her what happened while trying to jam my fingers beneath one of the flaps towards the door. After a couple of finger-squishing pushes - success! I managed to pop the door and remove the tray. I asked Tiffany to please get me a new trash bag, figuring she'd understand why I'd want to replace the one in the pail as she'd closed trash the past two nights in a row. She got two for me, and was even so kind as to tie them like we're supposed to. I had intended to then take the trash bag I'd been searching through to the trash compactor, but ran into yet another problem when I realized that as I walked, I was leaving a trail. Garbage juice was leaking from the bag and across the pavement as I walked. Luckily, I saw a trash cart on the Produce side of Sunset, and managed to get the bag in there. I felt bad about the trail, but what could I do? I stole the trash cart, although honestly I didn't see anyone around using it anyway, and managed to get the trash to the compactor. As I tossed the bag in through the side door, I was rewarded with garbage juice leaking out of the bag and into my sock and shoe.

And then I was assigned to trash.

I ended the night by giving Tiffany a ride home (it was the least I could do after she'd been so kind to help me out), and although I knew I needed more hand soap and to figure out whether or not I needed the book for my first day of class tomorrow, I ended up lounging on the couch, watching the Emmys, and thinking that maybe being a writer in a group might be good way to get superly creative.

Although I'd still like to write on my own too.

I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten, but it's definitely time for bed.

Oh, and I was talking to Amanda, and apparently in the UK part of Epcot, there's an Eeyore that likes to kiss young women up and down the arm. I don't quite know how to feel about that...but it kind of creeps me out a little.

Oh! And Tiffany said that when she was coming back from her break, she got to see one of the character golf carts backstage with people like Meeko and Pocahontas and Goofy and Max! I need to see more of those carts; they're so cool ^-^