We're all in this together....

Another post, another treasured day off!



Picking up from where I left off on Sunday...



Sunday: It was my day off on Sunday so I didn't do much. Just sat around the house, watched Casualty which was brilliant (got so overexcited that I was just watching TV... oh, so sad. But I don't even have an American TV here!) Me and Selena (one of my Barbadian housemates, that is, someone from Barbados) went to Downtown Disney to get a bit to eat in the evening but that was about it.



Monday: Back to work on Monday but not until 6.45pm so did my washing in the morning, oh the thrills. For the first time I wasn't really in the mood to go to work, I think it was because I knew that I would be on stock. Luckily I wasn't on putbacks tonight, I was put on 'dec 2' which is in the souvenirs section of the Emporium (or as Disney likes to call them: "Tangible Memories") which was basically snowglobes, photoframes and little china models of the characters as well as bobbleheads (nodding Mickeys to you and me) The shift started off really boring, I was partnered with a guy called Andrew and it seemed to me that all he did was stand around chatting to people backstage... very boring for me. The annoying thing about Dec 2 was that everything was in boxes because they were breakables so you had to keep going to restock... also we had run out of loads of stuff which was a bit rubbish. I took my first break at 9pm which I thought I would regret (as it's early!) but actually the middle part of the shift, until my 2nd break, went quite fast because I stuck to being out on the floor, talking to guests and pin trading etc. I took my second break at midnight, before the store shut... once it had shut, a load of painters and decorators came in. I realised this was because Meg Crofton (one of the BIG wigs at Magic Kingdom) was coming to visit the next day... we all got the shop looking ship shape and Bristol fashion! :P



Tuesday: Finished work at 3.15am and got home at about 3.45am. Tried to stay awake because joy of joys, we had to get the bus at 6.30am to the Social Security office - woo. Failed miserably because I kept nodding off, so I got changed into the clothes I was going to wear to the SS office and then went to sleep for an hour! So, after only 1 hours sleep I rolled out of bed at 6am and went over to the Pavilion to get the bus. I followed Victoria's advice (as she did the program last year, she didn't need to get another social security card) and sat right at the front of the bus which meant I was one of the first off, the first in and the first out!! Was quite painless... just had to go in and give passport and birth certificate to a woman who typed loads of stuff on a computer, then sign a sheet and then you were done. We were back at Vista Way at 8.30am! So, having been up for about 21 hours without any proper sleep, I went to bed!!



Briefly woke up at about 1pm because there was a massive thunderstorm (which I totally missed) but eventually got up at 4pm. Felt sooooo much better having slept although I really hate sleeping in the daytime! Went to work again for 1845 til 0315 but at least I felt wide awake! Got put on Mens Apparell (ie. mens clothes) for the whole night. Actually it was quite good because the girl I got paired up with left at midnight and spent most of the shift backstage chatting and gossiping about other people. She tended to stock Zone 85 (the sports stuff) whilst I stuck to the traditional Tshirts, Hoodies etc. I got the hang of it easily and it was better than the hard goods because you just had to make sure everything looked full.

I felt a bit rubbish at the start of the shift because everyone seems to look down on the ICPs... I guess it's because we come swaning into Disney full of enthusiasm and then just as we get completely trained, we leave. But that's the way it goes. Don't get me wrong, there are some really nice people at the Emporium...but there are a few full-timers who seems to look at the ICPs like dirt... it's bad enough that we have to work the long, late night shifts but to also have them basically ignore us and not even make small talk is just plain annoying. *rants* The frosting on the cake (so to speak) is when one of the co-ordinators who I don't particuarly like, came up to me at 9.55pm going "Oh Catherine, there you are! We have been looking for you for 20 minutes! Where have you been??" I was really annoyed because he had presumed I had taken a really long break but actually I had my fair 30 minutes and just forgotten to sign back in after my break. I had come straight back to Zone 80 and continued stocking. He obviously hadn't looked very far because I had been there the entire time and in the stock room... everytime he speaks to me I get the feeling he's annoyed with me and in turn that annoys me!

Anyway, the shift went quite fast and I did a magical moment! Wooo! Basically, at 1am the shop shuts but there was one family who were still buying a few last minute things. Normally I get annoyed with those kinds of people who hang around in shops past closing time (I guess it's different at Disney because we don't leave when the shop shuts). Anyway, the kids were messing about trying on these massive yellow slippers (they look like the character's feet...) and it was actually quite funny. But the little boy (he was about 3) was sitting on the floor with his shoes and socks off going "Mom... mom... mom!" but she was too busy looking at the jewellrey with the other kids. Basically, he just wanted his shoes and socks back on... so going back to my roots I just popped his shoes and socks back on for him and his Mum was sooooo grateful! It made me feel happy I had helped and "Gone above and beyond!" Then his sister who was about 5 came over and was pointing to one of my pins (the fairy godmother one) so I offered to give it to her (in some circumstances we are allowed to give pins rather than trading) but she was very polite and just went "No thank you" even though she really liked it so I decided to just take it off and pin it to her lanyard instead... she was really happy! :)

Yesterday (well, this morning...) was full of drama once the shift had ended too! I got back to my apartment at about 3.45am and was just about to get into bed when my phone rang - it was Victoria going "Can I come over? I have a situation here..." So wondering what was going on, I said of course and she came over about 5 minutes later. In a nutshell, it turned out her Texan room mate had come home completely drunk and got carried into her room where she threw up all over the carpet... basically she had drunk so much that she couldn't control ANY of her bodily functions... if you get my drift. Ew, yes. Anyway, obviously Victoria wasn't going to stay in the room when it was full of people and the smell of sick so she didn't know what to do. We quickly decided we had better go to security because this girl was in a bad way.

So, we walked to security at 4am in our pyjamas and told them the situation. The catch-22 part of it was that this girl was 19 years old.... and the drinking limit is 21. And as I mentioned in a previous post, what happens if you drink under 21? TERMINATED!!! So anyway, Victoria didn't want to be blamed for having alcohol in the apartment or drinking herself but luckily security said that she had essentially cleared her own name because she had come to tell them. Anyway, they wasted no time in calling 911!! A few minutes later, a MASSIVE fire truck/ambulance/first responder vehicle had turned up complete with lights flashing all over the place and we followed them back to the apartment. Long story short - they called for an ambulance, the girl got carried out... another girl (British) went with her to the hospital (she had been drinking as well but securtiy didn't know that and she didn't appear drunk) and Victoria had to fill out a statement and then sleep on the sofa because of the smell.

Fast forward to this morning.... the Texan girl and the British girl have both been TERMINATED! We don't know how they came to the conclusion that the Brit had been drinking too but it sounds like she deserved to be terminated because she had pushed the boundaries enough with drinking all the time and leaving alcohol in the apartment. Victoria managed to get someone to come and clean the room including the carpet although I still think it smells a bit funny in there!

So, having not got to bed until 5am last night, me and Victoria were both quite tired today! We both had the day off so we went to Walmart and got a few bits and bobs. We went to Bennigans for dinner which was really nice and pretty cheap. I am working tomorrow but not until the eveinng again so I am going to the walk in clinic tomorrow to get a doctor to look at my troublesome toe... as much as I resent having to pay $200+ and sort out medical insurance claims when I get home.... more tomorrow!

x