Third Week Reflection February 16-23

This week has been the hardest week yet. The amount of times that I have had to tell myself that this internship is only 4 months, has been exponential. I never thought that housekeeping would be so difficult. Every day, I get up at 6:00 AM just to get to work by 8:00 AM. The bus gets to my apartment at 6:45 AM and gets me to work at 7:10 AM. I wish there was a bus that left later but I would get to work at 7:50 AM and I do not want to take the chance of being late, due to traffic.

            Monday and Tuesday were my days off this week. My first time working forty hours a week in about two years has been exhausting. Monday, I slept most of the day and stayed in my apartment, trying to recuperate. Tuesday, I went to the Magic Kingdom with my roommate DM and had a great time. I had no clue what Wednesday had in store for me.

            I woke up on Wednesday and thought it would be like the other days that I had in my training. What I did not think about though, was that Wednesday, was the day I had to start cleaning rooms by myself. I got to work and clocked in. I had made friends with a girl names DF, who had gone through all of my classes, trainings, and orientations with me. Her first day cleaning rooms alone was Monday, so I asked her how her last two days had gone, cleaning alone. She told me it was the hardest thing she had ever done and that she did not know if she could do it anymore. (Luckily, through Disney, housekeepers go through something called ramp ups. They know that their college program students have never been professional house keepers, so they start you off at eight rooms for two days, ten rooms for two days, twelve rooms for two days, fourteen rooms for two days, and finally, sixteen rooms. Every house keeper is responsible for 16 rooms per day, on their own. There are also two different types of rooms, normally; checkouts and occupies. In a checkout, everything needs to be stripped and removed from the room and replaced whereas occupies, only need restocking, trash taken out, and the bed made.)

DF l and I sat in the room with all of the housekeepers after clocking in and listened to the managers talk. They waste time in the morning speaking to us because normally, when people go on vacation, they are not awake at 8:00 AM. After they stopped talking, we walked up to the table at the front of the room to pick up our board (our list of rooms for the day). On top of the boards, they put a door stopper, so you do not have to worry about opening the door when you go into the rooms. I was informed that if you lost it, you got a reprimand. This made me ask what a reprimand was and how to get it. I was not told by a manager about this, only my trainer, Maria. She explained that there is a point system in Disney. If you call out for a personal day and do not get it approved, you get one point. Three points make up a reprimand and if you get three reprimands in ninety days, you are terminated. My mind was completely blown, when Maria told me that losing the door stop was equal to a whole reprimand. Anyways, back to work.

 I had six checkouts and two occupies. I ran all over the place and moved faster than I ever thought I could. Every time you enter a room, you go to the phone and punch in 665. This tells the front desk that there is a housekeeper in the room. It is also linked with the computer system with housekeeping. Unlike other jobs, where you punch in and out once a day, you have to punch in and out of every room you go into. After you are done with a room, if it is an occupied, you punch 664 and if it is a checkout, you punch 663. If you do not punch out, the guest’s keys do not work on the room and you get into very big trouble.

 Needless to say, by the end of the day, all I wanted to do was go to the boss and quite. I thought to myself, “This is way too hard. I cannot do this” and “I will never be able to do sixteen rooms a day”.

I ended up getting done at 4:00 PM, which is a half hour early. My feet ached because I had not stopped moving from 8:00 AM- 4:00 PM, not even for a break. An unspoken rule of housekeeping is that, if your work is not done, you do not take a break. None of the housekeepers at the Contemporary, ever take a break or even eat anything! I had never experienced something like that in my entire life.

After you are done cleaning rooms, you take the housekeeping cart back to the linen room and clean it off. This means removing all of the dirty linens, garbage, coffee cups, and drinking glasses. Then, you take the shelves with bathroom amenities and other supplies and replace them with fully stocked shelves. After cleaning the cart, you gather up your belongings and go up to the office. I work in the South Wing, in the Contemporary Resort, also known as the training wing. This building is three floors high and the manager’s office is on the third floor. I handed the manager my board and he made sure that all of my rooms were punched in and out for the day. He said I was good to go and I left.

I clocked out on the time clock in the lunch room and sat down for a well-deserved meal. After I ate I went to the housekeeping office to speak with the people in charge of the college program and housekeeping. I walked in and asked to speak with someone about potentially switching roles. They asked me why and I told them that I could provide medical documentation that I have severe anxiety and could not do housekeeping. They told me that it is highly uncommon for college program students to transfer to another position.  They also told me that if I put on medical documentation it could go one of two ways; I could get transferred or I would be self-terminating myself by telling them I would be insufficient in my current position. They told me to wait until the next day, when Ron, the head manager, came back. I decided to stick it out and I went home to sleep.

The next day, I met the most amazing manager I have ever met in my entire life, Ron. The day started out just like the rest. I woke up and went to work with nothing but a feel of confidence and positivity. Little did I know, my positivity would pay off. When I sat down in the room before I started, Ron asked all of the people in the south wing to stay behind for a meeting. He explained all of the problems that he had gotten calls about while he was on vacation. The women and men started yelling about how he does not care about them and reading him the redact. He kept a positive attitude the whole time and invited them to speak with him privately in him office after the meeting. When the meeting was over, he approached me and asked me to come to his office to speak about the previous day.

He took me to his office and sat me down asking about the previous day. I asked him questions regarding a possible transfer and he told me it did not happen often. He then asked me what he could do to help. I replied that I did not feel that I was competent enough at housekeeping. He then explained that no one can just walk in and become a house keeper over night that it takes time. He asked me what problems I had and I explained myself. He told me he was going to do whatever he could to help me. This gave me a whole new drive to do a great job. Having someone tell me that I could do it was a great feeling. That day I had another eight rooms; four checkouts and four occupies. I got done by 2:30 PM and had an amazing day, I even got a break before going to help other people with their work.

Friday and Saturday were very easy as well and I started to get a feel for what I was doing but then, Sunday came. There was a Princess half marathon so, even though I got to the bus at 6:30 AM, the bus did not get there until 7:15 AM, normally 6:45 AM, and we clocked in late to work. When we got to the room, I had six checkouts and six occupies. I had the same board the day before and I got done really early so I was excited. Then, all of my rooms were not ready until 11:00 AM so the rest of my day was completely rushed. I did not end up getting my checkouts done until 4:00 PM and I still had one occupied room left. One of my last checkouts had some of the people that did the Princess half marathon so, they had food, garbage, glitter, and crafting supplies all over! I thought I was going to break down. I also got my first complaint for not dusting however, even when you dust, within a couple minutes it just comes back. Finally, I finished my rooms, cleaned my cart and went to put my board in. Ron said not to worry about the complaint and that it was not a big deal. I felt so much better! DF and I went to go get on the bus but we missed it. We went into the Additional building to the contemporary and got to see their break room. We were amazed at how bug and beautiful it was. After a while, we got on the bus, around 6:00 PM, went home, and slept for the rest of the night. 

Second Week Reflection February 9-16

This week I started my housekeeping training. On Monday and Tuesday, I went to Disney University. On these two days, I learned numerous tools and skills that are required to work in housekeeping. We were told that it is the hardest position in all of Disney World, which is very nerve racking. On Monday, we went over operations in a four hour class. This class went over proper working techniques that make it easier for you to perform your task and not get injured. This included working in your green zone, versus you red zone. This means that, instead of reaching in an area that will put a strain on your body, you instead, use muscles to take the weight of areas such as your back. On Tuesday, I went to a class named “Welcome to Lodging”. This class was only two hours long and talked about the different roles in lodging and why they are so important to the success of the Disney Company. This included going over all of the resorts and what their ranking is on a scale of 1-5 diamonds, mine being 4. The instructor explained that in order to have a 5 diamond resort, you must be exclusive, which is not the Disney way.

            After “Welcome to Lodging”, each of us, students, went into our separate classroom, based on our role. The class of housekeepers was 8-10 people and included people in the Disney College Program, along with people that were training for full time. This class taught us exactly how to do our role. At the end of the class, the instructor came us to me and another girl, who was going to start at my resort, and handed us a piece of paper. It was a schedule saying that we started training the next day! We were so over whelmed we did not know what to do. Our instructor, Miss Benny, told us to go straight to costuming the next morning, so we could have clothes for training.

            Wednesday came and myself and DF, the other trainee, were not prepared at all for what was about to happen. We both got there an hour early, in order to go get our costumes. What no one told us, was that the costuming center was not open on Wednesdays. This meant that we had to run around, like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to find a manager to help us. A manager let us into the costuming room and we tried to ask him for help but he said he had no clue what we needed, then he left. We had a picture of the costume on our schedule, so we matched it up, (keep in mind, this is a room with at least 50 different costumes, each has at least 2 parts) and tried to check them out. Well, because it was our first time using out card to check out costumes, the machine would not let us! A woman came in as we were trying to check out and got very snarky with us saying “I’m not supposed to even be talking to you” as she grabbed the garments from our hands and helped us check them out.

            Unfortunately, this was just the beginning to a horrible day. On our sheets, it told us to go o the Tempo Bay Training room, in order to begin our training at 8 o’clock AM. Up until this day, we had been in classes with ten people at the most, and expected Wednesday to be no different. We got to the classroom 20 minutes early, so we would not be late. As soon as the clock hit 7:45 AM, all hell broke loose. It was one of the scariest moments of my entire life. I felt like Simba, during the wildebeest stampede in the Lion King. People were yelling and shoving, just so they could get to the time clock and clock in 15 minutes early.

            After the people clocked in, they shoved us into the Tempo Bay Training room, where we were told to be. We sat at the front of the room, in chairs, waiting to see what was going on. At the front of the room, 3 very important looking people stood, observing what was happening and taking notes. While this was happening, I had no clue what was going on. All of the people were either speaking Haitian or Spanish and I could not understand a single work they were saying. Both DF and I were in complete vulture shock. Not only did we not understand people but we had no clue what was happening. One of the meant at the front of the room began to talk and everyone stopped talking. H explained that the people there with him, were very important and that everyone dressed in the “Disney Look” and had been doing a great job. After he spoke, everyone walked to the front of the room, where there were tables with pieces of paper on them.
These papers were assigned by name, to everyone in the room, excluding trainees. I was sitting in my seat, not knowing what to do, when a woman gestured for me to come over to her. Her name tag said Gisselle She explained that she would be my trainer.

            We walked out of the building and into the break room, where she had me read information about the position of housekeeping, while she went and put her stuff away in her locker. We went to the South wing of the Contemporary Resort and she showed me how to load a housekeeping cart. This included how to restock, fill chemicals, and make sure the cart is clean and organized. We went into our first room and Gisselle taught me how to clean a bathroom. She mentioned not feeling well but I did not think anything of it. We finished our first room and went to a suite. Gisselle told me she was going to the doctor and that I should clean the bathroom until she got back. As I was cleaning the bathroom, Gisselle rushed through the door and told me she was going to the emergency room! She also said I would have to get a new trainer.

            So much was happening at once and I began to panic. Luckily, my new trainer, Maria, was extremely kind and helpful. Originally, I was only supposed to do 8 rooms because I was training however, because I changed trainers, I ended up doing 18 rooms.

            By the end of the day I went home, called my mom, and told her I wanted to come home. For the first time in my entire life, I was homesick. Everything all together was so overwhelming I was completely beside myself. I was 100% ready to pack my bags and go home.

            Thursday came and it was my second day of training. I signed in and there were a lot less people at the time clock then the day before which, already put me in a better mood the day before. I had the same trainer as Wednesday and we began immediately. We ended up doing a full board, list of rooms for the day, which was 16 rooms. I felt so much better than the day before it was awesome! I was getting better at cleaning and the work was coming more easily to me.

            Friday I had my third orientation day. The class was from 9:30 AM-3:30 PM and made me never want to leave the Contemporary Resort. The hotel was beautiful and the history, along with the restaurants. I felt like housekeeping could not keep me from staying in that resort for my whole stay at Disney. My day ended early, at 2:15 PM and DF and I went to the Wave, a restaurant in the Contemporary. We feared that housekeeping would get harder and we would have to leave such an amazing resort.

            Saturday I got a day off that was wonderful. All I did was take a break, sit down, and watch TV. I kept telling myself that I am strong and no matter what, I could make it through housekeeping or do the best I possibly could. It took every piece of my being, no to quite my first day and every day since has been better.

            Today, Sunday, I went back in for my third and final day of training. I was supposed to split the board with my trainer, so I could get experience doing it on my own, but we had 12 check outs, which means clean everything and it takes longer, so we did the whole board together. I had a great time and the day was great. I am really nervous about doing rooms on my own though, starting Wednesday.

First Week Reflection February 2-9

This is it! This was the week I had finally waited for, my check-in. On Monday, February 2, 2015 I checked into the Walt Disney World College Program. This all started a couple days before though. Let’s back up to Friday January 30, 2015. This was my last day in Pullman with all of my friends and also, happened to be my birthday. Friday was so difficult but I wanted to make it a day to remember. I woke up late because I wanted to sleep in and thought to myself that I should probably get up and talk to people. I hung out all day with my friends and then went out to a birthday dinner. After dinner, we went out and had some fun then went to be. Then Saturday came and it was an emotional one. As my boyfriend and two best friends dropped me off at the airport there was not a dry eye. It was very emotional and hard to say good-bye, knowing I was leaving until May. They left and I walked over through security and onto my plane. The ride over to Seattle was filled with thoughts about what the Disney program would be like. It would be the very first time, since kindergarten, that I would be doing something on my own, where I did not know anyone.

                The plane landed in Seattle and I called my mother to tell her. My mother and two sisters came to pick me up and we headed to an overnight at the mall with their Girl Scout troop. On the way there I received a call saying I would get to live in my sorority house next year and I was ecstatic. We went to the mall and it was fun but kept my anxiety away at the same time.

                The next morning I woke up and realized it, today is the day. The day I go away, all on my own for the first time in thirteen years. We left the mall and went back home. My mother and sister had set up a going away party for me at the old Spaghetti Factory in Lynnwood, Washington so people could say congratulations and good-bye. My nerves were so bad I did not eat anything but bread because I could feel my stomach was already upset from anxiety.

                After we ate, it was time; time for us to head to the airport. Time for me to go away, alone. We got to the airport and printed off, my tickets, put my bags on the luggage conveyor belt, and said our good-byes. My mother, father, and younger sister came with to say good-bye and it was very difficult. They left and I went through security, then off to the gate to wait for my plane. The flight ended up being delayed over an hour, which made me worry about making my connection flight in Los Angeles to Orlando. I got on the plane and fell asleep, awaiting our arrival in Los Angeles. Once we landed, the attendant announced to let the passengers with connecting flights off first because they feared us missing our flight. It was like in the movies! Everyone was getting out of our way and wishing us good luck on catching our flight. Running through the airport, I got lost a couple times but ended up getting to the gate and finding a line to stand in. Once on this flight, I slept as much as I could.

                I arrived in Orlando, Florida and got off the plane at six in the morning. I hurried to go grab my bags and get on the shuttle. I had previously spoken to one of my roommates about bunking with her until we checked in at ten forty-five that morning. I got dropped off at my roommate, Tierny’s, hotel. I napped on the couch until it was time to go.

                We got to check in and the line was giant! We stood in line and the lady asked our last names. Luckily, my last name begins with an A, so I got to skip half of the line to the A-L line. Once inside the building, we got our locations. I looked and saw that I would be working at the Contemporary Resort as a Housekeeper. I had never heard anything about this resort so I was very nervous. Next, they checked us in with our I-9 forms and forms of identifications. I used my passport card so I did not have to bring any other form of Identification. Once we were checked in legally, we went to go get our ID cards. Like always, mine looked horrible. Next we went and got our training schedules and spoke with people about proper dress attire. Second to last, we filled out our I-9 work forms, so we could legally work. Last, we got information about classes through both Disney and our individual Universities.

                After check in, my roommates and I went to check out our apartment. I was not as bad as we were expecting but it needed to be cleaned. After looking at the apartment, all four of us went down to the cars and brought our luggage up. It was hard being the only person in my apartment without my parents there but I had been alone before so it was not the end of the world. As the other girl’s parents left, they were extremely emotional which, is why I was happy, in a way, that my parents had not come down with me. The next day, I had to go to “casting” at eight in the morning so I went to bed early.

 I woke up and hoped on a bus to casting services. I got really lucky with where my apartment was located because the bus was only fifty steps from the building. Once we got to casting, we entered an amazing building with sculptures and artwork of Disney all over the walls. We got our instructions to wait in line until they told us otherwise. They called us back, one by one, into rooms, I got room eight. I sat down and one of the people put in all of my I-9 form information, while the other person explained my training schedule to me. They asked if I understood and I said yes. We shook hands and they send us to more people. They checked my form of ID, passport card, and sent me down a hallway to the next station. Here, they did all of my figure prints and background checks. Lastly, they send me to a room where they gave me a paper with information as to how to log onto the HUB, the cast online website, and change our mailing address to the apartment in Orlando. After this, we got back on the bus and went to our apartments.

That night, my roommates and I went out for dinner and set ground rules for the apartment. Then, we went shopping for food and decorations. When we got back to the apartment, all four of us pitched in and cleaned all of the apartment. We cleaned bathrooms, bedrooms, the kitchen shelves, dishes, the floor, even the couches and walls.

A couple days went by and I got really sick. I started to think it was my allergies but my mother though that I had caught something from the plane. It was hard to function but I kept going. On Friday I had what is called “Traditions”. My roommate Danielle and I, had to be to the bus at six fifty five in the morning.

We caught the bus and headed out on Friday morning. Our destination was Disney University for our Traditions class. Unfortunately, Danielle and I were split into different groups. I was on the second floor and she was on the first. I walked up stairs, following my group. We had to find our name on the sign in sheet and sign before we went into the classroom. Once inside, there was another person asking if the name to our school was correct. For reason, they had my school down as Walter State University instead of Washington State, so I had to have it corrected. The class was four hours long but was very important. The two instructors talked about courtesy, safety in the work place, and recourses that would make our work experience easier. When we entered the classroom, there was a red present in the middle of the table which, struck the attention of many. We wanted to open it so bad and the suspicion was killing us. In the middle of class, we got to open the present and inside, was our first pair of Mickey ears! At the end of the class, the instructors took us to Magic Kingdom to experience the magic that the cast members bring to the guests. This was my favorite part by far because I had never been to Disney World before. We entered the park through the tunnels that were under Cinderella’s castle. I could not believe it! The first time I ever went to Disney World, I could officially say I was under the Castle. After we went to the park, we took a bus back to the classroom and Mickey came and gave us our name tags. It was very special to have Mickey Mouse himself, come in and give us our name tags. This was my first week at Disney and it could not have been any better!

The week’s most rewarding aspects were receiving our name tags from Mickey and our first pair of ears. The most challenging aspect, by far, was being extremely sick but still going out and getting my work done. By working through this challenge I learned, that even though life can be rough, you can work through anything and the rewards are worth it. I would not have changed anything this week. My roommates are amazing people and my experience this week has been great. The assignment this week helped me to realize that even though I am in housekeeping, I can make a difference in the lives of the Disney Guests. This gives me the drive to work hard no matter what career I am in because no matter what I am doing, it will impact other people.