Week 9 Reflection

  Oh Sunday… I looked at my schedule and went to work excited because I thought that maybe I would get to be fly. Oh how wrong I was. I got put as Support in the tower on the busiest day of the week. I went in feeling like I was stuck up creek without a paddle. I did not even know where my cart or supply room was! Support is not supposed to start until 9 AM but as I sat there waiting in the break room, the calls just kept building up! I was never trained as support in the tower so, I did not know where anything was or how to operate in the tower. I asked the manager where to get my supplied were supposed to be and he explained that they were completely gutting the room and moving everything out! I was so upset because, not only was this my first time working alone in the tower, but he sent me to three different places after telling me that. I finally found the closet with all of my supplies, all the way on the 14^th VIP floor, outside…. The calls were never ending and I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. DF came and helped me get caught up on my calls on her lunch, she was fly in the tower for that day. The calls slowed around 3 PM and I went with DF to help with people’s beds. We almost ended up missing the bus but we made it home and I was excited for my days off.

     This week I finally got to do something that was related to my field of study. Monday, I woke up around 7 AM, excited as can be. I thought to myself “today’s the day!” By this, I meant, today was the day I got to go to the K9 Unit and command center for all of Disney World. Because Monday was the field portion of the Criminal Justice class, we had to meet at the bus stop, no later than 7:50 AM.  Luckily, for me, the location of the bus stop was less than 50 steps from the front of my apartment building. I got to the bus stop at 7:30 AM and waited for my instructor with two other girls, who were also there. Slowly, as time went on, more people started to show up. The bus that we took was a giant, comfortable charter bus which, I was not use to riding because the busses to work are really cruddy. Our instructor was very strict so I was very confused when she ended up arriving just 5 minutes before we were supposed to leave. We students, got on the bus and off we were off!

     Our first stop was the K9 unit. We were told that we would be back by 10 o’clock AM but we did not arrive until 8:30 AM. (It does not take a genius to realize that 2 hours –travel time, was not enough to go to the K9 unit and the command center) We tried to refrain from asking a lot of questions because we wanted to have enough time to go to both places and see everything possible. When we got to the K9 unit, we started by standing in front of a building. One of the K9 officers stood outside and explained the history of the K9 unit, here at Walt Disney World. He also told us, where they get the dogs, why they originally got them, and how the unit has improved since it started. After he explained the history, we followed him into the building. On the right hand side, there were containers with special diet dog food and on the left, the dog’s kennels. Before going to the unit, I thought that there were only German Shepherds. After going however, I learned why they also have Labradors. Being that they are Disney, they want to have dogs that are not going to bring any attention to the operation. Labs, are a more friendly face to the public and do not cause people to get scared. He told us that in other countries, and even in other places in the United States, law enforcement just let their dogs loose and do not care whether the dog attack the suspects. The dogs happen to be outside when we got there, so after we saw the kennel, we when outside. The dogs were barking a lot but the officer described it as, they were barking as a competition; one dog barks and then the others feel he need to compete. They took one of the dogs out and showed us how they go through the training courses. Next, they took us over to one of the K9 SUVs and showed us how the dogs ride safely and that the vehicle is automatically designed to be climate controlled. This means that the second the car hits 90 degrees, the air conditioning turns on, so the dog does not suffocate. We thank the officer and he answered final questions. We returned to the bus and it was time to go to the command center.

     We arrived at the command center and we were all thinking the same thing, it was already after 9:30 AM and we were wondering what the point of going here was. We entered the building and realized that there was no way we were getting back by 10 AM. We were lead into an office space and all sat down in very comfortable office chairs. The woman asked the people in the back of the room to please find somewhere else to sit and we thought she was being rude until we saw why. She touched something on the wall and all of the sudden, the entire wall lit up with life camera feeds from all over property, she showed us a couple cameras and in one of them, there was a girl at Animal Kingdom picking her wedgie! Talk about a wakeup call! We learned that across property, there are 4,000 cameras. This means, everything you do in a Disney park, someone can see what you are doing.  You know that booger you wanted to pick so you looked around to make sure no one was watching? Yes, someone can still see that. We also watched a guy pull up to the main gate at Epcot because, we imagine, he meant to go to Magic Kingdom and ended up at Epcot and did not want to pay for parking twice. He got out of his car and right when they were about to dispatch people to him, he got back in his car and drove away. The lady explained how important these cameras are very important when working in emergency management on property. She drew us a diagram, explaining how far away the set up should be from the scene and how to hide everything from the media, so only certified people will be able to put out correct information. After this, we walked outside and saw the emergency truck, tent, and supplies. After asking and answering of final questions, we thanked the lady and got back onto the bus. By the time we got back to the apartment it was already after 11 AM. I got home and started to get caught up on homework and then start to plan Gabriel and my honeymoon. The rest of Monday and Tuesday were nothing but relaxing.

     Wednesday and Thursday, came and I was well rested and ready for work. I had 4 checkouts both days and was happy. The days seemed to breeze by and I went home to relax. This week, I really started to feel like an older person. I would come home and watched Jeopardy, then Wheel of Fortune, and go to bed.

     Friday was my busy day. Not very difficult but I ended up with 7 checkouts, which was the 2^nd most out of everyone that day. Luckily, CS was fly squad and helped make 3 rooms of beds for me. All but 1 of my checkouts had two people in it and looked almost identical. In the main room they all only used one bed but there was private dining with the same plate of chocolate covered strawberries. The bathroom was almost completely clean, with the bath tub and toilet paper not even used and only 2 towels used but all of the bathroom amenities were used. It creeped my out but I finished and ended up finishing on time but the families in the rooms were absolute pigs. Half of them smelt like one giant, fecal infested diaper. There were clothes and garbage everywhere. I cleaned as best I could but some smells you just cannot get rid of. The manager of the day was a Professional College Program intern named Tyler. He told me a CS that Sunday was going to be very busy because there were going to be 349 checkouts between tower and South. We hoped for an easy day Saturday as we went home preparing for the weekend.

     Saturday was a really great day! DF had no checkouts, S had only 1 linen change and no checkouts, and CS and I had 2 checkouts. They were selling rooms so I bought 2 checkouts. I had, probably the scariest moment so far in housekeeping. A woman had been staying for a week and had not once, taken her Do Not Disturb off of her door. I had the room the last two days and she was supposed to be out of her room and checkout by 9:20 AM. It was 11 AM and I was very scared that there might be a deceased woman in the room. I called the housekeeping base and they told me that the woman had not checked out of the room but there was a credit card on the account so she could do the express checkout and just leave. DF said to call her when I was going to go in so “we could both be traumatized and transferred to another role”. I called her and we went in. My heart was racing like Usain Bolt, as I opened the door and peaked in. I looked in the bathroom and then on each side of the beds. There was no one there; I felt so relieved! The bathroom was not even touched, trash and glasses were not used, and the only thing I had to do was make one of the beds. I had bought an out of inventory room which, was already cleaned and all I had to do was punch it out. DF came and helped me finish my last 4 occupies and everyone was done by 3 PM. We all knew what Sunday was bringing so we figured this was the “calm before the storm”.

     Sunday, we were prepared for a day from you know where. We went up to go and get our boards and I was support in South! On the busiest day ever I just knew I would be running around like crazy again… but I did not. There were very little calls and in my spare time, I helped make beds and take out trash for the housekeepers. So many people called out that there were 9 open boards. This means that there were 9 boards, with no one to do a single room on them. Everyone in the South had at least 7 checkouts, except one that had only 2 checkouts. The runner, person that brings cribs, vacuums, etc.… had to go and pick up 9 people from another resort to make sure that all of the rooms were going to be cleaned. One of the poor people that came from another hotel had to get the board with 14 checkouts! I would refuse to do 14 checkouts personally. We got done on time but stuck around to help the managers make sure that the rooms were done before DF, her mom and grandma gave me a ride home. The rest of the night I relaxed and prepared for my last class on the next day. 

8th week reflection

     This week was more mentally challenging then physical. Monday, class was cancelled because this week and the next are very busy, due to Easter and spring break occurring at the same time. In class the last week, the instructor said that most Cast members will be working anywhere from 45-60 hours a week, due to extra magic hours as late as 3 AM! Sunday, the day before, was a hard day, like all Sundays, so I took advantage of not having class and slept in. Like all Mondays, I sat around and watched TV and relaxed until DM got home. I asked her if she wanted to go out to Carrabba’s Italian Grill for dinner and she said she would love too. She changed out of her space outfit and we were off. When we got into the car, I called the restaurant and got our name on the list, they said there would not be a wait. When we arrived, they told us that there were two different locations, one on AVE and one on BLVD. We happened to call the wrong one but she said there would only be a 25 minute wait. We waited and were seated pretty quickly after. On the menu, DM could not believe it! Ever since I got here, on February 2^nd, I had been looking for an Italian soda because DM had never even had one. She looked at the menu and to her surprise, an Italian soda! We originally thought that Carrabba’s was a Mexican grill and I happen to not be a very big fan of Mexican food, so we had never gone there. After telling the waiter that I had been looking for Italian Sodas everywhere, he replied “why didn’t you just think to come to the Italian grill”. We told him that we thought it was a Mexican grill till I saw it on TV that day and he said “well that makes sense”.  We got our food and it was delicious and not too pricey either.

     Tuesday, I had to deal with some financial business. For my first semester this year, I lived at the Grove apartments in Pullman. Before leaving, I sub-leased my apartment and was supposed to get a $330 refund from my last month’s rent minus the $250 fee from sub-leasing my apartment. I had been relying on this large sum of money starting mid- January. They said that the latest I would receive the money would be mid-February and still, nothing. I had spoken with the manager at the Pullman location and she worked very hard to at me my refund. I had yet to see anything 3 weeks later so I called the headquarters, on this Tuesday to complain. The woman in the accounting section of the company asked what I needed. I explained that I had been waiting since mid- January for my refund and she said that it had just hit her desk that day! I was absolutely livid, I could feel myself becoming extremely enraged and I kept calm as much as I could. I asked when I would receive the check and she said anywhere from 3-5 business days. I asked if there was any way I could pay extra for them to ship it over night because I had a large sum of money I had to pay in 2 days. She said that given the circumstance, she could ask what she could do and call me back later. I agreed but was annoyed by the whole situation. Less than 45 minutes later, I received a call back from the lady. She apologized for the entire situation and said the check was in the mail and was being sent overnight through FEDEX at no charge. I was extremely grateful and appreciative of this woman’s kind actions.

     Wednesday I felt really sick at work and we had a “town hall” at our break out which, was said to last one hour. When the “town hall” started, I could see that it was going to be a long day… for some reason, they felt the need to translate every single word into both Spanish and Creole. They would say a sentence in English, then in Creole, and finally in Spanish. The meeting could have taken only 20 minutes without the translating and we had work to do; 16 rooms were not going to clean themselves. I was so nervous about the package coming to my apartment that I started to feel like I was going to vomit.

     After the meeting, I went to go clean my rooms. Due to the long meeting, they only gave us 13 rooms. I started to clean and went into the restroom, just to vomit into the toilet. I called the manager and she said she would come and see if I was okay. I finished my first checkout and an occupied, then moved into my second checkout. By this point, I had vomited 3 times and told my manager I had to go home. 

     I got home 5 minutes before the man came with the check! I was so relieved that I already started to feel better but still laid down to rest for the rest of the day.

     The rest of the week seemed to drag on but it was just like any other week. Saturday, I dealt with a very difficult guest who, I am pretty sure was just looking for free stuff from Disney. Side note: by working for Disney, I have learned that the more you complain, the more you get. Anyways, this particular man was extremely rude to me, for something I could not even control.

     I was doing an occupied room and a family walked by and asked where room 6111 was. I told them that if they continued forward and turned left, it would be on their left hand side. They were very kind and thanked me for my assistance. A half hour later, I went down by their room to service another room that had requested later service, and they were still there. The man started to yell at me about how they had been waiting there for someone from the front desk to let them in their room because their magic bands would not work. I replied that I would be more than happy to help them get into their room but I would have to call the front desk to confirm they were at the correct room. I called the front desk and they confirmed the guests name and said I could let the family in. They also said that they would be sending someone out to the room for them to get a key to get into the rooms. I explained to the family that sometimes, if the front desk types in one wrong number, none of the bands work. The man thanked me but then started to yell at me once again saying that this ruined their whole vacation and he thought their family deserved free meals and a free room up grade. I told him that unfortunately, I could not do anything but I was more than happy to let them into their room at any time until I went home. I went into another room and serviced it. When I came out, the front desk woman was with the man, explaining what they could do for the family. He was very nice to her but after she left, he started yelling at me again! I smiled and said front desk would be the only people that could assist him any further, and he walked away. I had a couple rooms left but finished on time, somehow. I went home and slept like a baby, awaiting a busy Sunday ahead.