Diary of a Disney Employee
It's been forty-six days, since I took a plane from Frankfurt to London, from London to Miami and finally - after a 2 hour delay - a plane from Miami to Orlando. We had a week of orientation, getting to know the people you would have to work with for approximately one year from now and finding our way in this new job.
After forty-six days in sunny Orlando, Florida I can say that it was the right decision coming here. Of course I miss my friends and family, my cat Phoebe. And - you might find it pathetic - but I do miss the delicious tap water we had in Germany. Here in America it seems like they can't use enough chlorine and yes, you taste it...
Work has its ups and downs. Days when you work with nice colleagues who teach you how to juggle or read you fairytales are awesome and even when you have to work Extra Magical Hours (we call them Extra Tragical Hours, because the park is open until 1am, yet there are almost no guests and you just stand around doing nothing), sometimes, when the store's empty, you might end up having your own personal olympics, including candy long throw and a race through the candy store.
Bad days are when you feel alone, even with dozens of people around you, days when you re-stock your whole shop, tidy and straighten everything up and nobody sees it, yet the minute you don't do anything or talk to a colleague, a manager shows up and tells you to go back to work.
The German Pavillion has seven Merchandise stores. The wine shop (where we serve several Rieslings), the stein shop (where we sell Beersteins and -glasses), the Christmas store (Christmas ornaments), the Karamellküche (Caramel Kitchen/candy store), the Adidas/Puma store (cause they're German brands), the clock shop (Coocoo clocks and souvenirs) and the toy shop (Steiff plushies, toys and German chocolate). We rotate, so that we don't work more than 2 1/2, 3 hours tops, in each shop ^^
Here Toffifee is called Toffifay, being at a candy store is considered torture and every day is magical. Even when your feet hurt, some of your co workers annoy the living hell out of you and you haven't had a single guest in 45 minutes.
Oh, and don't even let me start talking about the guests...
Obviously the customer (or 'guest', how Disney wants us to call them) is king here and gets just about everything. They drop their ice cream? They get a new one. Their kid throws up on his shirt? New clothes coming right away. Also they like to make up their minds how to pay when you're already almost done giving them back their change.
Example: The amount is $9.37, they give me $10.00, I start giving them back $0.63... the moment I take the first pennie in my hand, they decide on giving me $0.02 …......... so now you have $10.02 for something that's $9.37 ........ are you following? Cause usually that's the moment I pull out my calculator and start cursing the person in front of me.
Also at Disney everyone can rent a wheelchair. Hell, they even can rent Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECVs) and guess who in 99 % of the cases rents those... fat people...
I am sorry if I come across crude and snooty but it is disgusting how fat people are around here. And hey, why should they bother to lose weight, cause Disney offers them to rent ECVs, so they don't have to move their feet a single fucking time the whole day. And of course those people are the ones buying the Caramel Fudge AND the Rocky Road Apple AND the Caramel filled Chocolate Cookie AND the large bag of Caramel Popcorn.
But apart from the annoying guests and listless colleagues, work is quite good right now. Since the season is very slow, I don't have many hours (about 38 this week and 32 next), which is bad because I don't get too much money but good because I get to sleep long and do some stuff in the morning and noon. Also there are those guests that make your day by telling you how good your English is and how they don't believe that I've been here for just one and half a month. There are guests that love Germany and you end up having long conversations about where they may have been on holiday, which part of Germany they liked best, about what you miss back home and what you love about Florida.
I want to end my report with a few photos I took on a trip to Downtown Disney and EPCOT on January 14, 2012. Tomorrow I'm gonna spend the day at a water park called Blizzard Beach. Can't wait :)
At Downtown Disney with Buzz Lightyear and at the clothing store TrenD
The Disney Beach Club Hotel <3
EPCOT
(WHAT EVEN IS THE TANNED HELLO KITTY???? SO SLUTTY, DISNEY!!)
(My colleague Sylvana and me at the Karamellküche)
(Look, it's Jared in Norway XD)
(my ex-roomie Sarah at work)
(Meeting the boss and his wife and friends XD)
(from left to right: Lea, Franziska and Steffi doing paperwork in my 'favourite' shop, the Adidas/Puma store)
After forty-six days in sunny Orlando, Florida I can say that it was the right decision coming here. Of course I miss my friends and family, my cat Phoebe. And - you might find it pathetic - but I do miss the delicious tap water we had in Germany. Here in America it seems like they can't use enough chlorine and yes, you taste it...
Work has its ups and downs. Days when you work with nice colleagues who teach you how to juggle or read you fairytales are awesome and even when you have to work Extra Magical Hours (we call them Extra Tragical Hours, because the park is open until 1am, yet there are almost no guests and you just stand around doing nothing), sometimes, when the store's empty, you might end up having your own personal olympics, including candy long throw and a race through the candy store.
Bad days are when you feel alone, even with dozens of people around you, days when you re-stock your whole shop, tidy and straighten everything up and nobody sees it, yet the minute you don't do anything or talk to a colleague, a manager shows up and tells you to go back to work.
The German Pavillion has seven Merchandise stores. The wine shop (where we serve several Rieslings), the stein shop (where we sell Beersteins and -glasses), the Christmas store (Christmas ornaments), the Karamellküche (Caramel Kitchen/candy store), the Adidas/Puma store (cause they're German brands), the clock shop (Coocoo clocks and souvenirs) and the toy shop (Steiff plushies, toys and German chocolate). We rotate, so that we don't work more than 2 1/2, 3 hours tops, in each shop ^^
Here Toffifee is called Toffifay, being at a candy store is considered torture and every day is magical. Even when your feet hurt, some of your co workers annoy the living hell out of you and you haven't had a single guest in 45 minutes.
Oh, and don't even let me start talking about the guests...
Obviously the customer (or 'guest', how Disney wants us to call them) is king here and gets just about everything. They drop their ice cream? They get a new one. Their kid throws up on his shirt? New clothes coming right away. Also they like to make up their minds how to pay when you're already almost done giving them back their change.
Example: The amount is $9.37, they give me $10.00, I start giving them back $0.63... the moment I take the first pennie in my hand, they decide on giving me $0.02 …......... so now you have $10.02 for something that's $9.37 ........ are you following? Cause usually that's the moment I pull out my calculator and start cursing the person in front of me.
Also at Disney everyone can rent a wheelchair. Hell, they even can rent Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECVs) and guess who in 99 % of the cases rents those... fat people...
I am sorry if I come across crude and snooty but it is disgusting how fat people are around here. And hey, why should they bother to lose weight, cause Disney offers them to rent ECVs, so they don't have to move their feet a single fucking time the whole day. And of course those people are the ones buying the Caramel Fudge AND the Rocky Road Apple AND the Caramel filled Chocolate Cookie AND the large bag of Caramel Popcorn.
But apart from the annoying guests and listless colleagues, work is quite good right now. Since the season is very slow, I don't have many hours (about 38 this week and 32 next), which is bad because I don't get too much money but good because I get to sleep long and do some stuff in the morning and noon. Also there are those guests that make your day by telling you how good your English is and how they don't believe that I've been here for just one and half a month. There are guests that love Germany and you end up having long conversations about where they may have been on holiday, which part of Germany they liked best, about what you miss back home and what you love about Florida.
I want to end my report with a few photos I took on a trip to Downtown Disney and EPCOT on January 14, 2012. Tomorrow I'm gonna spend the day at a water park called Blizzard Beach. Can't wait :)
At Downtown Disney with Buzz Lightyear and at the clothing store TrenD
The Disney Beach Club Hotel <3
EPCOT
(WHAT EVEN IS THE TANNED HELLO KITTY???? SO SLUTTY, DISNEY!!)
(My colleague Sylvana and me at the Karamellküche)
(Look, it's Jared in Norway XD)
(my ex-roomie Sarah at work)
(Meeting the boss and his wife and friends XD)
(from left to right: Lea, Franziska and Steffi doing paperwork in my 'favourite' shop, the Adidas/Puma store)