Scary changes at The Rose and Crown

Things have been changing rather radically at The Rose and Crown due to cutbacks and the economy. About a week ago, the servers were told during the AM shift that we had to stick around for the pre-shift meeting before the PM shift. We were all really nervous. The only time the managers get us all together is to yell at us for some reason. We couldn't think of any reason why we'd be in trouble but this is Disney and I long ago came to the conclusion that Disney hate their employees and wants them dead. However, I wasn't expecting the news we got.

First, let me explain the hierarchy at work. We have our area manager, Rachid who overlooks the entire UK pavillion. Then there's Christian, the head chef. Christian is in charge of the kitchen (and the world in his opinion). Anything Christian says goes. If he yells at you keep your head down and agree with whatever he says. He can make your life hell if you upset him and he will. Next come the managers, Alicia, Jamie, Dan and Nick.

Anyway, we were told on Thursday that Dan would not be coming back to work due to the economy. It's horrible. He went on his days off and then got told he'd lost his job. He wasn't even able to come and say goodbye! I really hope he'll get a decent redundancy package as the economy is so bad, he's going to need it. Everyone's looking for work at the moment. Dan was a decent bloke and he didn't deserve to lose his job. Everyone was really shocked and it was difficult to concentrate on the shift. However, we were told that this was the only change they were doing.

The following day, I get into work and guess what? There's ANOTHER full team meeting. We all got together and learnt that Rachid (our area manager) was being reassigned to Ohana (the restaurant in the Polynesian Resort) and Chef Christian (the Demi-God) was being sent to Mama Melrose in Hollywood Studios. The UK is now merged with Canada and we have the same area manager (a woman called Christina) and the same Head Chef (Chef Nick). It was alot to deal with at once. Especially as we'd never met either of the two leaders and all we had were rather frightening rumours!

That was a week ago and we've had Chef Nick in every day. Obviously, I don't know him well but so far I'm really impressed. Firstly, he treats everyone with respect in his kitchen. He doesn't have a God complex and will actually listen to you and treat you like a human being, unlike Christian. Another thing he's done that impressed me was he asked the servers what we would like to see on the menu. He realises that we are all British and the stuff we eat at home is what he needs to see on his menu. This is a change for us all as I once told Christian that we don't eat Blood sausage in the UK and he tore me apart in front of the entire pre shift meeting. Chef Nick has got some terrific ideas and while I don't agree with them all, I'm willing to give them a go because the man knows what he's doing AND he treats us with respect. So far, Chef Nick is a huge improvement to the Rose and Crown.

Losing Rachid has been a bit of a blow though. I always found Rachid to be a little vacant (the guy once told me I wear too much make-up despite the fact I never wear any!) but it felt like he was on "our side" for alot of things. He's going to be missed. I've met his replacement, Christina, once and she seems nice but I haven't spoken to her enough times to form a proper opinion yet. I hope she's a good manager.

All these changes have set the staff on edge at work. Morale is down and the full timers are all concerned for their jobs. I feel like they resent us a little because they know we're immune to the economic breakdown. We're sponsered by the government to be here and cannot be fired just because of the economy (we can still be termed for just about everything else though). Work is full of uncertainty right now.

As if to usher in this new time of change, we've had alot of thunderstorms recently. I absolutely LOVE thunderstorms! We had one at 6am the other morning and I crawled out of bed, sat on the balcony and watched it! It reminded me of home which is weird because we're not really prone to lots of thunderstorms. Rain, yes, we have lots of that but we don't tend to have anything as energetic as thunderstorms very often. Still, whatever the reason, I loved watching it. Now we seem to be having storms every couple of days. In fact, as I write this, I can hear the beginnings of another one! Brilliant! If it comes any closer, I may have to abandon you in order to watch it.

What else has happened recently? Oh yes! We had our eight month anniversary on Sunday. We've been out here for eight whole months now. Nicola got our arrival group together and we all enjoyed breakfast before work. Nic had put alot of effort into it. We had strawberries and melon and grapes and toast and cereal and bagels and jam....she'd even decorated! It was great for everyone to get together (except Pippa who overslept). Most of us haven't been in the same room outside of work since our three month anniversary! Only four months left now and that will fly by!

I'm trying to squeeze alot into my last few months so I was up early this morning to do the backstage Tower Of Terror Tour. These are backstage tours offered by the Programs office. They do two a month and each time I try to get on them but they are always fully booked. This time I went along on the off chance that someone wouldn't show up. I am really glad I did! It thundered this morning while we waited for the bus so alot of people didn't come which meant I was able to go along! Yes! Louisa had told me the times and I was so grateful to her!

The tour was really interesting! We got to go round the lobby and our guide told us things that alot of people don't know about the attraction. We got to see all the furniture and were told stories about where it came from and how it was selcted to be in the attraction. Over on one side of the lobby is an abandoned game of Mahjong. This is an actual game, stopped in the middle and the tiles glued down so anyone familiar with the game can see it's a real game. This is out of sight of most of the guests! That's how seriously Disney takes it's theming! A few of the tiles are missing though. Stolen over the years by cast members and guests.

Behind the front desk are cubbies containing keys to the different rooms of the hotel. In one is a photograph of an old man. He was a guest who loved the Tower of Terror. He used to ride it every time he came to Florida and when he passed away, his family came back one last time, ducked under the rope keeping guests out and threw the photo in one of the cubbies. It was found by cast members but they kept it there in memory. The guests never see it or even know about it so it doesn't hurt anyone. It was such a sweet story though.

Once we'd looked around the lobby, we were taken behind the scenes and shown the backstage areas. We saw the huge lifts that guests ride in and were taught how they work and move around. We saw the camera room that watches the whole attraction all the time and can stop the ride instantly if a guest does something stupid like jump out. We saw the cast areas (which look exactly like every other cast area I've seen!) and then we got to ride the attraction with the lights on! That was bizarre as we got to see everything that most guests don't see. I can't tell you much about that, I've probably said too much already but it was really cool!

I cannot wait for the next tour. I'm hoping it will be The Haunted Mansion (my favourite attraction in the Magic Kingdom). You get to go into the ballroom where the dancing ghosts are and see how it's done. I definately won't be able to put that in my blog but I'll be able to say a little bit about the whole experience.

After the tour, Louisa and I got together with Kevin, Stephie and David and we went to Best of British for some real food. Then we had a quick look round the Florida mall. Now I'm back at The Commons feeling a little disappointed because the storm never developed into anything. However, it may still come back. Talk to you next time!