Huge Update!

Arrrgggghhhhhhh! No! No! No!

I just wrote out a huge long update and then this stupid virus appeared and it's all gone! Now I'm going to have to write it all out again! Stupid virus!!!

Anyway, here we go again....

I've abandoned you guys for a whole month now but due to numerous requests (Stephen) and death threats (Peter!), I though I was due for an update. So, my last blog was from the middle of February. Work continued to be slow for the rest of the month which meant the staff had alot more time on their hands. Being a mischievious lot, it's made way for quite a few pranks and server jokes.

One favourite is when a server comes into the kitchen and tells another server, "table 307 (or whatever your table is) has asked for three waters (or more bread)." You take out what they've asked for only to learn they never ordered it in the first place. You end up looking like a complete idiot. However, the one time you ignore someone who tells you your table needs something is the one time they'll be telling the truth!

Another fun one was one I played on my roommate (sorry Vikki). I told her guests that it was her birthday and they had to be nice to her. You should have seen her face when her tables sung her Happy Birthday!!!! She looked so confused! I was laughing so hard I could barely stand!

Another thing servers seem to enjoy doing is hiding little green army men all round the restaurant. They're only four centimetres tall (about one and a hlaf inches, mum) so they blend in really well. Management really don't like it but we all enjoy sitting in the pre-shift meetings silently pointing them out to each other. When one is found by the managers, it's removed, we get told off and there's a new one hidden in the restaurant by the end of the day!

Another good thing about the restaurent being slow has been the free time we've all enjoyed. A group of us went out for Nia's birthday a couple of weeks ago and Stephie, David, Kev and I went along to the Sleuths Mystery Dinner Show last month. It was so much fun. It's a murder mystery and you have to solve the murder. I really got into it, writing notes all over the napkins. We came up with a brilliant theorey. Unfortunately, we were brilliantly wrong but our table decided we liked our theorey better than the real one anyway.

On my day off last week, I was able to fufil an ambition of mine and I went hang gliding. I've always wanted to do that but something has always stopped me. Either the instructor was ill or the wind was too strong or it was raining.... This time, however, nothing went wrong and the glider was towed up to mile high with no problem. The instructor cut the cord and we were flying! It was like being Peter Pan! We cloud surfed (bumpy) and did a couple of corkscrew turns and steep dives but the best part was when we were just gliding. We went through the clouds and I saw the shadow of the glider on the cloud, surrounded by a rainbow circle. It was brilliant as not many people get to see that. I even got to pilot the glider on the way back down. I loved it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We've had a few throw outs recently. I've explained throw outs before but just in case you weren't paying attention, I'll explain again. Throw outs happen at the end of people's year program. All the crap they've accumulated over the year, posters, ornaments, soft toys, CD players, TV's, foot spas, Christmas trees....they get everyone together and give it all away. Everyone gets in the one apartment, the item is held up and whoever yells "shotgun" first gets it. A few items are reserved for personal friends and it's always sweet to see those being given out. It's always something like "I'm throwing out this wine glass to Hayley because she was there that day we got so hammered we left our underwear in the bushes..." or "this teddy is for Sophie because she let me cry on her shoulder when I was homesick". Getting a personal throwout makes you feel really good. I got three from Amy's throwout, all soft toy cats because "Tori's missing her cat so much, she's trying to kidnap the strays".

Talking of the strays, there's a really cute little cat here I call Tails and it's true, I have been trying to kidnap him. For a stray, he's very tame and I've taken to leaving food out for him. If housing found out I'd be so beyond terminated! I nearly got busted the other day when we had inspection. They saw a tin of catfood out on the counter and asked about it. Thinking really quickly, I told them it was from a throwout as everyone knows I love cats. They did it as a fun thing and I said if they wanted to check, they'd see it was years out of date. Luckily they didn't call my bluff so I got away with it this time. Ooooppps!

Colin and Sam's throwout was actually quite sad. There was a personal throwout to me ("this huge crate of books is for Tori because everyone knows she's the bookworm") but the worst part was knowing Sam and Colin are leaving. Before, it was just people I worked with but never really got the chance to know very well. Now it's actual friends that are going. People I will miss. Plus, it's a big reminder that my time out here is going fast. There's always a speech at the end of a throwout and they always say "your year will go really fast". I've always thought they were lying but it's so true. Time is passing by so fast, I want to stop the world, just for a minute and really appreciate where I am and what I'm doing. It's been nearly 8 months! I go back to England in another 4! That's crazy!

In a way it's good as I do miss things about home. I miss my mum and my brother and my little niece, Isobel and my sister (who luckily isn't very computer savvy so will never find out that I said that). I miss rain. Stupid, I know but when I'm feeling low, I love watching the rain fall. It rarely falls out here.

I miss cheese and pickle sandwiches, my workmates, Canterbury, people actually knowing what a banger is (no, it isn't a firework you dumbarse guest, it's a sausage!), my cat....so in a way, it's good that my time is going by. However, I know when I get back, that's it for me. No more travelling. Just working to pay the rent. I expect most of my money will go on bills so life will not be fun when I get back to the UK. Therefore, the idea that time is flying by so quickly scares me.

Okay, you are now up to date with life over here. It's weird. A few paragraphs sums up my activities for the past month. However, I don't end up telling you the little things like trips to Walmart or ending up staying up really late talking or evenings spent at Downtown Disney. You only ever get to hear the big stuff.

Just a couple of the "small things" that happened that I'll tell you about before I abandon you. I had a table the other night consisting of a middle age couple (early 50's). I was chatting to them for ages and I was really enjoying myself. They're Florida residents so they've promised to come back and eat but by the end of their meal, they were telling me all about their son, Greg and how he'd love me. They told me "he loves brown hair and brown eyes" and then asked how tall I was! They finished by saying "Greg will make an excellent husband and father" so I guess I'm getting married soon! I didn't pay much mind to it as servers are seen as fair game out here. I've been given a couple of phone numbers (including one from a woman!) and I've got a business card from a minister if I want to get married out here.

Another one is my roommate, Vikki went to California for a few days and she posted a postcard as soon as she arrived to see if it would beat her home. It didn't quite manage that but we just went down to our postbox and it's there, all the way from California!

See, sometimes the little things are worth a mention!

Service Training, stress and the dreaded test

I feel like I haven't had any time to myself for at least a week now. I've finally got the chance to catch up with all my laundry and get online and I'm feeling really peaceful; the calm after the storm.

Service training was a nightmare. It was so full on and stressful. I forgot how much Disney love to add stess into jobs that really shouldn't be stressful. I'm pretty sure they could make toilet cleaning into a reason for a breakdown. It's ridiculous!

Day one started off okay. We had to show our menu knowledge to our trainers and then discuss the Disney basics. After that we were each given a section to work on with our trainers. A section consists of four tables and you are responsible for them. It sounds so easy, right. Wrong! Here you go:

You're in your section and one of your tables have just been sat and handed menus. You have 60 seconds to greet them so you go over and say hi. You now need to spiel the drinks, appetizers and entrees, making sure you hit at least two of each. Then you take their order for drinks and appetizers and go to the kitchen to send it all through the till. Next you take them out bread and soft drinks (the bar hasn't processed your order for bar drinks yet). As you go out, you find out a second table has been sat so again you greet them and spiel before taking thier orders. You return to the kitchen and put it through and find the drinks ready for the first table. The second table also need bread so you take out both. Now table one asks for a smoothie so you go back and put it through to the bar. The appetizers for table one are waiting to be run so you take those out, followed by the drinks for the second table. When you go back out, table three has been sat so you greet them and spiel before returning to the kitchen to run it through. Table one now needs you to clear away their first course plates while table two are still waiting on their drinks and table three need bread. You also need to put their appetizers through the till. You take out table two's drinks and find that smoothie you ordered for table one on the bar as slush. You order a new one, take out the drinks for table two and bring cutlery for table three. That is only three tables! Add another one on top of that and you can see why it's so stressful.

Disney helps your blood pressure rise by insisting on stupid rules such as "you cannot take out cutlery with the meals. Cutlery must go out first and you come back for the meals" or "glass must go in and out on a tray". This means if you bus a table and take everything through, you must leave the one beer glass on the table while you go and get a tray.

On day two, I was in charge of my own four table section and it was awful! I was "weeded". That means when you have too much to cope with at once. It's called being "in the weeds". For example, if three of your tables are sat at once, you cannot greet them all within 60 seconds and spiel. That means you're weeded. I was dashing around here there and everywhere trying to cope with all the demands of the guests. I'm pretty sure the trainers weed you on purpose to make sure you can cope. I struggled with it but I was okay until my trainer told me off for asking another server to watch me do a transaction. I only wanted the reassurance that I wasn't messing it up but my trainer yelled at me. She said I was relying on other people too much, that I knew what I was doing because we'd been doing it for two days and she didn't understand why I was struggling. It was the wrong moment. I burst into tears and ran upstairs. My trainer followed and gave me a pep talk and I returned a few minutes later (someone looked after my tables while I was gone) to finish the night. However, by the end of it, I didn't want to be a server anymore. Still, I decided to wait a while before quitting.

Day three was alot better. I had a nice section and I was on top of three tables. Then the fourth table was sat and I freaked out a little. My trainer took over the fourth table for me and I managed to look after the three table section with no problem. One table had this adorable little girl called Mora on it. She was so sweet. As they were my first table, I spent a little time with Mora playing "Mr Napkin Head". This is a trick my niece loves, you get a napkin, hold a fork behind it and keep pushing the fork into the centre. It looks like the napkin's alive. Mora loved it and I was called "a modern day Mary Poppins" by her appreciative dad. That's all I want. A chance to really bond with my tables. The money really isn't a huge issue.

Yesterday was my final day. Time for THE BIG TESTS! I spent the evening before revising and then I got up extra early and went to work so I could practise opening wine "the Disney Way". In the morning we had the written test which didn't bother me. I know I'm okay with book smarts, if I can learn it from a book, it's fine. The practical was the one that worried me. I had our manager Yvette. Each trainee was given a two table section, one table was managment, the other was a regular family. It was horrible because management know exactly what is expected while regular guests aren't timing you to see if you greet them within 60 seconds.

I served Yvette first (the second table hadn't been sat yet) and she informed me she had an allergy to shellfish. I asked if she wanted to speak to a chef but she said no. She went ahead and ordered and I checked every meal she had with the head chef to see if it contained shell fish. I also marked it on the ticket. Everything went okay though I forgot to bring out the dessert spoon. I also had to open wine at the table but fortunately for me, the practice had really helped.

The second table were sat halfway through but I was fine with the two.

At the end of the evening, I was told I'd passed! I immeadiatly asked for a little extra help. I don't feel up to doing a four table section alone yet. They started me on a two table section and I'll have that for the next two days. Then I'll move up to a three table and get comfortable with that. Then I'll go for the four. It's all about confidence. Still, I started in my little two table section last night and I loved it. I got to chat to the guests and laugh and have fun while still staying on top of everything. At the end of the night, I cashed out and was amazed to discover I had tips. It was quite alot too. I figured I'd added it all up wrong but I checked and I hadn't. Considering I was only in a two table section, I took home only $20 less than another server in a four table section! As I said, the money isn't important to me, I want the guest interaction but it still made me happy.

I'm serving again today and I'm really looking forward to it. If I 'm okay with two, I might ask to go to three but I don't want to overdo things too soon.

Well, wish me luck!