Today I woke up, got dressed for work (in my new, much better fitting costume pieces), and went off to catch the bus. When I got to Epcot, I signed out rain gear (just in case!) and headed for the ODF base. There, I met Lucy, a short middle-aged woman from Venezuela, who prefers speaking Spanish. She was nice enough, but as the day wore on it was very clear that she didn't want to be there, and she didn't want to be training me. I could usually ignore it until she'd ask me to do something though - then I had to deal with her lack of enthusiasm and try desperately to stay positive in the heat.
Oh, the heat. It was 31 feels like 44 today in Orlando! It doesn't even usually get up to feels 31 where I come from! But I seem to have adjusted fairly well - I wasn't sweating too badly, and drinking lots of water all day kept me from getting dehydrated. I was also in one spot for the day... standing at a cart in a single location and not doing any rushing around or heavy lifting definitely limited the heat I felt as I wasn't generating any of my own. The guests were all very nice, and most just glad for a smiling face (who was offering ice cold drinks) ;)
Several fellow ODF-ers came by; and all of the coordinators (or those in charge for the day) commented on how quickly I was picking things up :) Lucy told me several times that she was glad to be training someone so intelligent. It was nice to hear, because I've been feeling slow and behind for the last few days! Nearing the end of the day though, Lucy was really starting to tick me off. She would describe in excruciating detail how to do things that any competent human being could do; such as how to count 1$ bills into piles of tens. Or how to wet a cloth for cleaning. Or how to clean a tray. But the things that you'd need a great deal of detail about (or need to have worked in Epcot foods before) she would flippantly tell me to do. And then seem frustrated when I would ask her to clarify. Or she would tell me to do something so that "I could learn" but not tell me when or how or why or who or anything. I'm a fast learner. But I don't read minds.
Halfway through the day, I did switch trainers to Emily for two hours. She is 19, and from Australia. She was lovely to work with, and made she I understood thing and had lots of chances to ask questions. She was friendly with me and with guests. We found out that she lives in the same complex, in the same building, in the same side as I do! She lives almost directly two floors above me! So it was fun to get to know her :)
But then Lucy came back, grumpy about breaks and clearly wishing she could be anywhere else. Even in the last few hours, watching her ring guests through willy-nillly had me cringing about balancing our till at the end of the night. Even when guests would say "keep the change", that money went back into the till. *cringe*. And sure enough, when we counted all the money, we were short 21$ and change. That's a lot of money to be short in a till for a single day! The manager shrugged it off with "It's a training day", which, I think, implies that it was my fault.
Nope, I don't think so. I may have never worked food-service before, but today had nothing to do with cooking. It was all merchandise that just-so-happened to be edible. And retail! Retail I have definitely done before. And I have never been more than a dollar or two over or short after recounts. Ever.
And then, Lucy wanted me to put my initials beside the paperwork. Under "supervisor initials". For a till under her name. Yeah right, lady. Yeah right. I am not taking credit for being short 21$ when it is your till, I'm not a supervisor and I know I did everything right. Forget it.
I don't think I have ever said 'no' to a superior at work before. And I think Lucy thought I didn't understand what initials meant, because when she finally wrote down her own initials, she pointed to them and then to her name to try and explain. But I just nodded because they weren't my initials, and that's what mattered in that moment. I didn't mind putting my name on the 'count the product' paperwork, or even the 'closing checklist' paperwork, but I was not signing the 'you lost some money' paperwork. No chance.
I was going to stay for Illuminations at 9 when I got off work at 8:30, but I got off late at 8:45 and those extra 15 minutes because of mistakes that weren't mine made me so angry I just went home. I listened to angry country music all the way and angry-walked home. It got most of it out of me, but my poor daddy got the worst of the ranting because I facetimed him almost as soon as I was through the door.
The temperature in my house was turned way up again, but I talked to both of the other girls who are home at the moment and they agreed it's way too warm. So the other Canadians will be happy, and we'll have a chat with the third Mexican about leaving the temp where it is. 28 degrees is not air conditioned, that's a heat wave. The lowest the apartment will let us put it is at 22. It's brutal enough as it is, don't touch it.
So dad got the ranting about that too (thanks daddy!). But now I am calmed down and listening to my roommates have pre-drinks before going downtown for the night. They usually leave around 11pm and don't get back until 3 or 4 in the morning; but we never hear them come in and so it's very quiet for going to sleep which is nice :)
Tomorrow I'm going to Hollywood Studios on my day off for Star Wars Weekend!! I'm very excited because they only do 4 weekends every year, in May and June - never when I've been here. But I hear it's awesome and can't wait to go :)
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