First Real Shift

I'm writing this a week late, and my second shift is tonight, so I figured I should post before shift #2 (which starts at 5pm tonight!).

So I head in for my first shift, take a different bus than normal to get there, kill some time at Wendy's. I trot myself across the parking lot and head for work. The parking lot is half full of cars, which is astounding. I didn't know the park was open! I headed to my area, "Action Zone," past the lovely ladies wishing me a "Happy First Day!" They were so cute. I pick up my schedule for the day and discover that Wonderland does things a bit weird.

Each hour, you rotate to a new area. For a 2-9 shift, I had a 45 minute break and would have worked 6 different areas. Instead, I was put on RTC duty all day, which is pushing the trash cart around. At Wonderland, they literally wanted me to push that cart for 7 hours straight. Completely unnecessary, but someone was missing so I took over their sections AND my trash run.

The park closed at 8pm, so around 7 we started the final trash run, only to discover that basically none of the other cast members were in their areas, and one had even left. We ended our night with three employees, which meant we were way behind and it was extremely frustrating.

This week, I went to Ottawa with my Grandma and sister, as we were driving her up to her place in Ottawa. She made us pasta, and we hung out with her, and then Grandma and I took the scenic Highway 7 back to Toronto. It was fun.

Work tonight! And a complicated bus/walk home. Stupid 11pm ending.

Love!

Moving In & First Shift

We packed the van on Friday, and I slept very uncomfortably in my sister's bed my last night at home. All five of us will be home again this Friday night, and I'm not sure where we're going to sleep!

Saturday morning I got up very early and went to write my last exam. It was easy - 16 minutes it took me, and then I hung around and waited for Jackie because I missed her. We got to chat, and she gave me a ride home. I tidied some things in my room, then settled in on the couch to wait for Grandma to pick me up and take me to the train station.

I read a whole book on the way here, plus had time to play on the Internet. Traveling sucks.

I got here, got on the subway and then a bus, and made it to my apartment. Mom and Dad had left around the same time I did and managed to get some time in the hot tub in at their hotel before coming to unpack the van. Frankie also had a good trip up, settled nicely on the cooler between Mom and Dad's seats.

We dragged everything down the six steps to my lovely basement, unpacked the majority of my belongings, and then went grocery shopping. 150 dollars later, I will hopefully not have to purchase food for a very long time! I'm already broke, and I have expenses and it sucks. BUT, I should break even around July, it will just be tight until then. I'm currently sitting on my bed, all alone in the big city. I need to make some friends!

Mom drove me to my first shift yesterday morning. I was expecting to hate all of the 15 year olds I was going to be working with, but I found myself a little pocket of 19/20 year olds and we chatted all day. The managers are my age, ish, and they love me. I'm an expert, apparently.

I'm one of four girls in my area, Expo. The rest of the team, almost 30 people, is male. Who knows why that happened. The area is rather large, but it's separated into six smaller areas. It's a very crowded area, there's an awful popcorn cart, and hills where people apparently have sex a lot. It's curious.

I'm excited. I like my apartment. I like the people I'm working with. Even Wonderland, for all that it's not, isn't too bad.

Home on Thursday afternoon/Friday for celebrations and Spark Day Camp. Then I work 2-9 on Saturday, and then I work 530-11 on the 30th. Long stretches in between.

C'est la vie.

More Specific Orientation

On March 27th, last Thursday, I went back up to Toronto for another three-hour orientation. Mom drove me up that day and we drove home that night, so props to her for that exhaustion. I had to "work" at 6, but we didn't start until 6:30. Apparently on time in Toronto means little.
We watched some WHIMIS videos, and some videos about guest service and cleanliness. It was rather short. We did some role plays, because Wonderland LOVES role plays. It was pretty lame, and I was tired and having a hard time paying attention so I started making lists of stuff I needed to bring to Toronto with me.

Yesterday, Monday, I went to the Dollarama and got dishes, kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, cleaning stuff - all kinds of stuff! My bathroom is bright colours, and my kitchen is blue themed. My broom and dustpan are the best broom and dustpan ever. They're bright orange and green with fun flowers all over them!

I'm getting really excited to move. I bought my work shoes. I started putting things in boxes. It's exciting. Eleven days!