Journal #9

Today I got deployed for the first time. I will be working outdoor foods for the next two weeks instead of indoor quick service. I found out I was deployed when I went to clock in at my home location. At that moment I didn’t understand why I was being deployed and I felt as if I was not wanted at my home location; although it may not be the case. I had to go back to costuming and change costumes then I had to figure out where I was going to clock in. After I found the outdoor foods base I was able to clock in an hour later. After clocking in I went to see the GT and he handed me a bag with money that I had to count and make sure there was a total of $400 dollars in the bag. After that was done he sent me with a stocker to my location. I was sent to Future World West in Epcot to a pretzel stand by the Land. There was a cast member already there she was deployed as well. She came from ABC commissary at Hollywood Studios which is an indoor quick service restaurant as well. We were both confused at who we had to call to order things. It was very different from what we are used to at our home location. For example there were two separate drawers one for each. If there was a spoilage we had to write it down and keep the cup as proof of the spoilage. When we were running low on an item we had to call the stocker to come and refill. We also had an over flow of beer that spread all over the floor and I had to spread soap and water on the floor and brush it with a broom then use a squeegee to take out the excess water. We never had to do any of these task at our locations we felt out of place. We were calling the stockers almost every 30 minutes asking them questions. I imagined how annoyed they must have been by us it’s like having new trainees all over again. Thankfully, the weather was fair and we made it through the day without any major problems or any guest discomfort.

All though I was not too happy with being deployed I took into consideration that being deployed would be a positive experience to add to my career development. In a cart that may only have one or two cast members I will learn to develop my team skills and get better at multi tasking when I’m by myself. I will also get to meet new cast members that I wouldn’t normally meet. On Wednesday I will be going on the Turkey leg cart I’m kind of nervous to how I will perform on that cart. I just hope I have someone helping me that is not deployed.

Last, but not least I had the closing shift to myself. Luckily I got help from a stocker and a coordinator. With their help the cleaning was done much faster. Then the stocker and I had to walk two carts to base where they counted the spoilage and the left overs. There I had to sign spoilage and inventory papers and also count my own money. Something that I’m not used to doing and it’s taken care by the GT at my location.