Week 10

Week 9:          Date:   March 6-12

Summation:

This week was basically an average week. I’m still over in pantry, as Chef said I would be for the rest of my time here. I kind of wish I could have been trained at the other three stations but I still got my speed up and learned a lot still. So Sunday I worked on pantry by myself and it was busy but still good. We have started getting a constant number of 300 and busy nights are closer to 400. This is a nice change because I am busy the whole night but it is also harder because I have to do some much more prep. Monday was about the same. The head chef has started staying later because the menu change is coming up so we have been doing three days of tastings for one dish. There are four new dishes; pork with trouffle jous, shrimp with a sweet and a spicy sauce, chicken on beans and white sauce, and an eggplant tart. The menu change is really awesome but my last day is the first day of training for it so it doesn’t really matter as much for me to figure out how everything goes because I am leaving. Anyway so Monday was delicious and then Tuesday was about the same. Tuesday was pretty slow but it picked up a lot towards the end of the shift. Wednesday was really good because even though my least favorite chef was working that night, I still had a really good time. Especially because he apologized for anything that was between us and he was sincere about it. Needless to say, I don’t dislike working with him anymore because he has changed into someone that is not being mean to me for no reason. Thursday was awesome because we were busy the whole night; which made the night go faster. This was amazing because it was my Friday and I finally got two whole days off!!! Friday was a day for me mostly and I went to Epcot with my grandparents that were back in town. I really enjoy spending time with them but I got a little sunburnt because it was actually a little warmer that day than it had been recently in the 60s. After they left around 5 I still had the whole day to myself so I watched some Glee and lounged. Then my new friend Max invited me to go hang out at the mall so he and I went to the mall and just looked around, walked, and chatted. Then I went back to my apartment and watched the movie Red; which was amazing! I didn’t get to bed until close to 6 am which wouldn’t have been a problem except Max called me the next morning at 10 am saying that he and some friends were going to Hollywood Studios and I should come. I went that early in hopes that I could get them a discount at the gate. I found out that I can’t give a discount at the gate but only if I buy the tickets online from Disney. I decided early on Saturday that I was not going to stay the whole day with Max and his friends because I was running on four hours of sleep and I had to work the next day. Needless to say, I still stayed the whole day because I am a sucker for hangout. It was really fun and it was awesome to finally hang out with people on my day off. These last couple of weeks I have just been by myself all the time unless I was at work. It was nice at first but I am a people person and I like being around people, having fun and hanging out. So even though, by the end of the night I was exhausted, it was still awesome because I had a great time with some new-found friends.

Week 8

Week 8:          Date:   February 27-March 5

Summation:

Sunday was crazy busy just like in the last week on Friday and Saturday because the same 300 or so people were still coming into Captains Grille. Monday was a little slower. I was moved back to pantry; which is fine because it is not as hot over there and it is constantly busy. This is both a good and bad thing because I will never be bored on pantry but sometimes there is so much prep to do that no matter how fast I go or how well I plan, I have trouble getting it all done before opening. Monday was boring because we only had 200 people so I was just steady the whole night and I didn’t have to rush around as much. Tuesday was an exciting day because it was finally my day off! I just mainly relaxed and went for a swim. I also took a trip by myself to Animal Kingdom. I went on a safari and a trek. It was really cool to see a large variety of animals; especially the baby gorillas! Then I walked around the different countries for a while and then later went on the rapid ride and got soaking wet. Wednesday was really fun because I was given the opportunity to train a newcomer to Captains Grille on pantry. Her name is Christine and she has actually been with the company for over 20 years, working in a large variety of restaurants. Training was an experience because teaching someone the right way to do everything is tricky because if you accidentally do a bad habit that has been formed then you are going to teach your trainee that same bad habit and then a line of bad habits continues. Thursday I trained Christine again on pantry but I let her kind of take the reins on prep so she would have a better idea of how to do it in two days when her training was done. Friday was exciting because Christine moved to sauté and so I got to train another new-comer that had just finished doing her first two weeks on sauté. I trained Ann on pantry a second time. I had trained her on pantry briefly when she had first started but she didn’t remember very much of it all. It was a really fun evening because we made a really great team by making sure the other person was ok and then tag teaming tickets in an organized and timely manner. Saturday was good because I finally had pantry to myself again. I was good because I didn’t have to be constantly questioning and quizzing anyone but it was also bad because I remembered what it is like when I have to set up pantry by myself and how much work it is!

Journal Week 7

Obviously  I wrote this many weeks ago considering I am now in week 11 but I will go ahead and post the last couple of weeks. Sorry on the delay!

Week 7:          Date:   February 20-26

Summation:

Week 7 was probably the worst week I have had since I have been here. That being said, Sunday was super busy but still pretty good. I feel like the more often I work a station alone I get to doing better and better. I can feel my speed increasing as well; it’s very exciting! The only problem I had with Monday was that I got lectured by the Chef after work about being disrespectful. I was shocked because respect is something I pride myself in giving. I cried a little after we talked but I didn’t want Chef to see me cry. I figured I only had one more day until my day off and I would just pull through it and spend my day off relaxing. Monday was the day that everything was awful because at the end of the day at work I got a coaching on a few small things that I did wrong. I didn’t know that there was a specific place for the brulee torch, I didn’t know there was a specific way to put the tickets, I didn’t know that I had to put the dishes in order. They were all things I didn’t know previously that I had to do but I still got in trouble for it. It was a terrible night and I was beyond ready for my day off. On Wednesday I enjoyed my day off by myself in Animal Kingdom. I greatly enjoy spending some alone time at the parks and just observing all the happy people that get to enjoy the “Disney Magic.” Thursday I went back into work and I was honestly dreading it because of everything that had happened on Tuesday. I came into work and one of the Chefs told me that I didn’t deserve the coaching and that I was doing an excellent job. This is the Chef that I like the best because he has been very helpful and encouraging the whole time I have been here. So the night went on and we were pretty busy but it was really good because of what Chef had said at the beginning of the shift. Friday was crazy busy because we had just checked in another big group so we almost hit 300 covers again! I was on grill middle and I was really excited at how well I handled the whole night by keeping up and getting everything done well. Saturday went about the same way because of all the guests still being there as well as my working on, practicing, and eventually improving on my speed and timing of the dishes. I’m really excited at the progress I’ve made so far since I have been working at Disney. I am confident I will be mostly prepared for any job given to me in Indy because of this training here.

Journal Week 6

Week 6:          Date:   February 13-19

Summation:

Sunday this week was kind of sad because I had just spent an amazing day with my grandparents and then I was unable to see them off because I had to work. Work was pretty average except for the fact that it was super busy. The restaurant ended up having 100 people more than originally anticipated because it was the day before Valentine’s Day so we were super busy the whole night. Monday was ridiculously busy because it was Valentine’s Day. The restaurant had 350 on the books and we ended up doing a little more than 400 covers. I know that this number isn’t nearly as much as a lot of the other people that work in the parks but it is a lot to me and I was really proud at the end of the night that I had done so well and I had kept my head together and kept my cool the whole night. I didn’t really ever feel stressed; I just kept on telling myself “go go go.” At the end of the night I was exhausted but so happy because I had successfully served the most covers I have ever been able to. Tuesday was pretty good because it was my day off. I woke up early and went to the animal kingdom so I could record the lion king show for my roommate that was going back to brazil in the next couple days. I ended up falling back asleep after I woke up early and didn’t get my day started until 2 or 3 pm. By the time I got to animal kingdom they would close soon after the show so I wouldn’t be able to do very much else. So I went to the show and it was just as good as the first time! Next, I quickly went to the Bugs Life show and enjoyed that right before the park was going to close. The rest of the day I just relaxed, enjoyed a movie, did some laundry, and went to bed early. Wednesday was disappointing because I couldn’t just spend the day at the park. It was a pretty average day with about 200 covers. I did well and had some laughs with my fellow cooks. Thursday was much the same, the only difference being that it was ridiculously hot outside which made working on the HOTLINE twice as hot. My friend Erik and I were taking our temperatures with our thermometers and it read 99 most of the time. This was also the day that my first online homework was due. Friday was busy because the restaurant had 250 people because a big convention had just come into town. A lot of times when a big convention checks in at the resort they have meals paid for. Basically they can choose certain items on menus throughout the resort and it counts towards the dining plan they have. So Captains Grille has to just assume that some of the 800 people are going to come into our restaurant but we never really know how many or anything. This makes doing the prep at the beginning of the night kind of difficult. Saturday was very wearing because we were slow the whole night and then got slammed an hour before we were going to close with a bunch of walk-ins. I was exhausted on Saturday and ready to start the next week because my one day off was only two days away.

Week 5

Week 5:          Date:   February 6-12 

Summation: 

Sunday was the craziest day of my life. It was super bowl Sunday but I had to work. My restaurant does all the food for the bar as well as Private Dining (room service). We were only supposed to have 47 people on the books for in our restaurant but ended up having close to 150. When private dining and the bars (there are two) were added, we had close to 375 covers! The craziest thing of all of this is that I kept my cool the whole night. I was on grill middle and even though it was only my third day on that station, I did really well. I was exhausted by the end of the night, but I kept up with the tickets the whole night. Then on Monday when we had 85 on the books, we ended up doing close to 200 in the restaurant alone. I did well that day too. I was really excited because I finally felt I was getting the hang of things! Tuesday was really good even though it was ridiculously slow the whole night. We only had 250 covers total. I would have never thought I would hear myself say that 250 covers are “easy” or “slow.” It’s so cool and interesting to see how Disney has changed me in just 5 weeks. Wednesday was much the same as Tuesday, only slower. Captains Grille only did 175 covers that night so it was even slower. I was really excited that I have Thursday off because I would be able to spend time with my grandparents that had been in Orlando since Sunday but I was unable to see them until Thursday because I worked every day. Chef Michael almost asked me to work but then decided not to when I told him I was spending time with my grandparents as well as I was just finishing up an eight-day shift. Thursday was fun because I got to sleep in and then go on a drive with my grandparents and great aunt to see the house that they visited when they were younger. I got to learn a little bit about Muck Gardens and how the water became polluted after insecticides were dumped in the water and killed a bunch of fish as well as birds. We went to Texas Roadhouse (which was actually hard to find). Friday I went back to work but I worked on pantry instead of on grill middle because someone else was now being trained on grill middle. I felt like the prep for pantry was a lot easier after doing prep for grill middle. It felt really good to be in a little more control over my station. I came home and made dinner for my roommates. They all forgot I was making a late night dinner so I made it anyway and told them they could re-heat it when they came back to the apartment. Since that didn’t fill much of my time and there was vomit from one of my roommates on the side of the bathtub, I decided to do a ridiculous amount of cleaning. This included 3 and a half hours of me, bleach, and a washcloth. I hand-mopped floors; which is a thank you to my mother who showed me that’s the best way to clean floors. Then on Saturday, I woke up early and went to Hollywood studios with my grandma Barb, my grandpa Leon, and my great aunt Judy. It was a lot of fun because my aunt Judy wanted to ride the Rokin’ Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror. So we did those along with the Beauty and the Beast show and the Muppet 3-D show. I found out that you have to see out of both of your eyes in order for 3-D shows to work from my grandpa who can’t see out of his right eye. We also walked around and just hung out all day. I think this is exactly what I needed. Then we lounged at their suite for a little while and then fought the traffic to Olive Garden only to end up going to the Denny’s next door. It was really fun and I really enjoyed the time I spent with my family and I defiantly look forward to spending more time with my grandparents and great aunt and uncle. All in all, it was an exciting week that went by REALLY quickly.