Cast Member Charlotte (Disney's CEP 2018!) Days 9 & 10

[EvilQueen1937]

So since there wasn't very much to say about Sunday I thought I'd leave it and do Sunday and Monday together! However, today has been an eventful day so it's going to be a long post... prepare yourself because I began proper work in the Emporium!

Merchantainment wasn't as exciting as it sounded after all on Sunday, it was just more training in a classroom at Disney University. We had to watch a long video about theft from both guests and cast members and how to spot it and deal with it. We were also shown the till systems (I really need to get used to saying 'register'!) using a set of tills inside one of the classrooms used for training. I'm thankful I've used a till before because I at least knew the basics, whereas to some people it was brand new. The actual till system was easy enough to use, the difficult part is knowing all the methods of payment. Of course, there's cash, debit and credit cards, but there's also Disney dining plan, magic bands, travellers checks, gift cards etc. And credit cards all look different in the US so it's more difficult! Another problem was the huge number of discount types that there were, and knowing what types of IDs are acceptable. I also really struggle with US currency as I always get nickels and dimes mixed up and mistake the 10 cent coins for 5 cents because they look like our 5p coins!

We also have to count up from the amount charged in order to show the guest how much change they are being given, which is a real pain and can get confusing! It's easy enough in theory but when you want to be speedy and efficient it really slows you down!

So yeah, that about sums up Merchantainment. It finished at 2pm and I went home and told my housemates that I was planning on going to either Animal Kingdom or Epcot. Taylor said she would come along for a few hours if I went to Epcot so she drove us there, and I didn't have to mess around with the buses! (I'm fast growing to hate them &#128514

This is an awful photo but it's the only one I have of this special moments!

Now, Taylor is one of the American horticulture interns and she was dying to see her plants that she had nursed, growing in Epcot! So we went straight to the World Showcase, ignoring the rest of Epcot as she needed to be in bed early like normal.

I dragged her to the UK pavillion as I really wanted to show her British culture and tell her how accurate it was. Obviously, the fish and chips there aren't great but we had a look at the menu for the Rose and Crown and I spotted a cheese platter! Now, anyone that knows me knows how much I love cheese. And the cheese here in the US all tastes like plastic - I miss my blue stilton and my goats cheese and my camembert and my brie 😍 So I shall certainly be going there before the summer is over!

We went into the shops, I met Mary Poppins, then I bought her her first taste of chocolate orange! We shared the bar and she really liked it! I mean, how could she not? I was really proud to finally be able to introduce her to some delicious British food, especially since the chocolate here is rubbish too!

Although I've been to Epcot many a time, I've only ever walked all around the world showcase once, and have never explored every country. So for the first time, I did so with Taylor and I didn't realise how much I had been missing! The Morocco pavilion in particular was gorgeous! We only stayed a few hours though as Taylor had to go to bed and I needed an early night too because of the early get up the next morning. So we drove home and I made paprika wedges for myself before getting an early night!

Now, I really did not sleep very well, and my alarm was due to go off at four. I had to be at MK for training by 7:30 at the latest and you can get in big trouble for being even a few seconds late, so I'm a bit paranoid! The buses are also ridiculously bad. We have to get a bus from Chatham to Disney uni, which usually takes anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour. We then have to get a shuttle bus from DU to backstage MK. I got up at about 4:30 and caught the 5:30 bus, which was due to get me to Disney uni at 6:42. However, for some weird and unknown reason, it was really quick and I ended up getting to MK by 6am, with an hour and a half to go until my shift! My friends, by contrast, struggled to get a bus because the one I got on left so early and didn't stick to the timetable, so they all ended up paying for an Uber and barely got there in time!

Since I was there so early I went for a wander through the utilidors. I was in costume again and it's a bit hot and sweaty in it but it's nice and cool down there. I found my way to the lockers ok after following a girl in the same costume as me, so I put away my bag then went looking for the fridge which we used last time. But I couldn't find it anywhere! I got hopelessly lost and ended up walking round in circles, having to ask other CMs every two minutes how to get to where I was going. But all the tunnels look the same, and my sense of direction is appalling, so once I'd walked around a few times I had completely disoriented myself. A very kind CM eventually walked me back towards the Mousekateeria, which is right at the entrance, and I sat there all flustered waiting for my friends to arrive and my shift to start!

We clocked in and the day started off very much like on Friday when we got our costumes. However, we also got given our pin trading lanyards much to my excitement! We were shown the Emporium stock rooms and where all the merchandise could be found out in the floor, and I traded my first pins! Actually, I traded several as I got absolutely swamped with guests trying to look at my lanyard 😂 We literally couldn't walk from A to B without being accosted, but I loved every minute!

We stopped to help a family connect their magic bands to their phones (or Dotty, my trainer, did - I don't have a clue how to do that yet!) And I got talking to the eldest son. They were from Northern Ireland and he was really curious about how to come and work for Disney just like me! I was really flattered and told him about how the applications open in less than two weeks for next summer and that he should definitely apply! I walked away absolutely glowing with pride, I love a good natter and over seeing his passion and interest!

Then much to my horror, we got put on the registers! 😂 I wasn't ready yet and we got thrown in at the deep end! It was just me and a girl called Sammi who were being trained by Dotty. Dotty is a lovely lady, she retired then came to work at Disney just for fun and I'm really glad we had her because she was so bubbley and nice! But I kept forgetting to do things on the register, like count "the Disney way" or how to add a discount. And I found a few guests struggled with my accent!

I asked one lady if she wanted a bag, and she looked at me strangely then said no. She had a lot of stuff, so I asked her again a few minutes later and she looked at me funny again and said no again. So I gave her a recept and said goodbye then she asked for a bag... I had literally asked her three times! Dotty reminded me that I should always offer a bag to guests if they want one and I felt really stupid so I told her how I'd asked three or four times and she kept saying no. Dotty then giggled and said the guest probably didn't understand my accent, and might have thought I was saying "box" 😂 I'm from Lancashire and speak with a broad Northern accent so it's certainly not standard English, but I was really trying to tone down my northernness so that people could understand me - but apparently it was no use 😂

Not long afterwards... I broke the till! 😂 Yes, I actually somehow broke the flipping till after less than an hour of using it! I was scanning some hats for a guest when it suddenly came up saying "item not found". I called Dotty over and tried again but this time the scanner didn't even have a laser to scan with. Dotty waved over another CM who plugged and unplugged it, which brought the laser on again but it still wouldn't scan. I stood there watching with absolute horror, fully believing it was my fault and that I'd get in trouble! They had to call IT and they came down and asked me what had happened and what I was doing at the time. I asked Dotty if I had done something wrong or if I had broken it, and she laughed at me and assured me it was all fine! I asked if the till breaks often and she said that it does, but never like this! She was only joking to wind me up, and it made me feel much better! For the rest of the day, there were jokes about it every few minutes! If something else went wrong on a till, someone would groan "what's Charlotte been doing this time!" And it became a running joke! Every time something wouldn't work or something got knocked over, I was blamed and it was absolutely hilarious, we had such a giggle and it really made me feel better!

Later on after lunch, we moved onto quieter tills that weren't open so that Dotty could teach us how to ship purchases back to hotels. We got interrupted every two minutes by guests trying to skip the queue for the other tills and pay with us, so we had to keep turning them away. There were also a lot of questions asked, thankfully I could answer most! I even got to hand out my first badge, to a girl who turned 18 today!

I don't know if this could be considered a "magical moment" in the purest sense, but it was magical to me! A British family of four interrupted us to ask something about a card. After Dotty had answered their questions I asked them were they were from, as they spoke quite proper English but I was picking up a hint of somewhere familiar...

They said they were from near Liverpool, and Sammi, the girl I was being trained with, gasped as she is from near there too. We then found out the family is from Wallasey, the same place as Sammi, and that they only live a couple of roads away from each other! We were all so surprised and had a really long chat, it was so lovely! It was their first visit too, so we got to give them badges. When they were leaving, they asked me to take a photo of them with Sammi so they could remember the meeting with us, and they asked for Sammi's details so that they could send her the pictures. They were so lovely, and Sammi was absolutely glowing! I'm so glad I recognised their very faint accent because if I hadn't said anything, we might never have known!

When our shift ended, I found out I had put my bag in the wrong locker after all that trouble I'd gone through that morning! We were in hysterics as Dotty listed all the stuff that I'd managed to somehow mess up, such as my bus troubles, getting lost in the utilidors, using the wrong lockers, my apparently difficult accent, and breaking the register. It really became a running joke for the day and I could do nothing but apologise for being such a trouble maker 😂 It was all in good spirit, but in all seriousness, it's just my luck that a spate of disasters would follow me on my first proper day! Hopefully next time is better!

I went to Walmart when I got home, as I knew I needed to stop procrastinating and actually go and buy some tights for work 😂 so I jumped on the bus and forced myself back to Walmart. I picked up a couple of bits like cereal and sandwich bags, then decided to go straight to Publix after as it was the next stop on the bus. Publix was SO MUCH BETTER! I treated myself to some camembert and crusty bread after finding an aisle of REAL cheese, and I also went a bit mad in the international foods section! I found Bisto gravy, which I was really excited about as I wanted to make corned beef hash! I also got some Jacob's crackers for all the cheese I'm planning on eating now I've discovered the cheese section (which still isn't as good as here in the UK but it will do!) Then I got some biscuits because if you remember, biscuits have been a much debated topic in my house! I decided to get some jammy Dodgers, custard creams and chocolate digestives to bring home for my roommates to try, as well as a bar of chocolate orange each as they were all dying to try it after I got some for Taylor in Epcot yesterday!

It cost me a fair bit, but it's worth it to see their reactions! And it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be for imported foods. They also had Heinz beans, Birdseye custard and Yorkshire tea which was funny to see!

I plated them all up a selection of biscuits each next to their names and a little note explaining what is what, thinking they could wake up to it and it would be a nice surprise! Don't worry, I did cling film them after taking this picture - I wouldn't want them to go soggy but I thought cling film would ruin the aesthetics of the picture 😂

Ashley was still up when I plated them and couldn't wait to try a jammy dodger. She said she felt extremely British and like she was at an Alice in Wonderland tea party 😂 I can't wait for the others to try them too!

Anyway! Well done if you've managed to get through the whole post, I know it's been a long one! I don't have many pictures either because I've been working. I have a day off tomorrow so am going to the Animal Kingdom, although I still have to be up at the crack of dawn because I have my social security appointment at 6 ish, much to my annoyance!

Goodnight everyone, happy Dibbing! X

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New Photo Added by EvilQueen1937 - 27 Jun 18 3:50 AM.

[Disneycraft]

What a fun day ! I love what you did with the biscuits ,I bet your roommates loved them .i’m loving These reports ,you really bring it all alive . Sorry you broke the till .have a good day at AK

[kansaskitty]

So sweet laying out the English food for your roomies
All the mistakes at work sound funny and you took it all so well, sounds like you had a great team to help you make light of it! Well done for your first proper day!

[PIGLET38]

Sounds like your first day was an eventful one Enjoying your reports very much. Enjoy your day off.

[Jake71]

Oh what a day, but still sounds like fun!

[PABBY]

Charlotte wrote,

"I love a good natter!"

Never has there been truer words typed on theDIBB! When she video called us last night, we couldn't get a word in edgeways for 45 minutes!

[Jedi Princess]

What a busy eventful day. The picnic plates were a lovely idea.

Enjoy your day at AK.

[Dizzny Momma]

Glad your first day went without too many hitches and as for U S chocolate I have to agree with you, AARRGGHHH it's awful, and I hope all your room mates appreciated your kind 'taste test' gesture and isn't it amazing that out of the thousands of people who visit Mickey only live around the corner from someone who you know. :
Margaret

[jacqui]

Enjoy your day off after such an eventful first day, looking forward to reading the next instalment.