Professionalism

On Monday I attended one of the four required classes, it was about Professionalism. Again, Terri was our speaker and again she was very funny in her delivery. She discussed the basics, proper professional clothing, handshakes, eye contact, and behavior. All of which I already knew, the most "DUH" statement she made was that we should never show up to apply for a job in a bikini, apparently that happened. I'm going to use this post to analyze the Personal Strength Audit we completed during the class. We were given 96 questions and we had to rate them to be true (3 points) sometimes true (1 point) and never true (0 points). A few examples; I take great care of my physical health, I have very clear principles, I set clear goals for myself, ect. After answering, there was a chart to place all my scores, every 13th question was related, so 1 and 13 were both on the same topic, Strong Self-Management Competence. The other categories were Developed Values, Goal Orientation, Commitment to Continuous Self-Development, Systematic Problem Solving, Innovation Skills, Influencing Ability, Leadership Competence, Organizing Capability, Commitment to Developing Others, Team-Building Orientation, and Capability to Learn From Experience. We added our scores and compared our lowest to our highest. Can you guess which were my highest? I got a perfect score in Leadership Competence, which was no surprise, but also in Team-Building Orientation. The team building component did actually surprise me as my highest because I've been told that this is an area I need to work on. I disagreed when I was told that, this survey made me feel a little better. One of my lowest scores was in my Innovation Skills. A low score here indicates weaknesses in creativity and planning change, I'm not willing to view thing from a different perspective and not open to new ideas. I can see how I'm a bit closed minded, if my idea works, I like to stick to it. I know this is an area I need to work on. My other low score, which is very ironic and disheartening due to the fact I want to be a teacher. I did not expect to get a low score in Commitment to Developing Others. One of the questions where I scored a 1 was "I carefully look for hidden talents in others." The first "others" i thought of was people I worked with at Stop and Shop and at SeaWorld. Throughout the entire survey I never thought of applying these qualities to teaching. As I look back on it now if I was thinking of my students when completing the audit, I feel as thought Developing Others would be one of my highest scores. Terri called me out a little bit by reminding me that I am going to be a teacher and that shouldn't be my lowest score. I laughed it off but I did make me look back through the survey because it concerned me that I scored so low on something so important to my career. Overall, I enjoyed the class and I'm looking forward to the next one. Today was a day off and I lounged around, didn't accomplish much more than this post. Have a great weekend everyone!

Have a Whale of a Day

It definitely didn't take me long to get the hang of all the procedures and such at the gift store. I worked the last few days and met a lot of people. For the most part I work with people who are either older or younger than me. I can name maybe two who are my age. I wish there were more college students actually working with me. The people I live with make up for the social interaction I don't get at work. My only struggle at work is that I don't speak Spanish. EVERYONE speaks Spanish!! My coworkers and the guests, even my manager will be speaking at me in Spanish. I'm always paranoid, wondering if they are all talking about me! HAHA! I need to start learning some basic vocabulary, so when the guests ask me a question I can help. I've encountered one couple where my three years of French came in handy. The other major group of people that visit SeaWorld are from England. Almost every guest who comes in has an English accent, (other than the Spanish speaking guests of course.)
Last night I had the pleasure of meeting my Aunt Lorraine and Auntie Debbie at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. What a beautiful place!! Outside her patio were giraffes, wildebeest, gazelle, and other safari creatures. Disney really does go all out. The three of us had dinner at their signature restaurant, Jiko. It was delicious. Today was another day working the Wild Creations counter. It was slow again today in the park, I'm anxious for it to pick up, time might go buy a little faster. My favorite part of the night is after 6pm. A DJ comes and places music right outside our store, his show is called After Dark. Tons of guests gather right at our door to dance and sing with the show. Its funny to watch all the little ones, (and the adults) have a dance off. Plus the SeaWorld employees inside the store like to get jiggy with it too. HAHA. Time moves a lot faster with the DJ going. Tomorrow is another regular shift but on Monday I have my first internship class. The Professionalism class runs from 9am-11am. I'm glad to have something to break up the workweek. I'll post what I learned after my shift Monday. Have a Whale of Day.

Okay, so I know I still look like a complete dweeb, but I do think the smaller shorts and a darker shirt make the whole outfit look a little better. I had to post this to redeem myself after I posted the last uniform photo. To be fair, we all look like dweebs, and it could be worse, the Aquatica shirts aren't solid, they have bubbles and fish all over them. I'm grateful I don't have to wear a shower curtain pattern on my shirt, so for all of you laughing at me, it could be worse! Haha!

First Day

Today I worked the Wild Creations counter, aka Build-A-Bear Seaworld style. This job was a lot of fun. This job has a lot of interaction with the customer, mainly with children. I will take any chance I get to work with children throughout this internship, and luckily I am scheduled to stuff animals for few more shifts. The process is very cute, the customer chooses an animal "skin" and we stuff it with our nifty fluff machine. Once we've stuffed their alligator, killer whale, koala bear, or other creature you can pick out a star make a wish and stuff it inside, sorta like heart for your animal. The outfits and accessories are endless to purchase for extra. We print out a birth certificate and give them a home shaped box. The process is nearly the same as Build a Bear, but with SeaWorld theme animals. I was easy to train according to my fellow coworkers. Donna, my main trainer, said I will fit in just fine; shes a very nice lady. Everyone's first question for me was if I had any cash handling or retail experience. They were all happily surprised to hear I have extensive training. The worst part of the day was being let out 3 hours early, as happy as I was to get home and watch Glee, its unfortunate I'm losing that pay. Sorry today's post wasn't very exciting, but nothing real epic happened today. Hopefully Thursday's shift will have a bit more edge! Haha. Have a good week everyone!

Memorial Day Weekend

Very luckily I did not have to work this weekend. Instead I enjoyed some theme park hopping and a bit of exploring with friends. I have been very fortunate to make such good friends with such great people. Saturday a group of us ventured over to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Miraculously we hit every major ride at least once without waiting in crazy long lines. We had lapped the Island of Adventure and eaten lunch all before noon. I would like to go back to Universal at some point this summer and go to City Walk. There are a lot of dance clubs and restaurants there, its very similar to Downtown Disney. A fun night out is in the plans at some point. Another miracle that happened this weekend was that I cooked an authentic Italian meal for me and my friends! It was delicious. Mom, you should be proud! Before dinner, yesterday was just a lazy day. Slept in and went to the pool. I'm accruing quite the tan! Today was fun as well. SeaWorld developed a water park called Aquatica in 2008, a few of us went there this morning. Again, no lines! After a shower and some lunch, Adam, one of my neighbors and new friends drove us to Walmart. I felt right at home, when there's nothing to do in NH, head to Wally World! Haha. Adam generously drove his roommate, Joe, around to find an AT&T store and in our travels we stumbled upon Celebration, Fl. It was a quaint little downtown area, that reminded me much of Naples Fl. Just less ritzy! We stopped for Ice Cream and Adam got some Hummus, plus we saw and alligator in the pond! I love gators, thank goodness I had my camera! I wish we had a pond here at the apartments with gators, I think they are such cool animals. As you can see in the photo, he is a little guy, he definitely could have fit in a kiddie pool on my patio! Finally home after that 4 hour adventure to Walmart, having a bite to eat and waiting for The Real Housewives of New Jersey to air. Tomorrow is the first day of work, running the register at Friends of the Wild, (I think before my first day was today, but its really tomorrow.) Goodnight, and don't forget to tune in to Jersey tonight! It's supposed to be a good episode! ;)

Looking Fresh!

So this is me in my super attractive uniform! Please don't laugh at me. I'm not a huge fan of it, I think I look fat in those shorts because the pockets stick out. I went today and traded them for a smaller size, I'm not used to pants being around my waist instead of around my hips so I needed one size smaller than I originally ordered. That color isn't too attractive either, but I also got a navy and a forest green shirt which look better! Enough whining, Yesterday and today were my days of training. Yesterday I had Merchandise training. Erin, one of the merchandise managers, gave us all the information about the layout of the park. Everyone is assigned a specific area, therefore I will be working in different shops or carts from my area. Monday I start working and I will be in Friends of the Wild. FOW is one of the bigger shops and is AIR CONDITIONED! How exciting is that? Today's training consisted of cashier training. This was a breeze for me, if you didn't know I worked at Stop and Shop for three years of my life, I know cash handling inside and out. I was a little bored today, and I had questions about things, (such as drawer sweeps)that others had no idea what I was talking about. I think my first day will be real easy, I'm very confident that I will be able to run a register alone pretty quickly. Monday begins my first official week at SeaWorld! I have 39 hours next week! I'm going to love having a huge paycheck, especially because paying rent is a new experience. Having my first weekend in Orlando off will be nice, tomorrow a few new friends and I will be hitting Universal's Island of Adventures, FREE ADMISSION! Should be an exciting day, I'll be sure to post some pictures either here or on Facebook. I love all your comments! Miss Milford and the family! HUGS!

Orientation

The morning was a bit long, we had company orientation.I learned that I am officially working at the gift shop for Journey to Atlantis and also got my uniform, (photo soon to come!) The uniforms aren't exactly fashionable but mine fits perfect so I can't complain. This morning Human Resources discussed policies, programs, and safety with us from 7:30am to Noon. The presenter, Teri, was entertaining and witty which helped keep me from zoning out. Very excited to hear about all the benefits I receive for being a SeaWorld employee, including free admissions and discounts at lots of local businesses. I learned what, besides working, the internship entails. We are required to attend 4 classes, that are focused on communication, marketing, customer service, ect. Also we must sign up for 2 back stage tours! There are many options for this, I'm actually very excited about this part of the internship. The options for tours include: Discovery Cove, Marketing, Culinary, Education, Operations and many many others. I need to request time off for these tours and sign up soon if I want to get into the tours I want. The last thing we need to do is go listen to two seminars held by higher ups at SeaWorld from different departments. All these events will be paid, so even though I will be taking time off I won't be losing money. I introduced myself to the President of the company today, he is very nice and has promised to remember everyone's name who approaches him; good for him, there are 100+ of us! After orientation I took care of my direct deposit and other paperwork, then got ready and hit the park for some fun! SeaWorld looks so different since the last time I was there. They have added a new coaster, Manta! Very fun and thrilling ride! The park was pretty empty today so the wait for most of the big rides was no longer than 20 minutes. I had a fantastic afternoon being a guest at the park today, and its nice to just be able to walk in whenever I want. Its been a busy day and I am now relaxing and watching the Celtics, (LETS GO B TOWN!) bed time soon but I do have a later wake up time tomorrow. Need to get my rest for the first day of department training. Goodnight friends!