I Earned My Ears!

So I haven't really updated in the past few days because there was really nothing really to update on. I've been working a lot and finally have a day off tomorrow. But I know some of you are asking..... " But Amanda, what do you do at Pizzafari?" Well my friends, I will tell you the answer. Everything. I've been training with a Pastry Chef named Jamie from Nebraska and our trainer is a short funny lady who is really sweet but has the most diabolical laugh that makes me laugh on the inside and shiver at the same time. Everyday we do something different and learn something new. We could start out by setting up the front half of the serving section by stocking the refridgerators cleaning/sanitizing, putting in trash bags, adding ice etc. We could make a lot of deli's meaning huge sandwiches for the entire day. We could be kitchen stockers and make sure there is always lettuce for the salad station, pizzas for the hearth, deli's made and in the fridge, plenty of pesto and tomatoes, taking out the trash (which has the worst smell in the entire world and makes me want to throw up everytime). When you are stockers of any kind a lot of the stuff is kept in huge walk in coolers and freezers. These freezers are huge and packed with tons of food so if you are ever hungry and working in the back, don't go in the freezer or you're terminated for eating a piece of cheese. That reminds me. We can't eat the food there. Its not free and if we want to purchase it we have to change our clothes go out to the front and order it like a guest. If we get caught eating the food or taking it home, even if its leftovers, then we immediately get terminated. Its a bit scary when you're starving. Anyway back to jobs. Those are just some of the jobs in the back or backstage is the official Disney Term. Onstage we have Trash duty....self explanitory but it goes to one person because there are 21 trash cans that you are in charge of and trust me, you are always changing bags. There are greeters which stand at the doors and...well....greet people but you also answer questions and get to pin trade. Pin Trading, for those who don't know, is the exchanging of pins. Disney has many pin stations where they sell hundreds of different pins to put on lanyards and guests can purchase them and trade with anyone that has pins. So tons of guests come up to our bulletin board full of pins and like to trade. Its a lot of fun, well the most fun at Pizzafari. Then you can also be a busser which basically means keep your area clean like sweeping floors and wiping tables and talking to guests. Thats basically it for the jobs. At Pizzafari our entire resturaunt is hand painted with tons of animals in their habitats. We have four dinning rooms and all of them are themed. We have the upside down room where all the animals are upside down, the nocternal room, the house room where it has all animals that carry their own homes like turtles and kangaroos etc, and then the camo room. We have a bunch of hidden Mickeys which are mickey mouse shaped figures hiding in the painting and we like to point them out to guests, we have a tail but no body hanging from the ceiling and two zebra's with 9 legs. Its an interesting restaraunt.

So I think I forgot to mention that I'm not made for food service at all. I spill things and drop things and mix up orders and constantly have to be corrected. Me and food service are like oil and water...we just don't mix. For instance, I set a bucket of ice on the ground forgetting that everything has to be set off the ground at least 6 inches or thrown away, I dropped just washed pans on the ground that have to be rewashed, I let a crate of orange juice slide into my trainer, spilled trash juice on my boss's shoes, flipped pizza on the ground trying to get it out of the hearth, its just not for me and my co-trainee, since she's a pastry chef already knows this and I just feel like an idiot. Why can't they make me tech somewhere else where I can be more productive and less of a bother?

Today was my first day not training, and it started off amazingly. On my way to work I was rear ended by another cast member. She thought I turned and accelerated right into me. I went flying forward and almost hit the stearing wheel. It was more then a bump and I thought my bumper was smashed in. We checked it out and the girl was really apologetic but my tank of a car didn't even have a scratch and neither did hers. But that was the first accident I was in and it scared me half to death. I'm really surprised I don't have whip lash, but I guess we'll find out later. Onto better things, I got to work early because it was the Fall Festival at DAK and they had a liquidation sale of 75% off for cast members on 3 rooms full of merch. I walked out with $165 worth of goodies for $45. Yay Christmas presents. I went to work and got kitchen stocker and trash duty for the whole day. That sucked big time and clocking out couldn't come fast enough. Came home to an empty apt because everyone else had the day off to go play and shop and I had to work. Luckily I have the day off tomorrow and I might be going to Fort Desoto Beach or more liquidation sales :) Going to be a good day tomorrow...hopefully