Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Yay, so I'm awake because I keep having dreams about forgetting about people's allergies and therefore getting fired.

The only good thing about this is that I realised at some point during my random wakings and two-minute sleeps that I had set my alarm too early as today is Wednesday and my shift today doesn't start untl 11:15, not 10:15 as I had thought.

On Monday night and yesterday at work some people were complaining about the election results. I asked the complainers if any of them had voted and they all said no. I remember back in early January how I thought about organising something so we could all send off our voting paperwork together but, of course, forgot and found myself remembering at inappropriate moments.

Ooh, on Monday I got to serve the VP of Food and Beverage for Epcot. I'm not sure why I served his party given that I was easily the newest server on the floor (hola, dia numero dos!) but I imagine it's because we have been extremely short-staffed and I was probably the only one with a table open at the time he checked in. Important people don't have to wait at Le Cellier ;) My manager told me yesterday morning that Mr. Big Shot, (and I don't mean that in a rude way,) had emailed him and said I did a great job. Woohoo! Probably because he didn't have any allergies so I didn't accidently kill him.

My first day serving, Sunday, I had a guest ask to speak to the manager since I wasn't apologetic enough about a mistake I had made. (I didn't realise one of our sauces was available at suppertime only.) I don't think the manager on duty cared too much since the guest was being a winer and was a castmember. It's sad, but sometimes castmembers put ridiculously high expections on us. The table next to them, most likely, overheard and then they asked to speak to the manager before they headed out. However, they raved about me so all was good. They were probably happy they didn't have any allergies or else I probably would have forgotten about them and accidently killed the entire party.

I really don't want to get deported =( Tear. Cry. Sad. And yes, it is worth losing sleep over and putting myself though intensive retail therapy.

In a somewhat related note, I quite love working the lunch shift. The money isn't nearly as good as a dinner shift, but I love having free evenings! On Sunday after work I went to the Olive Garden with two of the other newest servers and it was soooo good. Pretty cheap too! (Guess I'm getting used to WDW prices... ;) ) On Monday night after work I wandered around Epcot looking to spend money and enjoy some rides. I ran into a friend, Kaitlyn, rather randomly so we ended up staying until close. Last night Vanessa and I took off to Disney-MGM Studios after work to also spend money and have some fun. It's not that I'm making boatloads of money or anything, but we are currently getting 40% off merchandise as part of our company Christmas present so I'm being proactive and buying stuff I know I'll want before I go home. So I'm buying August's souvenirs today! I will admit though, I probably wouldn't be spending quite so much if I wasn't leaving work with a nice wad o' bills in my pocket at the end of my shift. Hmm....

Today's shift will be a good one. I can tell. Cross yer fingers fer me!

Back, I say back, to bed I say.

And to reset my alarm!!
Hmm, such an up-and-down day today.

If I come home from Florida early I can tell you exactly why ahead of time: I'll get fired for forgetting about peoples' allergies. Basically, you get fired if you forget about an allergy more than two times. Even if you remember and tell the chef but forget to put it in the computer. So, by day three of my serving career, I have already forgotten once. It's kind of depressing because I knew my ass was covered before and I was not doing anything that would ever get me termed. So this will be it. Seriously. I have SUCH issues with my short-term memory that I feel like I should run a lottery on what month I'll be deported back to Canada. So I'm a bit bummed. I had a rather bad start today with issues at two of my first three tables. However, the nice thing is every table is a fresh start and the new guests don't know that you messed you severley on the previous table or that you drop a bunch of bread and butter on the dining room floor. Sigh. So I had a bit of a stupid day and quite want a day off. Frankly, I don't like the weight of constantly wonder whether I'm going to kill someone by serving them food. Sigh. So yup, good times. Whatever.

So I made it to Pittsburgh and it was good fun! It was awesome to see Emily! I'm definitely going back at some point. It was kind of interesting to be in an actual American city rather than Disney World... There are some cultural differences. Yup.

I'm glum thus heading to bed. See you in February when I get deported.

Monday, January 09, 2006

It's a Wonderful Life

Well, I should be in bed, sleeping. But I have other things on my mind this evening... Like how I should be emailing people, (thanks for the Christmas wishes, everyone!, and Happy Engagement to Kiki!) but can't even decide with whom to begin since I am, as per usual, massively far behind in emailing.

I'm going to be proactive. All those folks with birthdays at some point in 2006? Happy Birthday, [insert name]!

So what is on my mind is my life since May 2004. Basically since I left PEI on a permament, non-school basis. Lord, basically since I have left the country, ha ha! Heh. So yup, just scanning my mind as to what I would be doing now if I hadn't left Canada or, more specifically, PEI.

Wee PEI, how precious you are.

I wonder how many new people I would have met, I wonder where I would be working, and I wonder if I would still go to the Wave. Probably not that much, as the novelty wears thin once you realise the main draw of going to the Wave was seeing those people that you weren't super close with, but still liked to randomly sit with and chat for awhile.

I don't know what to do in October... I'd like to start working on getting a proper career, but there is still other stuff I want to do. I want to go live in France, but sometimes I get sick of being so far away from home. A trip home is planned a least a month in advance instead of the 15 minutes it would require to plan a quick weekend trip home if I lived in the maritimes. Despites this, I'm rather bitter that my UK work permit will expire at the end of April. That will be a sad day. It feels like I'm watching ice cream melt in the heat and can't reach it to eat it. My work permit is going to waste! I quite miss Edinburgh and find my mind rolling back to grade-twelve economics and first-year economics at fabulous UPEI... The opporunity cost of an action. In economics you can literally put a dollar figure on it, but this is more qualitative. I could make it quantitative by figuring out the wage I would have earned in the UK (minus expenses) versus that of a similar job in Canada. However, if in Canada, I would not have had a similar job. The day you find me filing full-time in Charlottetown is the day you find out that Ottawa has been demoted as the capital city and Tignish is the feds' new home.

Speaking of Feds, there is an election coming up!

Shit. I can't vote. I have NEVER voted in a federal election =( Last time there was one, summer '04, I was working at lovely Balfour Beatty sneakingly following the news around the impending election and never even THOUGHT about voting. I honestly forgot that I could vote. It was the first time there had been a federal election since I had become old enough to vote. This time around, I kept forgetting to visit Election Canada's website to get the proper stuff to vote as a resident abroad. I just checked it out, and if I want to vote I have an entire thirty-seven hours to get my application back up North. Umm, right. THAT would go over something great. So here is to another five years of waiting... Unless the same thing happens as the reason for this election being called.

Man, I need to go to bed. This is just getting retarded... I don't even remember the last time I was in bed before 2:00... This week I was especially bad as I worked late shifts during the last half of the week. Bonjour 4:00, 5:00, etc., bedtime.

Adios!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

So... this is the third time I am writing this blog. Through the joys of my trackpad, I managed to erase my other posts just as I was hitting the post button.

The weather has been AMAZING as of late! Honestly, I knew I wasn't in for a chilly winter but this has easily exceded my expectations. I do believe it has been unseasonably warm though and this isn't the norm. Today, after spending yesterday trudging around resorts and randomly falling asleep everytime I set foot on a bus, I slept until almost noon and was lazy. I layed in the sun and read. I thought about stuff I *could* be doing, but it wasn't that enticing. I was going to be a good girl and clean my room some this evening but my roommate is napping so I have a *very* good excuse not to!

Next week good things are coming my way: tips and a trip to Pittsburgh! I am moving into food running next week and am flying up to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to spend a glorious 36ish hours with Emily. For the record, food runners are responsible for helping servers bring entrees to guests. They help with appetizers and desserts as well, but entrees are their main responsibilities. This is basically a predisecer (sp?) to serving. I'm looking forward to it, as it's something new and a little more profitable! The servers are *supposed* to give the food runners 1% of their gross for the night. I think. So while not as profitable as serving, there is a guarantee income whereas with serving there is not. (Some people don't find it necessary to leave a tip after a $35.00 meal. Per person.)

Epcot has been holding a "Candlelight Processional" every night since Thanksgiving up until December 30th. There is a celebrity narrator and a very talented choir that reads/sings the story of Jesus. The singing is the focus, and with good reason. The narrator is important, but the choir deserves the real applause, as with the orchestra. On December 25th, 26th, and 27th John Stamos was the narrator! I went to see it with my parents.

John Stamos.

The guy who played Jesus in The Passion of Christ narrated on December 22nd, 23rd and 24th. The following week he and his extended family had dinner at Le Cellier. MY RESTAURANT. I saw him. I never would have recognised him if we had not been discussing his arrival all day and he came in as an ordinary guest under a fake name. Anyway, I got to clear his table when everyone was done. So I have cleaned up Jesus's mess.

This week four of my five shifts are six hours. Umm.... $$$$$??? I think not! Not this week anyway.

Yesterday I came to the conclusion that the best Disney Christmas decorations that I have seen this year and last are those at Disneyland Parc Paris, and at Port Orleans French Quarter Resort here. Just for the record. The winners of this little contest get no prize except public recognition by me. Felicitations!

Speaking of (in) French, I got my French flag on my nametag now to show that I can speak French. I feel like I'm lieing as my French isn't very good! So when I could tell one family was French I kind of diverted my nametag and repositioned myself and hoped they couldn't see it. Wow, I am so brave. Brave is thy jen.

I worked on New Years Eve so it was rather uneventful. I was in such a fowl mood at first as my shift didn't start until 5:30 and with my retarded cold I find my head just about collapses around 6:00 every night. (By collapses I mean gets really stuffy so I can hardly hear and my neck aches. It's quite lovely, really.) It ended fine though, we got to go outside and watch the fireworks as a big Canadian, "Sorry are we blocking your view, suckers?" family. They were quite good, and then we ate some leftovers in the kitchen from the New Year's Eve special dinner that apparently no one ordered.

Anyway, enough for now as I'll probably fumble with my keyboard (stupid trackpad) and accidently delete everything again.

Monday, January 02, 2006

For Christ sake. I just wrote the longest blog post EVER and it disapeared when I was copying and pasting it into Word in case it didn't work. It's my fault because I find the lack of mouse awkward on my laptop. I'm trying not to curse.

Summary of blog:

- I'm going to Pittsburgh next week.
- I start getting tips next week.
- I'm tired.
- I'm going to the gym cause I'm getting fat.
- I got hurt on a rollercoaster.
- My family's visit was qutie lovely and I'm glad they were here.
- I wore shorts and a tank top today and yesteday. Outside. Take that, Canada!
- I am going to be better at keeping in touch with you all.
- I saw John Stamos.
- Jesus ate at Le Cellier and I got to walk by him and clear his table.

The end.

Ugh. *(*$#*(%