I took a bus and got to work an hour early, as I usually do and decided to go to Costuming with my co-worker. We ran into a cast member who had trained us and he made me feel a little better about working b myself because he said that everything becomes repetitive after a while.
After costuming, we went to CDS and clocked in. My first assignment was a small one-- take over another cast member's position with recycling. So I got on the radio and told the cast member I had her break and went to meet her. She had already collected all of the recycling so all I had to do empty the recycling into dumpsters and clean out the liners they were in. It took all of ten minutes and I was grateful for the simplicity of the task.
I then went back to CDS to get a new assignment, hoping I would do something easy like be a breaker. As my luck would have it, the computer said "Chelsea Ebner/Casey's Trasher." A cast member who had also trained me was standing near me and when I told him what my assignment was, he laughed in a sympathetic way and said, "They're really throwing you to the wolves." That wasn't a comforting comment. The reason he said this was because Casey's Corner is the busiest restaurant on Main Street and my job was to empty all of the trash cans, wipe them down, talk to guests, and take the banana boat back to the compactor when it got full. Seems easy enough, right? But the trash cans fill up so quickly and I was responsible for eight cans outside the restaurant and three cans inside.
I went to Casey's Corner to meet with the cast member who's position I was taking over and they pointed out all of the trash cans I was responsible for. I got to work switching out full trash bags with new ones and quickly learned why the job is so overwhelming. I would replace a trash bag and wipe down the can, then five minutes later the can would be practically full again. I also had to deal with a lack of trash bags and taking the banana boat back to the compactor. The only fun part about the job was talking with guests. One guest in particular asked me some trivia like "What character has its own movie but doesn't say a word throughout the whole thing?" and "How many bricks is the castle made out of." I didn't know, and he told me the answer was Dumbo and the castle was made out of plexiglass, not bricks. I had known the castle wasn't brick, I just couldn't remember what it was really made out of. So I gave him a few fun facts of my own (I knew they would come in handy.) and he told me about how he had been coming to Disney World his whole life. Another guest came up to me and said that they had been watching me work and thought that I was doing a wonderful job. He also complimented my smile, friendliess, and overall attractive appeal. The last part was a little inappropriate to me but I guess it shouldn't matter.
I continued to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and then I went backstage to empty my trash. I talked to a few cast members while we waited to use the compactor and they said they were sorry that my assignment was Casey's Trasher in a tone that was only partially sympathetic. Then a cast member came up to us asking who was trashing Casey's and I told him I was. He told me he had my break in a somewhat annoyed voice, which was justified because it turned out he had been calling me on my radio but I didn't know because my radio training was minimal. I could tell he was mad about having to look for me but then he saw my "Earning my ears" ribbon and his tone changed completely. He became much nicer and more understanding, so I was happy I decided to keep my ribbon on.
My break was for 45 minutes and when I went back to CDS, I saw that I had been extended. Instead of clocking out at 10:45, I had to stay until 12:15. I was annoyed by that but there was nothing I could do, so I just got my next assignment, which was a parade shift. I like doing the parade shift because all I have to do is watch the parade (I can't clean while it's going on because it's a safety hazard), and then sweep up the streets when it's over. So I cleaned after the parade and then I was stuck in the crowd because Celebrate the Magic was about to start. I wasn't at all unhappy about being in the crowd because I had a really great spot for the show. After Celebrate the Magic, I still couldn't get out of the crowd (which I should mention is okay because I can't sweep my assigned area during show anyway since it's a safety hazard.) so I got to watch Wishes too! Even though I've seen the fireworks many times, I always become just a little emotional because I love to hear both children and adults express their excitement during the show. They actually think the fireworks that look like shooting stars are shooting stars, and there's always a collective "oooh" that comes from the crowd when Tinkerbell flies over the castle. I love it.
After the fireworks, the crowd thinned out and that's when I could see all of the trash everywhere. It was so ridiculous that a couple came up to me and apologized to me because I had to clean it up, to which I responded by apologizing to them because they had to see it. I asked a coordinator if the trash was always this bad and he replied with, "It's much worse in the summer, trust me."
I continued to clean up the trash in the Hub and on Main Street for the next couple of hours and then had a break. A coordinator then asked me to help another cast member do a trash run on the right side of the castle. I had no problem helping because the park had become much less crowded, which makes doing the job much easier. I could feel myself getting used to the repetition of replacing full bags of trash with new ones, and I was happy about it. The only reason our job is a little overwhelming is because of the pace you have to go at; not because of the work itself.
After I had done that, I went to get a new assignment and I was given the task of cleaning up the opposite side of where I had just been. The cast member whose job I was taking over happened to be at CDS with me and he said that the cans had been taken care of. Since Main Street was so dead at that point, there wasn't enough trash in the cans to justify taking them out. I then asked him if he had put three trash bags into each can (which is the minimum amount of bags in a can.), and he told me that he hadn't. Since I knew I wouldn't be doing much for this assignment, I took a three liner cart with me, took out all the bags with trash in them, and put two or three bags into the cans.
At this point, I didn't have very much time left before I had to clock out so I walked around my area with another cast member until I was told to get the trash at the gazebos in front of the castle. As we did that, I realized that the park was virtually dead and I saw it as an opportunity to take a photo of the Partners Statue and the castle without any people in the photo. I was hesitant at first because we can't have our phones out on stage and the park was still technically open. But I made sure there wasn't a guest in sight and took a quick photo. It isn't the best because it was on my phone, but I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.
I then went to put some extra pans and brooms into a utility closet and clocked ou afterwards. I caught the bus from Disney University and got home at around 1:30, then went to bed at 2:30.
Here is the photo I took of the castle.
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