A lot has happened since the last time I posted. And that is an understatement. So before anyone jumps on me for my terrible blogging skills, I promise you there are many good reasons why blogging has been the last thing on my mind for the last 2 months.
I think the last time I updated was the last time I was really happy here. Life has been all downhill since August 26th. Why you ask? Well I’ll start at the beginning . . .
Probably a week after that last post I got the terrible awful news that I would be permanently transferred to another location within Hollywoodland. I was working in the morning that day, and my friend Stacey who is from Ireland comes from the stockroom in a daze and just stands next to me and tells me she’s “being deported to another area.” I thought her word usage was funny. She told me then that I was on the list as well. For the rest of the day after I got confirmation I sat in the manager’s office and cried. I got paid for 6 hours of crying that day. No joke. I had two weeks left on Hollywood Blvd before being banished to Sunset Blvd.
Problem number uno. One of those weeks was to be spent in the Backlands (which just sounds like a punishment doesn’t it?) so I didn’t even have my 2 weeks to take in everything that was amazing in my area. I had 4 days.
Problem numero two. The transfer fell on the week of my birthday. I had requested September 22nd off in May to make sure I got it. With training though this meant that I might not have it off, and guess what. Of course I didn’t. And I really do know that this is the single straw that broke the camels back. This is the thing that makes me the angriest about Disney in my 5 months here. I am not a difficult employee. I don’t call in. I don’t ask to go home early. I don’t ask for days off. In fact that is the only day that I have ever asked off and it was approved in May. They wonder why so many college program kids don’t make it to the end of their program. Yes, some of them are stupid and do ridiculous things that are going to get them kicked out, but when you tell us we will have a day off and then take it back and schedule us 10 and 11 days in a row without a day off, there is only so much 18-22 year olds can take. We have no time for ourselves here and I can tell you for sure that if I had not been through all of my changes and moves and the need to be strong in times of weakness, I would have crumbled long ago.
Next was my birthday. Which despite the having to work the day of went off ok. I didn’t do anything exciting, but then again I turned 23. I have just realized also that I have not yet had to tell anyone out loud that I am 23. I don’t know how that is going to go when I need to. I can’t believe I’m that number. I feel like I should be in love. I feel like I should be doing something I love, not slaving for Disney. I feel like I should be doing a lot of things that these 23-year-old eyes have never seen. The only thing good about being 23 is that I eternally look 17. Twilight? Spring Awakening? Apparently these are my destiny.
I think the last time I updated was the last time I was really happy here. Life has been all downhill since August 26th. Why you ask? Well I’ll start at the beginning . . .
Probably a week after that last post I got the terrible awful news that I would be permanently transferred to another location within Hollywoodland. I was working in the morning that day, and my friend Stacey who is from Ireland comes from the stockroom in a daze and just stands next to me and tells me she’s “being deported to another area.” I thought her word usage was funny. She told me then that I was on the list as well. For the rest of the day after I got confirmation I sat in the manager’s office and cried. I got paid for 6 hours of crying that day. No joke. I had two weeks left on Hollywood Blvd before being banished to Sunset Blvd.
Problem number uno. One of those weeks was to be spent in the Backlands (which just sounds like a punishment doesn’t it?) so I didn’t even have my 2 weeks to take in everything that was amazing in my area. I had 4 days.
Problem numero two. The transfer fell on the week of my birthday. I had requested September 22nd off in May to make sure I got it. With training though this meant that I might not have it off, and guess what. Of course I didn’t. And I really do know that this is the single straw that broke the camels back. This is the thing that makes me the angriest about Disney in my 5 months here. I am not a difficult employee. I don’t call in. I don’t ask to go home early. I don’t ask for days off. In fact that is the only day that I have ever asked off and it was approved in May. They wonder why so many college program kids don’t make it to the end of their program. Yes, some of them are stupid and do ridiculous things that are going to get them kicked out, but when you tell us we will have a day off and then take it back and schedule us 10 and 11 days in a row without a day off, there is only so much 18-22 year olds can take. We have no time for ourselves here and I can tell you for sure that if I had not been through all of my changes and moves and the need to be strong in times of weakness, I would have crumbled long ago.
Next was my birthday. Which despite the having to work the day of went off ok. I didn’t do anything exciting, but then again I turned 23. I have just realized also that I have not yet had to tell anyone out loud that I am 23. I don’t know how that is going to go when I need to. I can’t believe I’m that number. I feel like I should be in love. I feel like I should be doing something I love, not slaving for Disney. I feel like I should be doing a lot of things that these 23-year-old eyes have never seen. The only thing good about being 23 is that I eternally look 17. Twilight? Spring Awakening? Apparently these are my destiny.
Here’s my last complaint I promise. I have been working on Sunset for 3 weeks I think. All it took was 3 weeks for “them” to start sending me all over the universe again. I’m in the Backlands again all this week. And that’s fine, I don’t mind being a little nomad, but I wish they would just put that in my notes. “Lauren does not belong to any area. She is a nomad.” I thought all the moving around would stop when I moved. I thought that was the point of the transfer, to even out the number of cast members in each area, to make schedules more stable for all CPs (college program kids). Apparently it did not or else Disney scheduling just doesn’t know what it wants. One fun fact though: after this week I will have worked at every shop in Hollywoodland. I’m the only person I know that can say that. I like that.
