Post 1 - Earning My Ears

It has always been a dream of mine to do the Disney College Program, yet once I got to college I continued to talk myself out of doing it. This year I decided to take the risk and applied in the spring. In February I found out that I was accepted for the Fall Advantage program in a Merchandise position. This means that I would be moving to Orlando in the summer and staying until the beginning of January. I am from Athens and have lived there all of my life so this is the first time I have ever truly left home. I moved in on June 6^th and finally met my wonderful five other roommates in person. 

My room that I share with my roommate Lindsey.

Since then I learned that I would be working in Epcot, one of my favorite parks, in Park Arrivals Merchandise. My area consists of six different stores all in Future World, which is the front section of the park. After a few free days after moving in, my training began and I immediately encountered a lot great and interesting information about how Disney operates and how, as a Cast Member, I would fit into this great big world.

Spaceship Earth, AKA the Epcot Ball or Golf Ball

 

One of the stores I work at that is right under Spaceship Earth

While Disney does a great job of training us and making sure we understand how merchandise and retail works at Walt Disney World, it is somewhat general and not specific to your location. Therefore, one the big difficulties I encountered my first week was learning how things worked around my location. There were a lot of things that I wasn’t sure about, such as how to fill out a shipment form or when my job was to stock the store I didn’t really know what to do because nobody had told me. Fortunately, many of my fellow cast members are extremely helpful and willing to help when asked. I learned that no question is stupid and that my coworkers understand that I may not know what is going on and would rather me ask for help than try to do it without knowing.

 

My name tag with the "Earning My Ears" ribbon

When you are still completing training and are still very new to your location you wear a ribbon on your name tag that says “Earning My Ears.” I finally removed mine this past week when I finally felt comfortable. They tell us to take it off when you are 100 percent comfortable in your element, because the ribbon acts as a safety net of sorts, letting guests know that you are new and may not know exactly what you’re doing. A lot of guests asked me what it meant and I would explain it to them, but the funniest comment I got was when I got really flustered counting change. Disney has a specific way of counting change that is confusing at first, but easy once you get the hang of it. During one of my first transactions with cash I got so flustered that when I owed a may just one penny it took me ten seconds longer than it should have to realize that. He could tell I was overwhelmed and was very nice about it, after I finally gave him his change he says, “I hope you earn your ears!” I couldn’t help but think at that moment, man, so do I! It was really funny to me and while I was a little embarrassed it helped me feel better and I could tell he understood that I was new and a little confused.

Note to know:

Do not be afraid to ask for help, people want you to succeed and are willing to help. In the long run it is better to ask for help and get it right in the beginning, rather than doing it wrong continually until you get told otherwise. It shows initiative and that you want to do a good job when you ask for help.