FROM: Amber Earns Her Ears Published Mondays

Amber at EPCOT: Heat Stroke and Arithmetic

Sometimes, it's the little things. Forgetting a water bottle. Avoiding heat stroke at EPCOT. Mental arithmetic. Thinking on Sunday that it's still Saturday. Amber deals with all that and more in Disney's College Program.

- Amber Sewell, June 21, 2011

As lamentable as it is that this column is late, it rather fits the theme of the past week: all chaos, with very little relief.

Not all of it has been bad chaos, exactly, but it has been about three weeks since I moved in, and I still have puffy bags under my eyes at all hours of the day.

Amber's Manic Monday

Monday began on a poor note. It wasn't a bad shift - eight hours, midday - and I was sent out to work the squeeze breeze/water cart in front of the Land. My coordinator helped me maneuver the unwieldy cart into the shade, and I was given an apron (but no calculator, which presages disaster for an English major!) with some seed cash for making change.

I had fun for a bit. I was in the direct path of the guests booking it to Soarin' before all the FastPasses had been distributed and the line not worth a second look, so I was able to interact with quite a few of them. One man doubled back to shake my hand and loudly applaud the fact that I was the first Cast Member he'd met on his trip to speak to him for no reason other than pleasantness.

I had been out on the water cart for maybe an hour when I began to regret having left my own water bottle at the apartment. It was on the floor where I'd kicked it while getting ready for work that morning. I felt a little faint, but thought it was simply from thinking too much about the heat.

Amber Does Arithmetic

I met several families who were having a marvelous time, and obligingly sprayed several guests with the wonderful (and expensive) misting fans. My good humor fled, just a bit, when a large group came up and asked to purchase twenty bottles of water. Twenty.

As soon as I heard the number - a double-digit number! - my brain, programmed as it is for vernacular rather than mathematics, promptly went into panic mode and shut down.

I could all but hear the little sirens warning me that I would not be able to multiply $2.50 by 20. I stared stupidly at the guests, and felt little relief when the number was reduced to eight. I looked pleadingly at the Cast Members with the guests (I suppose they were on a tour or something), and one of them said: "Well, two bottles of water equals five dollars", which should have helped me figure out the cost, but in my state it did nothing but frustrate me further.

Finally, we figured it out, and as I arranged the remaining water bottles in my cart to fill in the gaps, the simplicity of the math struck me, and I was extremely glad that I had decided not to major in business, after all.

Amber Approaches Heat Stroke

Shortly after the water people left, I began to feel as if I were going to pass out.

Working at an animal clinic for years has made me intimately acquainted with oncoming unconsciousness. I began to feel cold and noticed that my fingers had gone pale. I looked around pleadingly for my relief to emerge from the crowd. I had been on the water cart for a while, and was sure someone would be coming by to take over.

When no one came, despite my telepathic pleas, I called over to the Cast Member standing under an umbrella a few yards away. She made her way over, and I asked if it was okay if I sat down while she radioed for someone from Image to come take my place. Halfway through my sentence, I changed the query to a fact, and knelt in the shadow of my cart.

The difference between having male Leaders and female Leaders was striking.

When I had almost passed out at the Electric Umbrella during the CareerStart Program last year, I was simply moved into the air conditioning after eating a cookie (a good ten minutes after the fact, as our male coordinator at Fountain View had gone missing).

This time, two female Leaders made their way to me, and one of them literally took my arm and led me to our break room, where she made me sit and drink water while she microwaved the lunch I had brought. I was given more food to eat than I could have possibly imagined ingesting, and the Leaders stopped by regularly to make sure I was, in fact, eating it all. For the rest of the day, our coordinator walked me to and from the computer for my assignments, making sure I wasn't put back outside.

I haven't forgotten my water bottle since.

Amber Wings Through the Week

The rest of the week passed uneventfully.

On Thursday, I finally had a day off. I spent it at the park with some of my roommates, enjoying myself as a guest instead of having to act the part of a Cast Member. I didn't mind in the least that we went to EPCOT, because it is, after all, my favorite park. Working in Future World has only lessened that area's appeal, which was never great in the first place. The World Showcase still remains my favorite of all the areas in Disney World.

On Friday, I finally ventured out with people from work. Last year, during CareerStart, it took a good two months before I warmed up to anyone. Since then, however, I've improved upon my socialization skills, and I was invited to play in Hollywood Studios after work - not by anyone in my location, but by two people in attractions who share our break room and with whom I had become friendly.

When one of them mentioned that I would finally get to ride Star Tours, I couldn't refuse. I was incredibly glad that I had made the decision (grudgingly, at first) to join him on the expedition, however, because we managed to hit Rock 'N' Roller coaster and Star Tours twice, Tower of Terror once, and see Fantasmic; I consider all of this a great accomplishment, and a wonderful way to spend my second day playing in the parks.

Amber's Saturday Do-Over

On Saturday, my family arrived for their first visit of my program, and that night I met up with them and my brothers (but not my sister, who had other plans). I returned home tired and slightly ready for work the next morning.

I awoke early, got my myself ready, had some coffee, and went to work. I clocked in for my 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM shift at Image, got my assignment... and then a coordinator walked over and said I was in the wrong location - and thirty minutes late!

I stared at her, dumbfounded. Had I not just checked my schedule, which had me down for an 11-8 shift? I spoke with strong conviction that she must be wrong, that the computer had made some mistake, but she sent me back to Costuming to change into my Seas Costume for a 10:30 AM to 7:45 PM shift.

It was only when I got to the break room that I realized I had gotten the days of the week messed up: I had been operating under the belief that it was Saturday (again), when it was in reality Sunday. I haven't had the heart to see what kind of penalty I was given for appearing a half hour late, and in the wrong costume, but now I make sure that I cross the days off of my schedule, and quadruple check everything.

I am slowly recovering from my lovely blunder, and made an emergency stop by the Basin store in Downtown Disney to get some more of those excellent cocoa butter bath bombs that so relaxed me on my last program. They have worked their magic, and as I check my schedule for the umpteenth time, assuring myself that I really don't go in until 4:00 PM tomorrow, I can't help but feel a little less stressed about everything.

Kind of.

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