Five Days of Training

As of Tuesday, I have finally finished training at Captain Cook's! Like the title says, it lasted five days in total. I'll give you guys a brief overview about what I did each day and how it went!

Day One (Stocker): I was kind of happy I got placed as a stocker for my first day of on the job training (OJT) because it eased me into everything in the restaurant and gave me an idea for behind the scenes before being thrown into helping customers. I mainly spent time in the cooler restocking drinks and whatnot. It was so cold in there! I even had my jacket and I still felt chilled. My trainer showed me around where the main kitchens are and where they keep all the stored food and drinks in case we run out at our location. The best part about training, free food! Each day I was able to have two entrées for lunch or dinner (depending on when I worked), and the first day I had the chicken sandwich and caesar salad. It was way too much food I couldn't finish! After my break I returned to the cooler and kept stocking the shelves. My trainer showed me where all of the chemicals and emergency exits were and whatnot, and I finished the last bit of my e-learning online (thank goodness).

Day Two (Kitchen/Counter): I really enjoy this role. I'm constantly busy doing something and time just flies by. Here I prepare the orders for the customers by looking at their receipt, grabbing the food made by the culinary team, adding any necessary sides such as fries, and then paging the customer to have them pick up their food. I quickly learned that Captain Cook's is BUSY in the morning, especially on a Saturday during a three day weekend. We got a little backed up in the morning but by the afternoon the crowd flow was much more steady and easier to manage.

Day Three (Morning Cashier): I've never worked with an actual cash register, so it took me a little while to get the hang of this role. I shadowed my trainer for a few hours, observing how she interacted with guests and how to use the computer system. When I finally stepped in, the hardest part was understanding the Disney dining plan and remembering to designate a pager to every order BEFORE I push total. If I don't put a pager number in, the kitchen won't know what number to page, so they'll have to call me or vice versa and to let them know what number goes with what meal order. After a while I got a better hang of the position, and it was getting easier to give back change.

Day Four (Afternoon Cashier): This was a much better day than the previous because I already had a basic idea on how to do the role. The only difference was the food because we switch from breakfast to lunch/dinner at 11 o'clock, so the computer switches menu options. Once again I was having a difficult time remembering to add pagers to orders, but by the end of the day I was making sure that was the first thing I did when someone came to pay for their food so I didn't forget. I really like afternoon shifts more than morning. Not only because I don't have to wake up at 4 or 5:30 in the morning to be ready in time to catch the bus, but the restaurant isn't as crowded and crazy. A couple days ago I went to Magic Kingdom with a couple of my roommates and we ate at Casey's Corner. Let me tell you, I'm SO happy I didn't get a QSR in MK or any other busy park. Casey's is ridiculously CRAZY busy!! I would probably stress way too much in a situation like that. It really makes me appreciate my location. At the end of my afternoon cashier shift, my trainer showed me how to take the money from the cash register to put it in the bank and counting to see if we came out even or not from the beginning of the day.

Day Five (AmBUSSador): This was the longest shift of my life. The job was really easy, and we actually had one more person than usual doing the job because I was training and needed a trainer with me to help. However, the scheduling somehow got funky and my trainer actually started work two hours before me, leaving our breaks at different times. I was basically on my own during a majority of the job, which was totally fine because it's a super easy one. All I have to do is make sure everything is stocked on the condiments bar (napkins, untensils, etc.) and clean tables and keep the dining room area clean. If I get the beverage side of the job, I also have to clean the drink machines. It's not hard, but it was a nice change of pace because we were SLOW that day. Oh, did I mention my shift lasted until 1:30 in the morning? Yeah...Captain Cook's is a 24 hour location for snacks and drinks, so I had to see what they did to prepare for the morning after and the graveyard shift before I was able to go home. I actually ended up not doing much besides restocking napkins and bussing a few tables for the last two hours of my shift because hardly anyone was coming in. A few of my roommates surprised me at work while I was cleaning the drink machines, which was nice. By the end of my shift I was the only one on the bus back home, which is a long 40 or so minute drive thanks to all the stops we have to make before we actually head back to the Chatham bus stop. I was definitely exhausted by the time I got back to my apartment.

That concluded my on the job training! I had two days off and then yesterday I had a work class for about three hours in the morning so technically I count that as another day off. Today is going to be my first day of work without a trainer, but I still have to take my assessment to officially "earn my ears." I honestly have no idea when that's going to happen because another CP that works with me finished her training on Saturday, and still hasn't taken her assessment even though she's been working on her own ever since. We'll just have to wait and see!