Monday, May 19, 2008

20 years ago... (Part II)

(Part I is here)

So what was I to do? I wanted to move to Florida for the summer and work at Walt Disney World, but I could not figure out how to make the finances work.

Remember how I said Holly was really smart? Well, she came up with a plan. There were going to be 4 girls in one 2 bedroom apartment and 4 guys next door in another 2 bedroom apartment. I was offered the opportunity to be the 5th roomie in the girl's pad and I could sleep on the couch (for a reduced rent, of course). Not a fold out couch, mind you, just the couch. I was in! The only other problem, however, was that Holly was going to arrive in Florida after I did, so she gave me directions to the apartment complex and spoke those fateful words, "When you get to the apartment, ask for a guy named Scott Hughes."

So, I packed my meager belongings and headed off on my adventure. I stayed with a cousin north of Orlando for a week or so until the rest of my future roomies arrived. Apparently this guy named Scott Hughes was to show up with others from the far off land of Indiana and then I would move into the apartment.

In the meantime, I drove to the main entrance of Walt Disney World and when asked to pay for parking, I informed the attendant that I really was there to get a job. He directed me to the trailer that was used as the "casting" office at the time, so off I went. Within 45 minutes I had filled out an application, taken a math test that would have insulted a 10 year old's intelligence, had an interview in which I most vehemently rejected any position that involved food service and was hired as a casual temporary for the summer! It was official, I worked for The Mouse.

My first day of work was spent in a class called Disney Traditions. This was a new hire class that taught you everything from what make-up, shoes and jewelry you could wear "on stage" to how to easily remember the names of all 7 Dwarfs. They even dispelled myths. That's right, Walt is not buried in some room in Cinderella's castle but is in fact in the ground somewhere in Anaheim.

Want to hear a funny aside to all this? Sure you do!

There I was at my WDW new hire class, and this good looking guy from the class walks up to me during a break and says "Don't I know you from Carolina?" Now I did not know this guy at all so my response was typical, tactless Jacque. I said, "I am 700 miles from home, there are 12,000 students at Chapel Hill, there are 25,000 employees at Disney, there are hundred of "Traditions" classes at Disney....and you know me??" Thankfully, John just laughed and we forged a friendship.

We spent hours over the next couple of weeks trying to figure out how in the world he recognized me from Carolina. I lived on campus, he lived off campus. We did not have any of the same classes or outside activities together and we could not find one single friend that we had in common. In the end, we figured out that he and I had walked past each other every day on the way to class the previous semester. All I can say is that God was looking out for me for sure because in those first few days on my own, He helped me find a friend to hang out with.
Although John did not live with the gang that eventually came together that summer, he was officially part of the "InX" (as we referred to ourselves - the In stood for cool and the X stood for the fact that we never knew how many of us would be in the apartments at any given time. Yes, we were dorks. Probably still are.)

Our buddy John...never get him started on his days as a surgical assistant!

But, what about that guy I was supposed to ask for? Some tall guy named Scott? Well...
(stay tuned for Part III)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Help! I need to read Part III...

Sure am glad you're doing this thing Jacque...I love reading it and I'm becoming addicted.