Fun Center

You may have wondered what has been keeping me away from my ever faithful blog... Trafalga: Fun Center of course! I am so lucky to have gotten a job before I even moved home, I'm getting pretty decent hours and money to go into the savings for school (plus it being not too far from Mom's doesn't hurt either).
I wasn't too sure if I was going to get this job or not, after I had turned in my resume and application I received a phone call asking if I could come in for an interview (while I was on my way to Oregon fro Leah and Jamie's wedding)--I was afraid that me not being in town was going to go against my chances. I called as soon as I got back and didn't hear anything for another week, but than I was asked to come in for an interview (YEAH!), it was the most relaxed that I have ever been in an interview and I thought that it had gone pretty good, but I was told that I would hear back by the end of the week. Nothing happened :( After a week and a half had passed Libbey told me that I just needed to call her and check what was going on. I was told that they had just hired a bunch of people and were waiting until the next week to hire another group, that my name was "on hold" and that I would hear back by the end of the week for sure (I really wasn't sure what that meant but hoped that it was good considering that she didn't just straight out tell me that I wasn't hired).
Wednesday of Utah Counties spring break I was making dinner at my apartment with Brea when my phone rang, I looked down and saw that it was Trafalga, I quickly grabbed my phone and went into my room. They asked if I was still interested in a job and told me that they wanted to hire me (I think my heart might have stopped right there from excitement), I quickly asked her questions on what I should be wearing, when to come, where to come, etc. She asked if I could start that day or the next day, because I was in the middle of making dinner and it was already nearly 5 o'clock I asked if the next day would be ok, she said that it was fine as it was kind of last minute.
I went in on Friday (0f Spring Break!!) and filled out paperwork, was shown around a little bit and then immediately thrown into doing stuff--it was a little crazy at first because it was spring break but I think that it's always better to train in the middle of a rush partly because than you immediately know how to work quickly and efficiently.



It has already been an adventure (a fun one!). My 2nd day of working someone asked me if I was single (wasn't sure if they were serious or not so chose to ignore that) and was kicked/hit by a little girl that was having a temper-tantrum on the ground outside the airplane ride when her sister chose to get in another airplane. The 2nd day I also got put in the kitchen (good thing I love cooking and have had some experience in kitchens/concessions before), it started off a little slow which was good because than I could learn what we served and how to make them but then it very quickly jumped up to the point where we needed 8 whole pizzas made at one time...luckily someone else came and took over for me than and I got sent on break.
Some other exciting/strange happenings from this job:
I got to vacuum with a backpack vacuum, if ever there was a time to feel like a ghostbuster that was it--though it was a little heavy so not the most fun to be carrying up and down the stairs. I have vacuumed and washed glass (mostly windows/doors) more in the last two weeks than I have ever in my life, I'm working on getting my left arm stronger but so far most of it has been done with the right.
During my 2nd week the fog machine in laser tag didn't stop when it was supposed to so it completely filled up the laser tag room- setting off the fire alarms. We had to evacuate the whole building and stood outside for probably close to 20/25 minutes while we waited for the fire department to come and to declare it safe to return inside. On one hand it's nice to know that the fire alarms are working but kind of annoying as I guess it had been like the 3rd time to happen in the past couple of weeks--I guess we are not working on getting a different ventilation system so it won't happen again (or at least not as much).
This lady insisted that she had seen me the previous day at all of these different stores when in reality I had had the day off and stayed home all day in my pajamas reading and being lazy. She wouldn't give it up either when I told her that I hadn't gone anywhere--kind of annoying and strange. (what's even stranger was that she was the 3rd person in a week to tell me that they were sure that they had seen me somewhere. So apparently I have many clones out there sharing the goodness of Beth :D)
I already thought that this was going to be a fun job but it got even cooler/fun when I discovered that I get a free Pass of All Passes, it actually works as my ID for work...I'm excited and can't wait to go to Seven Peaks with my roommates on my days off (when it get's nice outside that is).
The first day when I had to answer the phone I was a little nervous about having to do that, I was afraid that I wouldn't know the answers when people asked them and that it would reflect badly on the business, but luckily I haven't had to answer any extremely difficult questions yet and people have been really nice at helping me and answering any questions that I may have. One day I was up front when I got a phone call, it was really noisy and so I struggled to hear at first but I finally understood what the lady was saying. It was actually an agency that was calling, people that are deaf or cannot speak call this agency through their phones and then the agency calls whomever they need to "talk" to. The person calling types what they need to say/ask and then the agency relays that to me, I answer and then she responds back to the person via the computer. It was a really neat experience, it made me even more grateful that I can speak and hear but also that there are people out there who have made the opportunities available for those that cannot.

There have been many other experiences--good and bad even in these 3 weeks of work. I'm glad that I have this job, the people that I work with are so much fun and entertaining and most of the time I don't even feel like I am working. I feel like if I have a question or idea already that people will listen to them and consider if they will work or not. This is not somewhere that I would like to be for the rest of my life but it is a great fun job for now!

Build-A-Bear

I had an interview at Build-A-Bear Workshop this evening, it has to be one of the funnest job interviews that I have ever been to. To begin with it was a group interview, which I have never had before. There were 6 girls (including myself) at the interview, when we first arrived we were asked to put on a name tag and then told to choose a bear...

...I actually chose the bunny, almost exactly like this one. When we had chosen our "bear" we were told to pick out an outfit for our "bear" (seriously where else would you get to pick out an outfit for a stuffed animal during an interview!), I chose these cute blue jeans with brown boots and this super cute sweater that all the associates at Build-A-Bear told me it was their favorite and I told them all that I wished I could buy one in my size (to which they all agreed :D).

After everyone had picked out their outfits we went out between the stores and sat in a circle where they had some chairs/couches. We began by introducing ourselves to our partner, talking to them for a little bit and then when the time was up we were asked to introduce our partner to the rest of the group.

Next came the questions, the interviewer asked several questions and we were given the option to answer them, but we didn't have to (I tried to answer every single one because everyone that I had talked to about going to a group interview had told me to go in with lots of energy, answer questions and not get lost in the group).

This next part was my favorite (besides getting to dress the doll of course :D)...the interviewer pretended to be a customer and we were supposed to pretend that we already worked at Build-A-Bear. She was a different person for each one of us (a boyfriend looking for a present for his girlfriend, a grandma looking for a grandchild, a little boy, etc.), for me she was a daughter wanting to buy something for her mother for mother's day. Everyone else had just said something like "how are you doing today, what can I help you with...how about this___" and I knew that I didn't really want to introduce it that way so I began somewhat the same but then changed.

"How are you doing today? Is there something that I can help you find? Tell me about your Mom, what does she like to do, favorite colors, animals?"

After we had set kind of the ground level I then suggested the rabbit and told her a little bit about what he was wearing, etc.

Next we talked about suggestive selling, where you are supposed to convince the costumer that there is something else they need that would make their purchase even better. The two girls that went before me both talked about how there is a sound box that you can record a message on and then put it in the bear, I didn't want to copy them and so asked if I could make up a product...I then talked to my "customer" and told them about this cute little chalkboard that would be a perfect addition, she could write a note to her Mom on it and because she had mentioned her Mom liking art she could draw on it and have an "artsy" rabbit.

She had one more question for us, she asked what our association with Build-A-Bear was and why we were drawn to work there. I explained that I had never actually been there because there was no Build-A-Bear nearby but because I wanted to be a kindergarten/first grade teacher it was perfect because then I get to play with kids all day and because I could be a kid too (as I was answering this question she started scribbling very quickly :D).

She asked if we had any questions and then told us that she would get to us in the next week. She explained that if we didn't get a job to not be too angry with ourselves, she gets at least 15 applications sent to her a day and that we made it to the interview was good.

As I was putting my rabbit and the clothes away she came up to me and asked if I could stick around until after everyone else was gone. When everyone was gone she asked me to come to the back and fill out a survey, I asked her if it was a good thing and she told me it was very good--it was the next stage in them looking at being able to hire me.

I took the survey (100 questions!), it was one of those things where they give you a statement and then a scale of 1-5 of how much you agree with it basically. When I was done she told me thank you and said that she would get back to me in the next couple of days...

So...I hope that means that I will have a job! There was no one else that was asked to remain behind and do this so hopefully that means something really good :D I am really excited about the prospect of working here, I think that it would be a really fun job and that I would enjoy it a lot. It will begin as a seasonal job but with the opportunity to turn into something more. Hopefully in the next few days I will have news to report!

REAL-Salt Lake

So I finally made it to my first soccer game. Several weeks ago I got a forwarded e-mail from Nathan asking if anyone was interested in handing out fliers at a REAL soccer game the following weekend in Salt Lake. Nathan and e-mailed both Kyle and I so I called Kyle to ask him if he was interested. He said he was and suggested that we make it into a double date (yeah...NOT!). So I was put in charge of e-mailing the guy and Kyle was supposed to find the dates.

I got confirmation from the guy that we were able to come and then called Kyle back. He had found a girl and a guy, but the guy asked if he could bring his friend with him. Saturday afternoon came and the girl that was supposed to be coming was sick and couldn't come so another friend of Kyle's was going to come. So in the beginning it was supposed to be me, another girl and two guys, in the end it was me and four guys!

We got there and were told what we were supposed to do---basically hand out fliers to everyone about this program where you can order food from your cell phone and then they will deliver it to you for a fee at the games. Kyle and I were able to quickly hand ours out. After we were done all we had to do was pick a place and order some food and have it delivered to us.

One of Kyle's friends "stole" my camera and by the end of the night I had over 200 pictures! You are lucky that I edited and only put a few :D