I seriously need to take a step back from the Facebook group. I need to stop adding my opinion and experiences to every single post that goes up on the page. And you want to know why? Because I'm not a pixie dusted princess wearing rose tinted glasses. As has been well established, I am a jaded realist. But I justify this by thinking to myself, "Well, if they know the reality before they get down to Disney, they will probably enjoy their program more!" And I maintain that belief, no matter what people say to me. The people that I see who are the most miserable on the program are usually the ones who went into the program painfully optimistic or just plain had the wrong idea. A lot people, no matter what you say to them, believe that you go down there to have fun. They don't understand that this is work, and it can be HARD work. And then they get down there and have this rude awakening and are miserable and tend to be the ones to self term quickly. I feel like people need to be honest and realistic in the Facebook group because then everyone can understand that this is not a four month long party. It is, first and foremost, an internship. And a shitty one at that.
There are some alum in the group who are insistent that people stop with their "CP Horror Stories." But there are several reasons why I think banning these supposed "horror stories" is more harmful than good. First of all, I think CP horror stories are fun and/or interesting to hear. I would rather hear about the worst case scenario so I can prepare myself for that instead of preparing for the "best case" and being horribly disappointed when I get down there. Not everyone is going to be working Haunted Mansion or be Jungle Cruise Skippers. People are also going to have to work Speedway or Captain EO or Country Bears Jamboree. If you get cast in attractions and go down there expecting to have the time of your life being placed as a World Famous Jungle Cruise Skipper just to find out that it is full of mean, cliquey wenches who have superiority complexes, you will be miserable. (Someone I worked with used to be a Skipper, he was a full timer just as dead inside as the best of the Inno Family, and even he felt bad for the way some of the Skipper CPs were treated by the "statused" Skippers and he hates all CPs).
Secondly, it's good to know the realistic ways that Disney often times handles incidents involving CPs. And I'm talking about the really dark, unmentionable things that happen to CPs that is so well covered up that it is a rare day that you even know that something bad has happened. They don't tell you about how, dare I say, common rape and sexual assault is to participants. On my program, there was a housekeeper who was assaulted by a guest while doing her job! I've heard of CPs behind assaulted by other CPs and when they went to housing and/or security, THE VICTIM was termed instead of the PERPETRATOR. And yes, for the most part, these are word of mouth kind of stories that spread throughout the complexes with no factual evidence to back up the claims. These are all "a friend of my coworker was roommates with" kind of stories, but there has to be some basis in them for them to spread so far and fast. Just Google it.
Fortunately, on my program, I did not know anyone who was personally assaulted but my first week in training on my program, my trainer told Nicole, Ileen, and I to come to him or someone at work that we trusted if something happened. Wade was never a CP, he was a lady's man in his fifties who had worked at Disney since he was a teenager, and he cared and worried about us. He had seen first hand horrible shit that had happened to the CPs over his thirty plus years with the company and he wanted us to know that he was there for us. And I trusted Wade. He said that three programs prior to ours, they had an Inno CP raped by International College Program guys and since they had a different visa, nothing came of them. Disney did not fired them, nor did Disney let the girls go to the police. Wade told us that he would never let something like that happen to anyone again. He told us how he watched a lively spirited CP close in on herself and really wall herself off to the world, and that devastated him.
But thirdly, it's just important to know about the kind of living and working conditions that you will experience down there. The chances of something super devastatingly dark as the above happening are slim, but the chances of experiencing a shitty work day/week/month/program are high. People need to know what happens when a CP gets sick, what happens when they get hurt, what happens when you have to work a thirteen hour shift for two solid weeks. But when you mention that kind of stuff in the Facebook group, people are really dismissive towards it. They act like that's a one time thing, or a rare event, or something that "would never happen to them" but it might. Fortunately, my entire program because of my Innoventions blessing, I only had one shift longer than ten hours and that was because of the way our hours worked. There just weren't enough "operating hours" to work those typical CP Shifts. The one time I did work a thirteen and a half hour shift was because we had a special event and it was actually one of the most fun days at work I had on my entire program.
But my roommate? She worked Tomorrowland Attractions at Magic Kingdom and a twelve hour shift was just a common part of her work week, especially during the summer. During the 24 hour day, Erin worked an EIGHTEEN hour shift. That shit happens to CPs. And they need to know that shit happens. And they need to know about how bad the busses can be, and they need to know how hard it is to get to Walmart, and they need to know how poorly we are bad and how badly we can be treated, because that is the reality. And it is better to be prepared in my opinion.
So I am trying to step back from the group. I am trying to stop being such a downer. But I think it is helpful and healthy to realize that Disney is a company. First and foremost, they are out to make money and work in their best interest. Disney no longer is the name of a visionary man (who had faults of his own) but is now the name of a terrifyingly powerful company that can trick stupid college kids into working for them for dirt cheap. But who am I to talk? I'm one of those stupid college kids who is willing to not only do it, but for a second time.
No comments:
Post a Comment