People have arrived. Not many, but they're people nonetheless. Jenny and Jessica - the personnel people who will be assigning me my real room. Robert - was a cook, worked with him a month last year - much fun to work with. Is now security, but currently shoveling snow. (teehee to those who shovel snow. SO glad I have a job I can actively do so I don't have to shovel) And a few other strays. It's nice to have a FEW other people. I think that I mainly only have that opinion because there are people now that I have known and I already have a relationship built.
One of the best and more tiresome things all at once about new seasons - or even new waves of people - is that you have/get to build those new relationships. We've all been at the start of new relationships - working relationships, friendships, passing acquaintances, etc. It can be fun, but it can get extremely tiresome. Especially when "major arrival" means that within a week - within a few days - we will go from 30 people to 400 here. That's a lot of new relationships to try to build at once.
It has also occurred to me how fast approaching major arrival is. It feels like I got here last week. How time has flown!! I got here on the third. It's the 17th tonight! Managers should be arriving in only a few more days. By the time I get back from my three-day weekend Will wants us to get before season starts, all the managers should be here, probably most of the EDR crew... We'll probably be cooking upstairs. Things will be a-chaingin'. And within a week or two from that, Major Arrival.
I'm nervous, truth to tell. It'll be an adventure. But I so dislike when all the managers come in. It's not just the managers of us that will be there all year. Oh no. It'll be bigwigs - the head chef, head sous, head EDR manager (Will), all our own managers, and all the managers of unopened locations that have nothing to do, that are here to "help open us up". The mass amounts of managers makes first-years nervous and hard to manage, and with three different managers telling you three different things they also screw up our crew. I have always felt they stay longer than they should - they stay so long they go from productive to moving backward practically. I've also always felt that the presence of so many bigwigs make it hard for our managers to develop relationships with the underlings they'll be working with the rest of the season. The first week, for first years, their bosses all seem like pricks because of the situation. Surely they'll find out that's not really the case, but it's hard.
Luckily, I already know Andrew - our head chef. "Another 'Crazy Oregonian'" is how I describe him. Especially to Oregonians. We've worked together - him as my PM Sous - for two years now and he can be strict and harsh but as long as you stay on his good side he's really cool. I really enjoy working with him - now that I know him ^_^
The others, I'll develop that working relationship with. I am less stressed because I know Andrew and I know he likes me and I know he has confidence in my abilities. We've a new Head Chef for the park this year - Chapman is gone. Which is fine by me. The Head Chef for the park is a mostly paperwork position - which is why Mike Dean won't take it. They have little to do with us and Chapman was especially distant. He had very little to do with anyone who wasn't a head or sous of a location. Mike Dean is the Head Sous for the park - has been for YEARS. He's turned down the Head Chef position - I've heard - three times, seen three come and go, because he doesn't want the desk job. Oh my is he qualified, but he prefers to be out there helping open places and helping train and being actively involved in the workings of the park. I really like Mike Dean. EVERYONE really likes Mike Dean. I used to think he WAS the Head Chef for the park because I only met Chapman once, and he seemed less impressive, less knowledgeable, less approachable, less everything that I thought a head chef for the entire park should be. This new guy I hear is more involved, and very easygoing and approachable as long as you're on his good side. I don't know yet. I love working with Andrew, and I love working with Mike Dean and they both know me so I don't mind much. I'm fairly confident.
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