Captain's Log #17 - What if we lived our lives like we were working at Disneyland?

9/9/17

Well, I still have a job, for now. I got another talking-to with the requisite summary-of-our-conversation letter. This was the fourth time. When I went to the office I was sure I was going to be told to pack my things and get out. I rapidly tabulated my savings, how long could I support myself?! A couple months at best. Apparently I made too many mistakes on a new task, but my errors weren’t pointed out so there was no learning. Instead, I was taken off that (more complex) task. I think my supervisor’s complaint is fabricated because the ’mistakes’ I made were at the direction of another, senior employee, someone who wants me to succeed. How much of a big deal do I make of this? Do I call the union? Or just keep my head low and apply like heck for new jobs? So far I’ve done the latter. This week I’ve applied for four, promotion-type positions. It will be a couple of months before I’ll know if I get an interview. Can I avoid being fired before then? We’ll see.

Have you been to Disneyland? About 30 years ago my husband-at-the-time and our 5-year old son had the pleasure. There was a wine convention and we got rooms for a couple of days. Dave did the conference in the morning while Brian & I poked around, the place is huge. Dave joined us for the afternoons and evenings. Most of the experience is a blur now but there was one afternoon, we had been doing everything, going everywhere, including, was it SIX TIMES through “It’s a Small World After All”? We were on the verge of a serious, family-wide meltdown and a young man, an employee, came up to us. I don’t remember what he said but he was so kind. I think he directed us to a food vendor where we got to sit, eat, drink, and relax. It worked and we were set to have a delightful afternoon and evening. With all the over-stimulating rides and things, it’s that young man that I remember.

It turns out Disney hires for attitude not aptitude and gives their employees, called cast members, 6 weeks of training before they’re allowed to interact with customers. Boy, I’d sure like to go through that, although I’m not sure I’d pass the attitude test.

I was reminded of that young man this week when I was on a unit working on client records. There was a client who was visiting because his unit is scheduled to close and they were evaluating how he’d get along with the clients on this one (this reminds me of me being in my department.) He was quite verbal, unlike most of the clients on that unit. He wanted to watch a movie, Star Trek, and he happily talked to the staff member (an employee of 22-years) at the nurse’s station (who was engrossed in a novel) about Kirk and Sulu and Spock. (I could have held my own in this conversation!) The staff member said nothing except “we’re not watching movies now” and went back to his book. Total non-engagement. (I don’t know, do I report this?) I understand that talking to an ‘idiot’ can seem like a waste of time, but it can really make a person’s day. The clients live here, this is their home. What would it be like if they could rate the employees? Like they might if this was a cruise ship or Disneyland? What if we lived our lives like we were working at Disneyland, with a focus on positive engagement with everyone?

The book-reading-employee left, a new shift came in and no one told them about this visiting client. They didn’t know who he was or what he was doing there, and here he comes down the hall to the nurse’s station talking to himself about the NFL (National Football League, a topic I know nothing about but I’m a good listener.) There were two women at the desk, I know them to be friendly and engaging with their regular clients, and one of them starts asking him about the DVD in his hand, something along the lines of “that’s not yours, give it back.” That begins to set him off, he really wants to watch it. This staff member takes a confrontational approach (“Did you steal it?” Boy, he knows that word.) And things go from bad to worse. He’s screaming that his mother gave it to him, “my mommy!” Eventually he slams his hand on the counter hard enough to break bones, I don’t know if that happened, but his hand hurt. This finally triggers the employee to try another tack and she becomes all sweetness and light “I’m sorry” etc., etc. They go off down the hall together, she comes back and tells the other staff, “next time let’s let him have it, we can get it back later.” Duh. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have a lot of tools in our relationship-kit to interact with people. We can too easily default to confrontation to get our needs met. “…Insanity, doing something over and over and expecting different results.” Does confrontation ever work?

I think of these things: what if I lived my life like I worked at Disneyland, how would I relate to my coworkers and Kevin? And, what if I had a variety of techniques or strategies to relate to people? You know who does is Jim Danaher, a friend who attended my “retirement from real estate” party two weeks ago. That guy is an absolute chameleon, he can hobnob with janitors or PhDs and make everyone feel special. How does he do that?

Briefly, I had a party to celebrate my retirement from real estate in order to put a bow on my career change and let my friends and past clients know that there is an excellent replacement who will take care of them, Lorene Campi. She actually put on the party, she schlepped the tables, rented chairs and table cloths, arranged for and paid the caterer (I offered to pay all of her expenses but she wouldn’t have it.) She bought and sliced salami and bread, and brought flowers! The woman knows how to put on a class-act! If it were up to me we’d be getting grass stains on our bums sitting in a circle singing Kumbaya, and it’d be a pot luck. It was fun. About 35 people showed up and humored me playing two party games, an ice breaker and group word-ticket poetry making experience. Here’s a sample poem: Birds are forever elastic, anything else is just silence. Here’s another: My priority is making sexy plum pudding with honey and ripples during rough weather.

In other news, the recreational therapists at the Sonoma Developmental Center, where I work, put on a Celebrate Sonoma party where I volunteered (while pretending to work at Disneyland.) We had beautiful warm, misty weather, a welcome relief between our recurring heat waves. The menu was pulled pork and rice with cantaloupe and honeydew melon. I love these parties, and so do the clients. I attended in the morning, then worked the afternoon serving food. The afternoon’s entertainment was a taiko drumming group (I love that stuff!) In the morning was Hula Mai Sonoma. I stood to the side of the stage and tried to dance along, they encouraged audience participation. I picked one lady who was quite good and tried to follow. It’s not as easy as it looks, your feet are going this way, keep your knees bent (ugh), your hips are doing their thing and your arms are flailing around this way and that while your hands are gracefully waving – very specifically, in the breeze. Oh, yeah, and smile. At the end two women came over, “Who are you? Have you done this before? You must join us!” The leader said she had been enjoying watching me (!) I’ll be attending the Wednesday night beginner’s class.

So, drop me a line and let me know what you’ve been up to.

Many blessings,

Karla, mom & k.j.