Our training and job

We began our training on Monday, May 21 at West Yellowstone, MT, a small city at the west entrance to the park. It's a good thing we left early because we were stopped three times by buffalo in the middle of the road. You just have to wait until they decide to move along. When we got there we filled out paperwork, got our picture taken for ID, and got our black shirts that we wear to work with jeans and tennis shoes. After that we learned general information about the company, Delaware North. The next session was Green Path, where we found out about the conservation efforts that take place at the park. The last topic was Guest Path whose theme is "Creating special experiences one guest at a time" which was basically the ten ways we are expected to treat the guests when we are working.

On Tuesday morning we received alcohol serving training since we sell alcohol in the store. In the afternoon we stocked the shelves in the store from the warehouse located in the basement of the store.

On Wednesday we had cash register training in the morning and had a chance to practice on a demo computer. In the afternoon we stocked shelves in the clothing department. It amazed me how quickly items were sold and had to be replenished.

On Thursday morning we learned cash handling policies and procedures - how to cash out at the end of a shift. In the afternoon we started working the register. Fortunately it was not too busy so we had a chance to ease in gradually. Everyone was very helpful to us "newbies."

We worked a regular shift on Friday and Saturday and had today off. We're getting the hang of it and making our fair share of mistakes. (I call them blond moments!) The supervisors are very understanding and encouraging, thank goodness. There is so much to remember in the beginning.

Details about life here: Most of the employees are retirees like us from all over the country. Some have worked here many years and some are first timers like us. There are about 80 employees at our General Store which is located right across from the Old Faithful Visitor Center where the geyser goes off about every 90 minutes. So the store gets quiet when Old Faithful erupts because all the guests are over there, and then we see a stream of people heading for the store to shop. It's very large with a grocery section, gifts, clothing, a snack bar, and two lofts. One loft is for outdoor gear, and the other is an ice cream shop. They have quite a variety of products.

We are scheduled one of three shifts each day: either 7am - 3pm, 10:30am-7pm, or 2:30 pm- 10:30pm. We have 1/2 hour for lunch or dinner. We get two days off in a row together. This week our schedules are exactly the same which pleases us very much.

The employee dining room is at the store so it is quite convenient when we are working. The food has been very good with a nice variety at each meal. There's a salad bar and fresh fruit at every meal which pleases me and also lots of homemade goodies which makes Dan happy. They serve the big meal at lunch time and a smaller one at dinner. We won't go hungry that's for sure.

Now the bad news: It's been COLD and snowy. When we set up last Sunday it was sunny, warm, and beautiful, but a cold front came through and we have had rain and snow ever since. The highs have been in the 40's and lows in the 30's.  When we got up Friday morning we found about six inches of snow on the car. Fortunately Dan still had the snow brush/scraper that we bought last year.

 Unfortunately my shift started at 7am and none of the roads had been plowed. We made it through without any trouble.

 In the afternoon the snow turned to rain and then back to a wet snow.  And it's been doing that ever since. We're looking forward to warmth! Please send us some!