I worked front desk at All-Star Movies for two years. While my personal experience was horrible, I hope you enjoy your new role!
You are responsible for your own bank, you must count it before every shift, and count again after every shift and fill out all your own paperwork - including seperate banks for guest services, front desk, and foreign currency. They are not forgiving about mistakes - you've got to be even or you will receive reprimands.
Other than that you will have to learn the front desk computer system which is very old and not very user friendly. You will also learn the ticketing systems including special events tickets. You'll learn the dining reservation systems also. You'll learn how to cut keys, take payment, etc. etc...
You will have a lot of responsibilities considering the lower pay rate. None of them bothered me much, but the most stressful part of the job is the Guests. We used to always joke it would be a great job if it weren't for the Guests.
It was a real wake up call to see how many people will try to milk Disney for everything and anything. You will get completely unreasonable demands and you'll just want to roll your eyes, but you must remain professional at all times. You'll hear things like:
"Space Mountain's wait time was too long - I was a complete refund of my vacation"
"I was promised a first floor poolside room close to the food court with a king size bed by my
travel agent." (and then there's travel agents who take the people's money, print out a voucher and never bother to book the person's vacation - bummer having to tell them that)
"I swear The Mummy ride is at MGM, I went on it there last year. Are you calling me a liar?"
I could write a book, seriously. Most things I cannot post on this board because they are THAT bad. I had one Guest reduce me to tears - she was that horrible.
Then you come across some real whack jobs too.
There was one lady who had a complete melt down because we gave her a room with the beds facing the wrong way. Then she said the housekeeper stole all her daughters homework. She ripped the sheets off her bed at 12:30 AM and tossed them over the 3rd floor balcony. She just kept repeating she was going to sue Disney "too the top".
There was another guy who came on vacation alone. He had a mental handicap and I have no idea why his mother sent him by himself. He spit on the merchandise CMs. He kept calling for stuff to be brought to his room and then sexually harassing the female CMs that were delivering it. Management contacted his mother and informed him he would have to leave (he was booked for 3 weeks by himself). We personally drove him to the train station that night.
It's an adventure. You have to have a tough skin, but try to make as much magic as you can!
