thatdisneygirl
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2007
- Messages
- 315
This thread is dedicated to the greatest cast member working at WDW, circa 2002, when I was working at the All-Star Music Resort as a CP. I don't know if this man is still working at WDW. I tried to get him to exchange letters with me after I left, but he just shrugged and smiled and said, "what do I have to write? I'm just an old man." His name is Ramon.
After I was demoted to bussing, I was in a bad mood for a good week. One of the worst things about bussing (outside of that whole garbage/puke thing) is that I was cut off from my fellow CP's. I started out bussing tables at All-Star Movies, where I worked with two older women who spoke Spanish to each other and said very little to me and another busser who was just plain mean and creepy. I finally pinned down my manager and promised to not pass out ever again for the rest of my life if he could get me a position anywhere else. I meant the gift shop or the front desk. I got All-Star Music.
I was not cheered up initially by the move. Now I didn't even have the opportunity to wave at CP's I knew, because I hadn't gone through training with any of these people and I couldn't get to know them because we weren't working together. There was ususally a CP stationed at wiping tables, but it was still pretty lonely for the first couple of days. The busser I was working with was an older man in his sixties and he only smiled and nodded whenever I tried to strike up a conversation. I finally decided that he probably didn't speak English very well and left him alone. By the second week at Music I had made more friends and was feeling better about coming to work, but I still hadn't made any progress with the other busser.
One day, I was outside struggling to get the bags into the trash compacter. Little known backstage Disney fact - when you see bussers wheeling 8 or 9 bags out of the dining room, that's the easy part. The hard part is getting those bags into the compacter, which is usually a 3 foot by 3 foot hole that's above eye level (and I'm 5'10"). It involves swinging the bag around and launching it carefully at the target, while simultanously trying to avoid spraying leftovers from anyone who may have thrown away a gallon of Diet Coke. Add in elements like Florida rain, hopeful Alligators and knowing that you're going to have to do this twice an hour for the next 7 hours and you've got yourself a swell evening. I was struggling with the bags, trying to get them out fast so I could run back in and grab the trays before they stacked up, when I realized someone was behind me, tossing them in. The other busser, Ramon, had come out, even though he was on his lunch break, and was helping me. He showed me how rushing actually made it harder and how all I had to do was get a rhythm going. He also told me to come find him if there was ever one that was too heavy to lift.
This became something of a pattern. I struggled, he advised, everything went more smoothly. We built a friendship based on his sage-like cafeteria wisdom. I finally found out that he spoke English perfectly well, but preferred to listen. I also found out that he loved funny stories and corny jokes and I would save them up for him. He had been married for more than 40 years, had a daughter and a granddaughter and had worked at Disney for more than a decade. I asked him why he had never asked for a promotion and he said that he didn't understand people who wanted "better" work. He liked being able to see the product of his labor immediately and he liked quietly making people's vacations better without them knowing he was there at all.
The only frustrating thing about working with Ramon was watching the way he was treated by other people. I don't think he had built up any sort of relationship with the management, who had their hands full with CP's, line cooks and guest relations, so he was usually overworked and overlooked. When they needed something from him, they would tell me. I'm pretty sure everyone was under the impression that he didn't speak English. The other CP's completely ignored him and the guests totally missed his kind smile. He was so willingly a part of the background that it drove me crazy. Nobody seemed to realize that he showed up early, stayed late, never called in and worked harder than anyone else. I had to push him to get him to take his two 15 minute breaks and I don't think he ever took his full lunch hour. I even tried to get him recognition once by telling my manager that I wanted to file some sort of appreciation form for him, but it was dismissed because he was "just a busser".
Ramon really liked Walt Disney. He referred to him as The Great Man and quoted him all the time. He said that Disney really understood that working to make people happy was the only kind of work, no matter how hard it was. I usually pointed out that Walt Disney never bussed tables, but I only got that shrug and that smile. Ramon figured that if Disney was to walk into the All-Star Music cafeteria, he would appreciate how clean the tables were, how all the chairs were tucked in, how the stacks of trays had been swept off to the kitchen. I really think that's why he did it. I always thought it was such a waste to have him working in the worst food court, but I guess the important thing is that he thought he was holding up an important part of the Disney dream. So he was fine with it.
I don't have any pictures of Ramon. I'm sure he's out there, captured on film in the background of someone's vacation photos. I honestly wonder if he's still bussing tables. If he is, I doubt he remembers me after all this time. I kind of hope he does, since I remember him so well. If you go to the Intermission Food Court and you see a cast member named Ramon, do me a favor and smile at him. You have no idea how much he deserves it.
After I was demoted to bussing, I was in a bad mood for a good week. One of the worst things about bussing (outside of that whole garbage/puke thing) is that I was cut off from my fellow CP's. I started out bussing tables at All-Star Movies, where I worked with two older women who spoke Spanish to each other and said very little to me and another busser who was just plain mean and creepy. I finally pinned down my manager and promised to not pass out ever again for the rest of my life if he could get me a position anywhere else. I meant the gift shop or the front desk. I got All-Star Music.
I was not cheered up initially by the move. Now I didn't even have the opportunity to wave at CP's I knew, because I hadn't gone through training with any of these people and I couldn't get to know them because we weren't working together. There was ususally a CP stationed at wiping tables, but it was still pretty lonely for the first couple of days. The busser I was working with was an older man in his sixties and he only smiled and nodded whenever I tried to strike up a conversation. I finally decided that he probably didn't speak English very well and left him alone. By the second week at Music I had made more friends and was feeling better about coming to work, but I still hadn't made any progress with the other busser.
One day, I was outside struggling to get the bags into the trash compacter. Little known backstage Disney fact - when you see bussers wheeling 8 or 9 bags out of the dining room, that's the easy part. The hard part is getting those bags into the compacter, which is usually a 3 foot by 3 foot hole that's above eye level (and I'm 5'10"). It involves swinging the bag around and launching it carefully at the target, while simultanously trying to avoid spraying leftovers from anyone who may have thrown away a gallon of Diet Coke. Add in elements like Florida rain, hopeful Alligators and knowing that you're going to have to do this twice an hour for the next 7 hours and you've got yourself a swell evening. I was struggling with the bags, trying to get them out fast so I could run back in and grab the trays before they stacked up, when I realized someone was behind me, tossing them in. The other busser, Ramon, had come out, even though he was on his lunch break, and was helping me. He showed me how rushing actually made it harder and how all I had to do was get a rhythm going. He also told me to come find him if there was ever one that was too heavy to lift.
This became something of a pattern. I struggled, he advised, everything went more smoothly. We built a friendship based on his sage-like cafeteria wisdom. I finally found out that he spoke English perfectly well, but preferred to listen. I also found out that he loved funny stories and corny jokes and I would save them up for him. He had been married for more than 40 years, had a daughter and a granddaughter and had worked at Disney for more than a decade. I asked him why he had never asked for a promotion and he said that he didn't understand people who wanted "better" work. He liked being able to see the product of his labor immediately and he liked quietly making people's vacations better without them knowing he was there at all.
The only frustrating thing about working with Ramon was watching the way he was treated by other people. I don't think he had built up any sort of relationship with the management, who had their hands full with CP's, line cooks and guest relations, so he was usually overworked and overlooked. When they needed something from him, they would tell me. I'm pretty sure everyone was under the impression that he didn't speak English. The other CP's completely ignored him and the guests totally missed his kind smile. He was so willingly a part of the background that it drove me crazy. Nobody seemed to realize that he showed up early, stayed late, never called in and worked harder than anyone else. I had to push him to get him to take his two 15 minute breaks and I don't think he ever took his full lunch hour. I even tried to get him recognition once by telling my manager that I wanted to file some sort of appreciation form for him, but it was dismissed because he was "just a busser".
Ramon really liked Walt Disney. He referred to him as The Great Man and quoted him all the time. He said that Disney really understood that working to make people happy was the only kind of work, no matter how hard it was. I usually pointed out that Walt Disney never bussed tables, but I only got that shrug and that smile. Ramon figured that if Disney was to walk into the All-Star Music cafeteria, he would appreciate how clean the tables were, how all the chairs were tucked in, how the stacks of trays had been swept off to the kitchen. I really think that's why he did it. I always thought it was such a waste to have him working in the worst food court, but I guess the important thing is that he thought he was holding up an important part of the Disney dream. So he was fine with it.
I don't have any pictures of Ramon. I'm sure he's out there, captured on film in the background of someone's vacation photos. I honestly wonder if he's still bussing tables. If he is, I doubt he remembers me after all this time. I kind of hope he does, since I remember him so well. If you go to the Intermission Food Court and you see a cast member named Ramon, do me a favor and smile at him. You have no idea how much he deserves it.
