Training Day

Since it's an hour and a half drive back to West Yellowstone from here, we had to use the alarm clock this morning and got up at 5:30.  Around 6:30 we left Gardiner, joined the line of employees heading into the park, and then left them behind in Mammoth as we made our way through the park. At exactly 8:00 Don dropped me off at Human Resources, found a parking spot, and then joined me in the madhouse inside.  HR is in a small building - but there were about 60 of us doing our in-processing today.  We had cooks, custodians, servers, and sales associates all starting today, and then heading out to Fishing Bridge, Old Faithful, Canyon, Bridge Bay, and Mammoth.

When I finally made it to the front of the line, I was given forms to fill out, and after those were filled out and turned back in, I got in the line for uniforms. My uniform is a black button-up short-sleeved shirt, my own blue jeans, and if I'm working at the ice cream counter, a tan apron. I was also issued a brand new Columbia fleece zip-up jacket with Yellowstone General Stores embroidered on it. I hope I can buy that from them at season's end - it's really nice!

After getting my photo taken for my ID card, Don drove me over to the Holiday Inn for GuestPath training (service and hospitatlity). That was mostly PowerPoint, but with some videos - 3 hours' worth of nearly boring stuff. There were a couple of interesting things:  1)  Delaware North, which is named for two streets and not the state of Delaware, also has its hands in the concessions for Rangers' Stadium, PETCO Park, Wembley Stadium, the Etihad (if you're English Premier League fans, you'll know Wembley and Etihad), the stadium in Sydney, Australia where the Australian Open is held, and TD Bank Garden (where the Boston Celtics and Bruins play).   2) They have what they call "Walking the GuestPath" - where DNC executives do OUR jobs - from sales to cooking to cleaning hotel rooms and toilets.  We watched a video where they were doing it - reminded me of "Undercover Boss" - and I think it's a wonderful thing.  Several of the executives from the regional office in Bozeman will be working in our stores this summer. 

We finished the GuestPath training at 12:15, and were given an hour for lunch. Don picked me up and we joined the crowd at McDonald's - and then he dropped me off at HR again for the afternoon's training. The afternoon was divided into cash handling/rules and practicing on the cash registers. It was a whole lot more interesting than the morning's training, but we didn't finish until after 5. 

Don spent the afternoon chatting with Jacklin of Jacklin's Fly Shop and watching an IMAX movie about Yellowstone. He picked me up at HR and we came back to Gardiner for dinner at the Two Bit Saloon.  I think we're going to be going to bed early - I'm already yawning, and he's sleeping next to me in the recliner as I'm writing this post.

Tomorrow I report to the store at 9 am.  I hope to have a fun day!