DTD Again?!

Well, I've been deployed again! After my week at DTD, I spent another two weeks at the Castle and then tada! They deployed me to DTD again! So I've been down there this week, and it's been lots of fun. I really enjoy working at the DTD location, and some of the girls there are really sweet. When I came in my first day of the week, one of the girls, Tonna, saw me and shouted, "Caitlin's back! Hooray! I love Caitlin!" Needless to say, I was a little surprised by the reaction, because I hadn't felt that I'd really gotten that close to anyone there, though I did enjoy their company. But it was great to see that apparently I'd made a good impression on them and they were all happy to have me back. I'm definitely going to try to pick up/trade more shifts at DTD, because the atmosphere there is just so much more upbeat and fun than at the Castle. I work quickly, the day passes by faster, and there's less acting that goes on. The Castle is so much more reserved and quiet and all about the sweet fairy godmothers rather than fun fairy godmothers.

They also let me do a lot more since this is my second time there. Apparently in the mornings they have two people stand at the front doors to pixie dust people and walk princesses back to the boutique, since the rest of WoD opens a half hour after us. They also let me go stand in other parts of the store and pixie dust guests during slow parts of the day. They happened to assign me to the Great Hall North location, which is apparently the best spot to be, because you get to stand in the doorway and watch the guest performances on the huge stage in front of WoD. So I got to watch some dance company perform twice that day. I did the Princess Parade again, which is always good fun, and there were some girls who didn't make it in time to be in the parade, so we did a magical moment and all of the fairy godmothers from the parade stood with these girls and did a photo shoot with our banners and everything in front of the carousel. Apparently that day a lot of guests talked to our managers and told us that we were amazing and did a wonderful job, so then we in turn got praised by our managers, and that's always good. It's nice when the managers tell us they're proud of us and that we're making magic on our own, instead of having them tell us that we're behind in budget, we need to find something to do, or we need to treat all guests equal (which is usually the talk we get).

I also got to do a lot of stocking, which is unusual for me because they usually ask me to be on the floor (in the Castle and DTD), but since we were slow and they liked me, they told me I could stock for a while, so I got to be backstage for a while, SITTING (which is heaven), and not having to smile at everyone. I swear I have a permanent smile etched on my face. It's definitely not a bad thing though--I know that in the past I often looked really unhappy just because I naturally look like I'm scowling if I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing. But I've been trying really hard since coming here to smile all the time, even if it's just a little smile, and it's gotten to be habit now. My cheeks hurt all the time from it, but I've also had several people tell me that I must be the happiest person on earth because I'm always smiling. Some of the DTD girls call me Smiles because of it, and I'm not complaining. I'm glad I was able to change my old habit, even if my cheeks are always sore :)

I've had a few funny stories with some guests this past week at DTD, so I'll just share a few. I was standing outside pixie dusting princesses, and so I asked this one girl and the father stops and asks, "How much does it cost?" And so I reply, "All you have to do is make a wish, and that's it." So he gets all excited and starts scrambling for his phone explaining that he has another daughter who would LOVE pixie dust and he needs to call his wife to bring her over. So I pixie dust the one girl, and the guy is talking to his wife on the phone talking about how its "the cutest thing ever" and then hangs up, looks at me, and says very seriously, "I'll be right back. Don't. Move." So he goes running off with his daughter (literally), and about ten minutes later I see him sprinting towards me (mind you, it's about 95 degrees with 100% humidity at this point), and is gasping for air as he stops in front of me. I don't know why he ran, seeing as his wife and two daughters were way behind him, and I was going to pixie dust the daughter, so.... running only served to make him sweatier, but he shouted, "We're back!" and made his other daughter run up to me. Afterward, both girls gave me hugs and he thanked me over and over again for making their day. Oh what a plastic wand with a pink star full of glitter can do.

That same day as I was standing outside pixie dusting, two men were passing by me to enter the store, and one stopped and looked at me and said, "I really hope you don't turn into a frog." I was a little confused at first, thinking, well... princes are the ones who are the frogs, are they not? But then I remembered that it wasn't so anymore, not since the Princess and the Frog came out, so I said, "I'll try my hardest not to," and he said, "Good. Cause you're far too pretty to be a frog. Good day." I have had guests say some of the oddest things to me when I'm working at DTD. The last time I was there, I was sitting at the bus stop waiting for the CP bus, and a guy sat next to me and said, "Are you Cinderella?" I replied, "No, I'm not, but I live in her castle and I'm training to be a fairy godmother like hers." So he pulls out his phone, calls his 10 year old son, and says, "Son, get this--I'm sitting next to the Fairy Godmother. No, I'm serious, I'm sitting next to her at the bus stop!" Apparently his son wasn't having it, so he asked if I could talk to his son. So he hands me his phone and I ask the kid what his name is, how old he is, and that yes, I am a fairy godmother in training. Then the father asked if he could take a picture of me to prove it to his son, because apparently when I gave the phone back, the son was convinced that I was just some random girl his dad had stopped on the street and asked to pretend to be a fairy godmother. The next day I got off work at the same time, and the guy was passing by, saw me, and pointed and shouted at his son, "See! I TOLD you she was real! That's her!" So I waved, told them I hoped they had a magical evening, and they left. I swear, I should get paid for the time I sit at that bus stop, because I'm still on stage and I still have to be in character, give directions, take pictures, sign autographs, etc. I'm still working until I actually get on the bus, and even then, sometimes we have to smile and look nice while we're still in the parking lot on the bus because people can see us through the windows.

In other news, I have a month and one week until my program ends! I'm enjoying my time here, but my body is starting to really protest and I'll be glad for the break when it comes. Standing nonstop, twisting, bending, kneeling, running, dodging, etc wears on you fast when you do it that long that frequently. It'll also be nice to sleep in a comfortable bed again. I won't miss the rock I sleep on right now at all. :)

That's about it for now. I have another three days at DTD before I go back to the Castle. I'm hoping to get deployed to DTD again, and if not, I want to try to trade some shifts. I know that some girls at DTD like working in the Castle, so maybe they'll switch with me. :)