Day 1

Today was my first day of training at SeaWorld! It was very nerve racking at first, but I seemed to make it through the day okay. My trainers name is Jose, and he did an amazing job at making me feel at home. At SeaWorld, my job is to operate rides in the Bay of Play (the children's area). I have to operate all three: Elmo's Flying Fish, Abby's Spinning Sea Stars, and Oscar's Rocking Eel. There were a lot of buttons to push, and each ride had a different order to push them in. Pre Boarding spiel, gate lock, look around, key, emergency reset, sensor, and finally start. Besides that, I also have to make sure everyone meets the ride requirements and is following all the safety instructions. This job already on the first day has helped to teach me people skills. On all the rides, no expecting mothers are allowed on. It is one of my jobs to make sure that people who I think look pregnant are not, and if they are they have to get off the ride. Because of this, I was faced with an awkward situation today in which a lady looked pregnant, I confronted her about it, and she wasn't. It was one of the most awkward situations I've had to deal with in my life, but I learned how to deal with it. I also had to confront a man who was almost too big for the ride, because his seat belt wouldn't buckle. But I solved the problem! At one point, my trainer cut his finger on a ride and it started bleeding profusely. They take blood very seriously at work so we had to shut down the entire ride. While he went to the medics, I was in charge of telling all the parents that the ride was down. The kids were fine with it; I gave them sea world tattoos to cheer them up. The parents on the other hand, specifically the dads, were very angry. By the end of the day, I had learned how to communicate professionally with adults in tough situations. It was a very tough, but very rewarding day.