Yellowstone Adventure 2016 - Orientation and Moving In

   Well I got up early at the Gray Wolf Inn as I did not really sleep well. My mind kept racing around different things concerning my next 4 months. At 5AM I gave up and started to get prepared for orientation with my new employer. I arrived at Human Resources around 8AM and there was already quite a group in the building. The Delaware Group was pretty efficient in getting all the new employees organized and processed. The first step was to fill out a bunch of paperwork proving that I am an American citizen and I could legally work at Yellowstone and also where to send my paycheck. Then they moved me to a room for pictures and uniform issuing, which mainly was a smock, 5 T-shirts and a fleece pullover for when the weather turns bad. They also gave me a mug for water or coffee as they want to get everyone to stop using plastic bottles and fill their mugs with water from their free water stations. After pictures for a new badge were done they sent me to the local Holiday Inn for the classroom orientation with all the other new employees. I will not bore you with all they went over but I will tell you some highlights. One thing I found out was that the Old Faithful General Store where I will be working at is the busiest place sales wise in the park. At the start of the season they will do $30,000 to $35,000 dollars a day in sales and at the peak of the season they will hit $85,000 a day in sales. It seems that everyone wants to see Old Faithful and while they wait for her to go off they spend a lot of money. The second thing I found interesting is that the Delaware Company and Yellowstone are really pushing recycling and not landfill storage. It seems that they have created a massive compost pile outside of the park and that they use a high percentage of non-throw away items that will go into that park. For instance, all the forks, knives, spoons, cups, plates and napkins used in the park are made of material that breaks down into compost. So mostly all the waste from the dining halls, cafeterias, and hotels are composted. The rest of the waste is then split into recycling bins and only a small percentage of waste is put in a landfill. The last thing I learned that I will pass onto you is that a cashier’s job is more intense than I figured. Once I become a cashier, after training, I will be given $300 that will stay with me my entire employment. This is my cash register drawer money and at the end of the day I am to separate the stores money from my $300, ensuring that I have enough change and small bills to start the next day with. The rest of the money will go into a safe and that has to be witnessed by another person to ensure I did it. The main finance center will track how well I am doing change wise and inform my manager if things do not start adding up. My $300 will go into a lock box where I will have the only key. The money will be returned at the end of my employment. There is a lot of paperwork that I will have to do daily that I left out, but to say the least it will take a few days for my brain to get this procedure remembered.
 
   After orientation I was told to report to where I will be working and the store manager will take over the rest of my onboard processing. I reported to Carrie my manager and she is one nice lady. She just moved to Yellowstone from the Grand Canyon and she seemed to be right on top of things for all the people she would have to manage. I think she said when she has full employee hiring she will manage 85 employees at the General Store. She assigned me to my dorm room and gave me the key. The dorm is just behind where I will be working. So I am only about 25 steps from the back of the General Store. The dorm room was pretty much what I expected except for the smell. You see the dorms are shut up in the winter and that is about 5 months of being closed up. So the musty smell and dust was pretty bad. I opened the windows and left the room looking for cleaning items and such. I was able to locate a few things to clean with and went to work vacuuming and general wipe down of all things in the room. After I was done it smelled better and I went to get my stuff out of the car. I am able to park right next to my dorm as I got a sticker from the ranger station that shows I am an employee and can get free access to the park and to Grand Tetons National Park. Once I got all my stuff put up and the bed made with my new sheets the room started to look pretty good. It needed stuff on the wall and a bedside lamp but it was livable. So far I do not have a roommate but I think that will change when the next wave of new hires come in. The good news about being first is I got to pick the best mattress. The room is pretty small but has two beds, two dressers and two closets. The bathroom down the hall is set up fairly well also.

    During our meeting with Carrie we got a limited tour with most of the rest coming tomorrow. She did take us to the EDR (Employee Dinning Hall) that is connected to the General Store and introduced us to the husband and wife team that will be cooking for us. They told us when breakfast, lunch and dinner would be and if we have a day off and want to take a sack lunch out on a hike or a picnic that we just sign the board the day before and they will make up a sack lunch. They also indicated that the biggest meal was lunch and that we were welcomed to take any fruits with us we would like for snacks at a later date.

    Well that was my day and I am in the dorm now typing this up. So far the weather has been brisk but sunny and the drive to the General Store was interrupted several times by bison crossing the road. It will be nice to see my schedule for work and then schedule a nice hike somewhere in the park. Well you all who are reading this please take care and post a comment below if you want a questioned answered.