Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Nevermind the Fire, Universal Studio Tour Guide Trainees are about to Combust!

To be a Universal Studios Tour Guide you have to pass a certification test, which is no big deal because you're given three weeks of paid training.

We (the trainees) all naively assumed our test would happen on our last day of training, the looming Friday the 13th of June!

Imagine our shock, when yesterday we were told the following:

The trainers will be dividing us into a "strong half" and a "weaker half." We'll find out which half we're in this Friday or coming Monday.

This coming Tuesday, the strong half will have their test while the weaklings get more practice. (We don't have training Wednesday.) The weak half will test on Thursday and those who have already tested have an optional day of pay to just come play in the theme park and take the tour. If you test on Tuesday and don't pass can you try again on Thursday? I don't know.

For those who pass, Friday the 13th is a required day of safety crap.

It's a double edge sword - no one wants to be deemed "the weak half," but at the same time having to test Tuesday is a whole lot sooner than any of us expected! We were all surprised they were so blunt about it, but the fact is that they can't test all 22 of us in one day and they really do want and need everyone to pass, so this gives people who need it a little extra time.

The fellow trainees I've talked to all agree with me that it would have been nice to know this sooner. We would have been working a little harder, but it's our own faults for assuming the test would be the very last day of training.

I have to admit, I'm really stressed out! I am incredible competitive, so being in the weaker half is simply not an option! However, I have three performances this weekend and my boyfriend is visiting Saturday night to Wednesday. I had wanted to take a half day off of training to spend more time with him on Monday or Tuesday, but it doesn't look like that's an option anymore. :(

I need to study my ass off now... If you need me, my nose will be in a binder that's 3 inches thick, filled with everything you ever wanted to know about NBC Universal history, films and TV shows.

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