Good morning,
I have never posted before, but I wanted to write a story about my CP experience. I want to know if there was anyone who had an experience even close to mine. I read all the posts about how everyone loved their program and wanted to do it again (or did), and I just feel like I'm the only one who had a bad experience.
To make it concise, I was accepted for fall 2015. Shortly before I was to leave, I was diagnosed with a chronic, and at the time, life threatening illness. Despite this, through coordination between my doctors home and in Florida, I was able to bridge my care and went to Florida pretty healthy and in control of my illness.
First off, I was told I would be working as a resort concierge (ticket sales, check ins, dining reservations, etc). When I got there I was told I would only be doing front desk duties. That was fine. But then a few weeks later, most of us were told the resort (AOA) no longer had the budget to continue to employ us and that about 75% of us would be transferred to outdoor food venues. I was a French literature major, but for some of the hotel management majors, this was a major blow. But that didn't happen to me. For the rest of us (including me), we were told that we were being recast due to "poor performance" but none of us had any performance reviews or disciplinary/corrective action ever administered, or had even really received any coaching about doing our job "poorly."
Finally, it happened one day that my roommate (I had one) went looking through my stuff and found medications I take for my condition, a condition that has an extreme stigma attached to it sometimes. He told the housing authorities that I was very sick and planning to kill myself, and used the razor blades (I'm a man with a beard, and I shave with a single blade razor) as evidence that I had plans to kill myself. They reassigned him to another apartment, and the next day security showed up to my room to escort me to the office. I was told that I was not healthy, mentally or physically enough, to stay on Disney's property, but that before I would leave I would have to be taken to an independent psychiatrist for evaluation to find out whether or not I would have to be hospitalized under Baker Act provisions. The psychiatrist agreed I was mentally healthy and sent me back to the apartment, but I was given 36 hours (including an extra 12 "as a courtesy") to pack up all my belongings and leave. I had no family in Florida, and nowhere to go. My uniforms were collected in a trash bag and the next day I was escorted out. I was dumbfounded.
In short, my College Program experience was horrendous. I had worked so hard to get where I was, and then I was so quickly dispatched for what was really discrimination, with no recourse. Did anyone else have an experience close to this one? I feel like I am the only one. I would never recommend the College Program for anyone again. Within a few years, I was able to graduate, get a professional internship with another hotel company, and within 2 years I actually worked my way up to management. Yet Disney thought all we were worth was food cart sellers. Management at Disney was awful, always watching you, and there was no opportunity to learn anything else (as if you were trained enough for your own job) and I don't feel like I grew at all from the experience except to fight for myself harder. Like I said I feel like I am the only one who had problems like this.
I have never posted before, but I wanted to write a story about my CP experience. I want to know if there was anyone who had an experience even close to mine. I read all the posts about how everyone loved their program and wanted to do it again (or did), and I just feel like I'm the only one who had a bad experience.
To make it concise, I was accepted for fall 2015. Shortly before I was to leave, I was diagnosed with a chronic, and at the time, life threatening illness. Despite this, through coordination between my doctors home and in Florida, I was able to bridge my care and went to Florida pretty healthy and in control of my illness.
First off, I was told I would be working as a resort concierge (ticket sales, check ins, dining reservations, etc). When I got there I was told I would only be doing front desk duties. That was fine. But then a few weeks later, most of us were told the resort (AOA) no longer had the budget to continue to employ us and that about 75% of us would be transferred to outdoor food venues. I was a French literature major, but for some of the hotel management majors, this was a major blow. But that didn't happen to me. For the rest of us (including me), we were told that we were being recast due to "poor performance" but none of us had any performance reviews or disciplinary/corrective action ever administered, or had even really received any coaching about doing our job "poorly."
Finally, it happened one day that my roommate (I had one) went looking through my stuff and found medications I take for my condition, a condition that has an extreme stigma attached to it sometimes. He told the housing authorities that I was very sick and planning to kill myself, and used the razor blades (I'm a man with a beard, and I shave with a single blade razor) as evidence that I had plans to kill myself. They reassigned him to another apartment, and the next day security showed up to my room to escort me to the office. I was told that I was not healthy, mentally or physically enough, to stay on Disney's property, but that before I would leave I would have to be taken to an independent psychiatrist for evaluation to find out whether or not I would have to be hospitalized under Baker Act provisions. The psychiatrist agreed I was mentally healthy and sent me back to the apartment, but I was given 36 hours (including an extra 12 "as a courtesy") to pack up all my belongings and leave. I had no family in Florida, and nowhere to go. My uniforms were collected in a trash bag and the next day I was escorted out. I was dumbfounded.
In short, my College Program experience was horrendous. I had worked so hard to get where I was, and then I was so quickly dispatched for what was really discrimination, with no recourse. Did anyone else have an experience close to this one? I feel like I am the only one. I would never recommend the College Program for anyone again. Within a few years, I was able to graduate, get a professional internship with another hotel company, and within 2 years I actually worked my way up to management. Yet Disney thought all we were worth was food cart sellers. Management at Disney was awful, always watching you, and there was no opportunity to learn anything else (as if you were trained enough for your own job) and I don't feel like I grew at all from the experience except to fight for myself harder. Like I said I feel like I am the only one who had problems like this.
