Abigail Dawes

I worked at the Broadway theatre from the 13th until the 30th of December during their pantomime season. My job role varied throughout the day depending on which area of the theatre was most popular. My main two positions were behind our Merchandise Bar & as the Theatre Usher. My position while working on the Merchandise bar included ensuring all our stock was full & displayed on the shelves so our customers are able to see what we have available. Before our doors open to the public, I would turn on each of our merchandise on to properly display how it lights up while showing our wide variety of ice creams through our magnetic sign to show which flavours we had available. As our doors opened, I would turn our card machine on to await payment. While serving our customers, I would offer merchandise if there was children present. I would also re read their order to confirm they are happy with what they requested, while double checking if there was anything else they may want. Another position I was frequently placed on was Theatre Usher. Before we opened our doors, my job entailed ensuring our booster seats were fully pumped up with no holes & placed in a tidy manner ready to be collected by any parents/ carers for the small children to guarantee they are able to see the show in it's entirety. When our doors opened, my job included greeting customers & checking their tickets to guide them into the appropriate seating as our Circle is our upstairs seating and our Raised Stalls was our downstairs seating. Checking tickets as they approach the appropriate door, I would send them down the right side if their ticket number was below 20 and send them down the left if their ticket number was above 20. While the pantomime was starting, I would clean near the doors and keep an eye on the audience ensuring there is no filming & helping with any enquiries. During the interval I would help sell Ice Creams by entering the correct amount that is being paid into our card machine. After the interval is over, I helped pack the Ice Cream stall away and continue to answer any enquiries during the show, as we reach the end of the pantomime, I would collect one of our charity buckets and accept any donations. After collecting the donations, I would collect a bin bag & a pair of gloves to assist my colleagues in cleaning the auditorium by sweeping & cleaning up any liquids that were spilt. Once the auditorium is cleared as best we can before the cleaners arrive with the hoovers, then we collect the bins we filled and we would take them to the designated area for them to be collected the following morning.

My job is representing a company and help gain more sign ups for the charity. We do this by going door to door talking about the charity and asking for support.

While I worked at Babylon Park in Camden Market, I learned how to operate the rides as well as restart all rides if a fault occurred. I was also quickly moved to other positions such as Party Host and a trained member of customer service at our Winners Station. I was quickly named, among others, as a member of staff who has made a positive impact on the park. Working at Babylon I was able to put myself out there more by hosting birthday parties and use my voice to keep everyone safe while keeping the rides running smoothly. I was also able to read body language better at Babylon as some kids would be too scared to ride but were also too scared to say no. Being able to communicate with them without causing extra stress. Remaining calm when the rides didn't work in the correct way. For example, we had a mini dropper which could only hold 4 adults that leave a seat empty between them & could carry a group of 8 small kids. One occasion the dropper didn't send the group of 2 adults on the ride, they were sitting at the top of the ride meaning the system had shut down. I remained calm, I radio'd for a member of management to assist me & communicated with the group, keeping them calm and explaining they'll be down soon and I'd issue a full refund for their payment of the ride. Once they were down, they were very understanding that the dropper had only been open for service a few days prior and was most likely overworked by how often it was turned on and off. Towards the end of my time, I was trained in our food & beverages station to assist the staff on busy days. This role included preparing ice cream with the scoopers and cones, as well as ensuring other foods such as pizza, hotdogs, nachos were stocked up.

While working with Chessington, I was able to learn to multitask by doing my safety checks per car and interacting with the Adventurers ensuring they felt comfortable and trusted to let me know if they needed anything. I also became very efficient with my safety checks while being thorough. I was often placed on one of the busiest rides of the park called Dragons Fury which averaged 400+ people every 2 hours. Remaining calm despite how often things may have gone wrong (under height, or having to manually release every few minutes which delayed the ride and often caused frustration within our queue lines) Keeping a positive attitude and reassuring the adventurers, while offering something as an apology.

I chose my work experience for college to be at Vauxhall Farm. Vauxhall Farm was open to the public 5 days a week, Tuesday- Saturday.On Monday's we'd do deep cleans of each the animals pens. We'd move each animal out their paddocks and clean any mess they left from the night before, we would remove their dirty bedding and replace it with fresh, warm straw for their day. We would scrub the floors with animal friendly disinfectant and wait for the floor to dry before placing the new bedding for them. When the farm was open to the public, my role was sitting with our new baby rabbits and getting them used to being handled while answering any inquiries the public may have, as well as letting them stroke the baby rabbits but ensuring the rabbit didn't bite them or push themself out my grip. I also learned hands on first aid for animals when one of our guinea pigs were attacked by another guinea pig causing her ear to be ripped and bleeding. I covered her eyes with my coat to keep her in darkness while slowly using water to wash away the blood from her ear so I could see how bad she was attacked. She was shaking so I was stroking her and keeping her eyes in the dark. I called my reporting manager and explained to her what happened. We had to cover the guinea pigs ears to avoid her catching herself, she was isolated from the other guinea pigs while it healed as when we placed her back with them. She was immediately attacked, she was isolated for a few days on medication.