I Swear I'm Not Blond

The cool thing about Disney is that they're good at illusions.  Things don't have to be real for them to be magical.  Something magical about my ride is how it gives the illusion that I'm very knowledgeable about animals... when in reality I simply memorize the three facts on the little card they give me with a picture of an elephant.

The other day this old woman in the front asked me about some random white and grey birds hanging out near the hippos (after I had told everyone about the pink-backed pelicans and the cormorants).  I turned off my mic, turned to look at her and told her straight up, "Actually... I'm sorry.  I honestly have no idea... I know nothing about those animals."  Then I realized I could probably pull this off entirely by telling the truth, "I know nothing about Floridian birds, I just know the birds here in Africa.  However, we do get a lot of foreign travelers here on the reserve."

The woman and her husband could not stop laughing, clearly expecting me to know everything and anything about all animals.  And quite honestly, I know very, very little about animals.  Very sad actually.

But that's not what this post is about.  As happy as I am to humor those guests who tell me at the end of my safari, "Thank you, you were very knowledgeable," I'm also the first one to tell you how completely not genius I am about many things.  In fact, sometimes I'm downright blonde.  Except that I'm a brunette.

The other day I was working prams and my friend was telling me a story about giraffes as I was trying to get the families with strollers out of the line so I could take their strollers and we could park them.  I told the guest, "Hello ma'am, I'll take your giraffe right here for you... I mean kid... I mean... the stroller.  Just the stroller, that's all I need."  In my defense, the stroller was orange.  The kid?  Well.. I don't have an excuse for that one.

But the real reason for this entire post is what happened today.  Again, at prams.  When I work Pram 1 position I get a radio.  I always clip the radio behind my back on my belt buckle.  That way it's out of the way as I deal with ten thousand strollers being shoved at me from various places.  So during pram today, I noticed a beeping sound, like a cell phone, coming from behind me.  I turned around to find nothing there but the tree.  After looking for a second, I ignored it and kept going.  A few seconds later the alert came again.  And again, I turned around in a circle, the noise continuously right behind me.  "Where is that coming from?"  I thought.

Finally the third time I turned around.  Enough guests had passed by that I was sure it wasn't a guest's phone, and we didn't have a phone at our location.  Just a.... radio.... ahhhh.  I actually realized it because Sean, who I happened to be working with, pointed it out to me just as I was thinking about it.  My coordinator was trying to reach me by radio.

Then he told me he was purposely just watching me because it was funny to watch me "chase my tail."  Possibly the most embarrassing thing ever.  You're welcome!