A Sweepers Companion
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 10:26PM By Lynn Baron
When working in custodial at Disneyland you are issued your own pan and broom. I remember my first pan was a metal one. Those metal pans were the only pans we had at that time in 1998.
The first time you try to hold one the correct way and sweep through your area it feels awkward and heavy. Your wrist and arm are not used to this type of motion. After a few days you get used to it and it becomes natural. The metal pans can quickly get heavy. Sometimes they would become full of papers, maps, bottles and the heaviest of all code H. A code H means horse poop. After you clean up after the horses on Main St. you would then go back stage and dispense of it in a metal round trash can we would call "The Honey Bucket".
In around the year 2000 we received new pans, and they were plastic. Some people at first didn't want to change over to the new plastic pans, and they stayed old school with the metal ones, but many people loved these new pans better. The plastic pans were much lighter. but less sturdy and would warp easy at the edge. Once the pan was warped items sweep towards the pan went right beneath it.
Some people would customize their pans with a character or neat way of writing their names. At the end of a shift we would hose out our pans and sometimes shine them up, but with the plastic pans you couldn't do that.
Cast Members with coordination would quickly learn tricks with their pans. We would flick trash in between our legs and into the pan, or spinning the brooms around. I noticed recently that the big thing is to draw with your broom using water on the ground. At night we would store our pans in a locker that we would share with another person.
When we had the metal pans it was a tradition to throw your pan into the Rivers of America on your last day. With the plastic pans you cant do that, because they would just float. On my last day I asked if I could take home my pan, and I was allowed to through management. I now use that pan to do my yard work at home.
Check out my other posts under Thunder Alley. Also I have a podcast called The Sweep Spot. You can find all the info at www.thesweepspot.com Lynn Barron
Reader Comments (1)
this is a neat little story..