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A Whole Semester of Organizational Communication at H-E-B Grocery Stores
I’ve worked at HEB for four years this February. Most of the organizational communication I encounter on a daily basis occurs at HEB, thus providing the material for this blog. I will admit that many of these stories are not very positive. I’ve lost my cheery disposition about HEB and working for them after four years of needless problems and frustrating instances. With that being said, the incidents I’ve witnessed this semester relate well to many of the themes of organizational communication and I’ve chosen a handful to discuss in detail here.
1. A Discussion about my Raise (sometime in August, 2011).
Every year in February and August, HEB gives their partners (as we are called to make it seem more personable) a raise. When August came around, I sat down with one of my favorite managers and we went over my raise. Our raise is based on several factors including attendance, check-out speed, till variances, and customer service skills (which the managers decide). My manager carefully detailed each section for me and how I performed. He then told me how this related to my raise and how much I received.
This process was extremely personal in nature. The manager took the time to sit down and discuss my raise with me one-on-one. Our store employs many “partners” and I think it is extremely telling of HEB overall that they would take the time to sit down with their partners and discuss something as important as a raise. In this instance, I was more than another cog in the wheel. It was important that I knew were I stood. I would argue that this conversation was largely governed by General Communication Competency rules and was a Maintenance Message.2. Workforce Management Program.
At the beginning of the semester, HEB had all of their partners take an online program that detailed a new system that HEB would be utilizing. The program is called Workforce Manager and is essentially a new way for partners to find out when they are working, change their availability, pick up shifts, etc. The program we took acquainted us with how to use Workforce Manager and were all of the important functions were located. This program was a Task Message as it was focused mainly on letting the partners know what to do, what tools to use, what processes to follow, etc.
3. Scan Void Discussion.
Our store recently initiated a new way to expedite taking items off an order called “Scan Void.” It is a button that has always been on our keyboards, but has never been in use. HEB recently made the button useable and insisted upon their stores switching from the old method of line voiding to the new method of scan voiding. Scan Voids essentially allows our store to keep better track of what items are actually leaving the store. Having worked there for four years, I will admit that it was hard to adjust to the new method. Our store was keeping track of scan void vs. line void and had appointed an employee to motivate partners to get better at using the method. The problems begin here.
The employee that approached me has been working at HEB for less than a year. They are 17 and a senior in high school. This employee began to lecture me on continually using the new method and I can say honestly that I was a little peeved. In my mind, this employee has no legitimate power over me nor did they hold any referent or reward power. This person may be a leader in that they are in charge of this specific project, but they lacked the influence necessary to sway me due to their lack of legitimate power in my eyes.
4. HEB and the Item’s Per Minute Communication.
Item’s Per Minute is pretty self-explanatory in that is keeps track of the items cashiers scan per minute. HEB’s ideal goal is for every cashier to check between 24 and 33 items per minute so that our store reaches an average IPM that is in the “sweet spot.” Our store, unfortunately, is not very good at meeting this goal. We have about 65 cashiers at HEB. Give or take, on a good week, we only have about 20 people in the aforementioned “sweet spot.” The numbers are pretty abysmal and my HEB does anything it can to motivate people to try harder.
Our managers have decided to keep our weekly IPM’s continually posted near our clock-out area so that cashiers can check on their progress. They designed an apple tree with all the “good” apples in the tree (those with sweet spot IPM’s) and all the “bad” apples on the ground (those outside the sweet spot). Much of this ties into Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline. It is system thinking, in that it sees each separate cashier attaining good IPM’s adding to the store’s overall goal. It builds a shared vision, which fosters a long-term commitment among the cashiers to maintain their IPM goal, not just for themselves but for HEB. It also build team learning, that is, developing the skills of a group of people (or at least, it attempts to!).5. The Dreaded Sweater Policy (sometime in September, 2011).
HEB is a big fan of the deep hierarchy. The communication is extremely downward in nature and it’s no easy feat to communicate with the guy on top. In order to talk to my big boss, I first have to talk to a front-end manager. With their approval I can then talk to an even higher front-end manager. Then I can talk to another manager at the store level. Then, and only then, can I talk to the big boss about any problem I may have. This was why the sweater policy caused the uproar it did.
In September, I was given a sheet of paper to read and sign that essentially said that I was no longer allowed to wear my own sweater to work. I either had to go without or purchase an HEB sweater. I can say honestly, I was mad. Really, really mad. Immediately, a rumor mill started at HEB around the “water-cooler.” Things like: “It’s only happening at our store!” “Only front-end partners have to buy stupid sweaters!” “They cost $40!” “BLAGH!” Nothing good was coming from all the rumors. The days passed and every front-employee was mad. HEB had a huge conflict on their hands and they didn’t even know it yet.
To cut a long story short, a petition was passed around that inadvertently fell into the hands of the big boss before it was finished. He called each signee (including me) into his office for a one-on-one discussion about the new rule. He explained that the new rule wasn’t as bad as it seemed. We could wear our own sweaters walking into the store and could continue wearing them if they were red. We didn’t have to buy an HEB sweater either. He admitted that the original sheet explaining the rule was rather vague, leading me to believe that Osmo Wiio was right: “If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in just that way which does the most harm.”6. More Elaboration on the Dreaded Sweater Rule.
As mentioned above, the sweater rule led to a lot of conflict. The decision was made without partner consent, and was essentially a dictator-like decision. I will admit that the store manager obviously weilds a lot of legitimate power, but a decision such as the one he made was bound to cause problems. The decision was a result of poor communication, a perceived threat (to my paycheck!), and a lack of verifiable information. The big boss handled the situation as best he could, and explored the solutions to conflict in a one-on-one with those most concerned.7. Brian’s Demotion (late November).
Unfortunately, HEB is prone to the occasional scam artist attempting to steal money in extremely inventive ways. Brian, my boyfriend’s little brother, was the target of a scam that ultimately led to his demotion from a cashier to a bagger. The scam artist managed to trick Brian out of a $400 gift card and one of our newest managers on the front end (that is also the most powerful) decided that Brian was to blame. In the past, if a partner was scammed it was never their fault. They were stolen from, the money that was lost wasn’t technically lost by any fault of their own. Brian got different treatment, in that the new manager decided it was Brian’s fault and that the money was a variance from his till. This decision led to a lot of conflict, not only from Brian, but from other less powerful managers on the front end.
Brian took his demotion conflict all the way to the big boss (going through the aforementioned painstaking process), only to have him side with the new manager. I should really stress the unfairness of this demotion. Our HEB had never handled a situation in this manner, and it was extremely unfair to Brian (who ironically is one of the best and fastest cashiers on the front end). Ultimately it all came down to who wielded the power. Both the big boss and the new manager hold extreme amounts of legitimate power; power that no number of complaints from Brian or other managers on the front end can compete with. Brian was locked in a communication battle between the powerful and powerless. Unfortunately, this was one he lost.8. My Boyfriend and I’s Nefarious Stealing Plot (two weeks ago).
I’ve work with my boyfriend, James, and have done so for the last four years. We attempt to keep our relationship out of our work life and most people at work don’t know we are dating unless we explicitly tell them. He is a book-keeper, that is, he handles all the money and keeps track of each cashier’s till, etc. What this really means for he and I is that he keeps track of my till. Until recently this wasn’t a problem.
Two weekends ago, I jumped onto a register on a busy Sunday and began checking. James had just gotten to work and one of his first duties is to print an audit that allows him to see which tills needed cash. My till only had $200 in bills, so he came out to verify and see specifically what bills I was short on. I was busy bagging an order, so I opened my till and allowed him to count my bills. He went back to book-keeping to get my money and it is here that the drama begins.
One of the admins at our store happened to see James touching my money. She thought she saw James take some of my money. For whatever reason conceivable, she believed that James was stealing money from my till in some nefarious scheme we had concocted. She immediately went to the highest manager in the store at the time and told them of our plot. The highest manager then spoke to another manager (Mike, for the sake of confusion) and, without consulting James or I on what had happened, decided to trust neither of us and audit my till to see what we had apparently stolen.
I should add that at this point that someone James and I are close to was in ear-shot of the entire conversation. They immediately came to me and asked me (like a reasonable person) what had happened. They informed me what we were being accused of and I immediately called James in book-keeping to let him know.
Within minutes of me hanging up the phone, Mike, walked into book-keeping and fed James a story about performing random audits, starting with me. James attempted to argue to no avail. The audit was performed and it was revealed that we hadn’t misplaced a penny!
And yet, even with that there is still doubt. The new manager on the front end (that demoted Brian) believes that James had time to cover up what we stole because he knew what was coming (when I called him). The complete breakdown of communication in this situation is overwhelming. I know all of this solely because someone below the new manager informed me. In this situation, James and I do not feel valued or trusted. The powerful are looking down on the powerless and making judgments on a crime we didn’t commit. Work recently hasn’t been fun. I feel scrutinized and watched at every moment. At this point, I don’t feel like a person at HEB. I feel like a loose cog that at any moment the managers expect to fly free and go on a stealing rampage. They have power I cannot challenge and I feel utterly trapped in this situation. Communication is non-existent. I have ceased to be a person at HEB at the moment. I’m just another part of the machine that isn’t working as well as the rest.
And this brings us rocketing up to where I am now at HEB. Organizational Communication at HEB is no walk in the park. At times the company values me and treats me like a person. At others, I’m just another piece of the front-end machine. The constant back and forth tug of views can be confusing, which is probably a large part of why I am so discontent at my job. With that being said, Organizational Communication has taught me that no organization is perfect. It’s hard to maintain the right path with so much to consider. I guess HEB is just another company struggling to find a middle ground. -
Friday and conclusions.
I never ended up blogging on Friday because my day was fricken insane and stressful. My flight was delayed by two hours in LA, which ultimately would have made me miss my connection in Dallas to Austin. I ended up managing to get a 10:30 flight but it meant I wasn’t going to be getting home till 11:30 (when I was supposed to be in at 8!). On the bright side, I didn’t have to spend the night in Dallas like a lot of other people did.
I could say that I spent a lot of the flight reflecting on my time in LA, but I really read the book I bought while I was there. Which by the way, almost made me cry like 5 times. I don’t feel so bad because I know Alexandra was getting upset with the book I gave her. Cry babies.
So here is were I insert some deep reflections about my experiences. For all you non-intense blog readers, I would recommend you go back to what you were doing before this. This is about to get serious.
I feel as though in the course of 10 days I’ve learned a lot about Hollywood, more than I thought possible to learn in such a short space of time. The hardest part for me right now is finding a way to adequately explain this in a way that is comprehendible to someone that isn’t reading my mind.
We were supposed to study and reflect on Hollywood’s influence on popular culture. Throughout our trip we experienced Hollywood in a variety of settings, ranging from studio tours, amusement parks, tourist attractions, and downtown LA. We covered a lot. We drove a lot. We saw a lot. And it has all led me to draw one big conclusion.
I would argue that Hollywood and the entertainment industry is extremely powerful. We’re looking at the influence it has on popular culture, and I would argue that its influence is immense and in many ways, overwhelming.
First and foremost, I’m thinking mainly about Alliance Hollywood. They are a group of individuals that work to push issues into the spotlight utilizing mainly television shows and public service announcements. With their efforts, they raise awareness on a lot of hot issues that many people don’t ever think about. Issues, for instance, that we as Americans are so accustomed to we don’t even realize are still a problem. One of Alliance Hollywood’s biggest issues on their agenda this year is homelessness. Driving to work and back, I see a homeless person almost everyday but no part of me stops to think about the size of the problem. Alliance Hollywood recognizes this, and places these issues in places people will experience them and hopefully stop to think about. It’s amazing how a well placed comment in a television show or public service announcement can really turn people around.
I stopped to think about a few of my own favorite television shows, and I’ve realized that they too attempt to spotlight sensitive issues that need attention. Watching them, I was aware that they were attempting to highlight a problem in our society, and I will admit that it got me thinking about the problems. It has led me to conclude that Alliance Hollywood is an extremely powerful group. They work hard toward their goals, and do so in such a way that it is hard for your average person to ignore their cause. Hollywood is pushing a mighty agenda and I don’t think they are going to have any problem getting their message across.
Hollywood is just getting started. It not only works to deal with societal problems, but it also shapes much of what our society deems appropriate or not. LA is a melting pot for popular culture and societal norms. It tells us what cars to drive and what cars to want. What clothes to wear and where to buy them. How skinny you should be and how to get the body you need. What and where you should eat. What kind of dog you should get and where you should take it. The list goes on and on. In our 10 days in LA, I felt bombarded with all these messages. Walking down Rodeo Drive was like being stuck in a giant billboard. Everyone has nice cars, nice clothes, cute dogs, and they looked so California-shique. It was overwhelming.
LA perpetuates an image, and they perpetuate it so strongly it’s hard for people across the U.S. not to notice. Even in Texas, I feel the ripples of LA hitting home. Be successful. Have a car. A house. A dog. Go out to eat. Hit up the beach. Be skinny. It’s hard not to feel like you should be all of this and more when you are walking through LA.
In the 10 days we were there, Alexandra and I were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of LA image we were experiencing everyday. Fast food restaurants had nutrition facts on their menu. There were warning labels at every restaurant with warnings about birth defects from the metal in the tables and other such nonsense. People took their dogs everywhere and the dogs were always adorable. All of it was perpetuating the now completely ingrained in my head LA image. In a nutshell, it almost feels like a giant competition on who can be the coolest, skinniest, most successful person. People across the U.S. look to LA and in al honesty, it’s hard not to.
Lastly, Hollywood can make you believe almost anything. You watch a movie in which there is a large fight scene in the street. The street looks real enough, and long too. Well guess what? It isn’t. Did you notice? No. Or how about your favorite television show. Much of it takes place in the main characters house. Did you ever notice you never see the ceiling? Or for that matter, them walking up or down the stairs? No? Didn’t think so.
Hollywood is happy to let our minds fill in the blanks and we do it without realizing we do. We see a house and assume there is a roof or that their stairs lead to something. We see a street and assume that it stretches for miles. In reality, houses don’t have ceilings or stairs that lead to second floor and streets are made to look longer with a little bit of an illusion built in. We see forests in movies and believe they are actually vast, ever-stretching forests. In reality, we’re seeing a small clump of trees in some studios back lot. That huge ocean from that one movie? Yeah, that’s just a swimming pool next to a green screen. Hollywood has gotten their art form down and we rarely stop to question it. Having seen what I’ve seen and knowing what I know, watching movies and television may never be the same again.So there you have it. Over the course of 10 days I had a blast. I also feel as though I learned a lot while I was there, much of which will honestly change how I view television or think about my entertainment. The influence LA and Hollywood has on popular culture almost makes it feel like one couldn’t exist without the other. Drastic, I know, but in many ways it’s almost true.
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p.s.
Totally saw Janice Dickinson yesterday in downtown LA.
Yeah, that’s right. The crazy ex-model that sometimes judges America’s Next Top Model.
She honked at our van, rode our ass, then cut across three lanes of traffic, then (as if this wasn’t enough) went roaring past us in her Mercedes that had a disabled tag. It was pretty much amazing.
She is also 100% fake in the face.
And we deduced she had a disabled tag because she was mentally incapable of living. -
Our last day…
…sniffle.
I’m a stange mixture of really excited and sad. One side of me can’t wait to get home and the other side loves California and doing awesome fun things. Blegh.
So today didn’t start out too well for me. At all.
I went to bed last night at 2:15am, knowing that I had to be up at 6:30am in order to shower. When I woke up, the House of Blues was still haunting me and I slowly zombied my way through showering and piling into the van. The long and short of it is I felt extremely nauseous and ended up being sick in the van (although I got it all in a cup like a pro). It was a horrible mixture of extremely disgusting and embarassing but Hohle, Gwen, Sarah and Alexandra were awesome and helped me struggle through my horrible morning.
We headed for Alliance Hollywood, which I was actually kindof excited to hear about, and I spent the first half of our discussion with the speakers feeling horrible. I ended up missing most of our time with them (as I spent it either standing in the bathroom contemplating being sick again, or sitting on the stairs trying to will myself better with fresh air) and I’m a little dissapointed.
But I did get some awesome information from the time I was listening. Essentially, they sound like an extremely forward moving group of individuals that use the entertainment industry to push important issues. Their hot button issues right now include: food and water standards, educational reform, homelessness, human trafficking, and a “green” standard. They approach these issues through a variety of ways including public service announcements, television programs, and celebrity help. The founder, Nomiki Konst, was extremely passionate about their mission and it was really great to hear her talk about something that was clearly very important to her.
She works with several writers and producers in the LA area who attempt to convey the issues in their work in such a way that it will resonate with the audience. The more the issue resonates the better. Alliance Hollywood wants to make a difference and that can only be made possible if they have support. Overall, the meeting was informative and I wish I had been able to pay attention for more of it ):
Fortunately, I was feeling a lot better when we left and was able to sit in the car without feeling quite as sick a before. We dropped Anna off at the airport and headed to lunch at this cute little plaza. Most of the group got pizza and it was delicious. We headed back to the dorms and Alexandra and I “tanned” in the grass for an hour. It was relaxing and gorgeous outside :)
Alexandra and I proceeded to pack up our entire rooms and then we ran out of things to put our strange amounts of energy into, so we ran around and sang obnoxiously loud for a bit. At around 7 we headed to the Spectrum for the last time to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. I split some fried mac and cheese with Alexandra and ordered what was supposed to be a small ceaser salad (but it was effing MASSIVE) to nibble on before CHEEEESECAAAAAAKE. I got a cinnamon apple struedel swirl cake thing and it was delicious.
The ladies met up for one last girl session and called it a night.
Goodbye California, hello Texas! -
It’s time to play catch up.
Not being able to go to The Price is Right kindof messed up our plans for Wednesday and Thursday. We ended up starting our morning at the Paley Center in downtown LA. We only had about an hour of time there and Alexandra and I (yes?) didn’t do too much but it was definitely worth the visit.
Essentially the Paley Center is big on television. They have a huge library of sorts filled with television shows from generations ago, as well as discussion panels, interviews, and other interesting tid bits about any show you can think of. Alexandra and I didn’t feel like watching an entire television episode, but the rest of the crew watched an assortment of awesome things including: Friends, Best of SNL, Captain Kangaroo (Hohle had a weird childhood), and sports (which featured Michael Jordan, flashback!).
While the crew was doing that, Alexandra and I were introduced to an artist called Al Hirschfeld. He is best known for hissimple, black and white caricatures of celebritites that look like this:
http://www.google.com/search?q=hirschfeld&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=&rlz=1I7ADFA_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1276&bih=595
His drawings were on display all around the Paley center and while Alexandra and I were looking at one of them a museum.. attendent (uh..? Yes) came over to us and asked if we were familiar with Hirschfeld. We had never seen him before and the attendent proceeded to tell us that he had an extremely close relationship with his daughter, and had hidden her name, Nina, in almost all of his drawings. Alexandra and I spent the better part of half an hour trying to find the Nina’s and it was actually kindof fun :P
After the Paley center (we spent the remainder of our time watching commercials from the 80’s and 90’s, weiiiird) we walked across the street to Baja Fresh for lunch which was delicious. Mmm.
Theeeeen we headed to music producer Edgar Struble’s recording studio. For a guy who was almost 60 years old he was pretty chill. He is most well known for his time spent working with Kenny Rodgers but he also makes the “bumper” and “walk on” music for big music award shows like the Country Music Awards and the American Music Awards. It was extremely interesting to hear about his experiences and how he writes his music (even if I didn’t completely understand it all).
I’d never really thought about it until Struble brought it up, but for people who have been in the industry for a long time (like him) things are totally different from how they used to be. We talk about digital taking over television and movies but it’s also overtaking the music industry as well. Struble can make entire songs on his computer, no real intruements required. He doesn’t even need to leave his desk. It’s pretty insane to think about. Everything is changing at such a rapid pace! Oh, technology.
The boys wanted to go see the Anaheim Angels play baseball, so we dropped them off at the game and the ladies (and Hohle, of course) headed to Amazon, a Brazilian bbq buffet. Yes, it was as weird as it sounds. We met Hohle’s wife, Gwen, and chowed down. The buffet itself was pretty mediocre but they brought out freshly cooked meat to our table throughout our meal and they had over 15 kinds to try. We got through about 5 before we had to call it quits, including two kinds of beef, lamb, sausage, and quail (which I avoided). They had these really delicious fried bananas and my half of the table ate about a billion of them. Mmmm.
We convinced Hohle to take us to downtown Disney again because we had heard the bar, House of Blues, had an awesome happy hour and the ladies wanted to party! So we did. It was funfunfun. -
One of our lazier days…
So today was kindof dissapoint.
Firstly, we were supposed to go to a live-taping of The Price is Right this morning. I posted a status about it and everyone seemed so pumped for our group that I didn’t have the heart to tell them that our plans fell through ):
We left the dorms at 10am, drove for about an hour, and then made the quickest stop possible for 11 at In n’ Out Burger. We ended up having to eat in the car (which was an adventure) because we had to be at The Price is Right at noon. The tickets said to be there at noon and we did exactly what they said! EXACTLY. When we got there, we jumped in line and waited for about 20 minutes. This guy came out and started counting everybody and then, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US, cut off the line. Everybody from our group and behind wasn’t allowed in because there were too many people. It was fricken lame. Our group was so excited and we had spent the previous night studying youtube clips and quizzing each other. It was our big dissapointment of the whole trip ):
We begrudgingly, headed back to the van which was parked in the haughty taughty outside mall called The Grove. Apparently, if you are a celebrity, this is were you shop. It was really, really nice and had an extreme California feel to it. I was definitely surprised we didn’t see anyone famous while we were there.
From there we decided to go to the Reagan Library (which we were supposed to do tomorrow) because we didn’t really have any other plans. The library was in the Simi Valley and it was pretty interesting. We got to walk through the Air Force One plane that flew Reagan around as well as a museum filled with Reagan’s clothes, letters, videos, and other such memorabilia.
I know more about Reagan than I did before the trip, mostly that his marriage with his wife, Nancy, was the most adorable thing on the planet. They were just so…cute. I don’t know how to describe it. He wrote her over 700 love letters, some of which were displayed in the museum. It was heart-wrenching.
Professor Hohle wanted us to look for the interplay betwen Hollywood and politics and I have a few thoughts. Firstly, Reagan was definitely an “entertainment”-esque president. People knew him because he had been an actor and arguably that played a large role in garnering votes. He was a household name, someone people probably already knew and liked from his films and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a lot of people voted for him for these reasons alone. With this in mind, the tour discussed his wife a lot, who left Hollywood to be with Reagan and help him during his presidency. She too was a well-known name and the pair of them were apparently a formidably political team. He was the big picture politician and she had a more acute eye for politics. It’s interesting to think Nancy had such a powerful impact on Reagan’s decisions during his terms.
So yes. That was the library. We spent two and half hours driving home (BLEGH) to the dorms to change before heading to the Blue Water Grill for dinner. It was… pretty good but it’s definitely not my favorite restuarant from the trip.
Only two more days. I’m a stange mixture of excited and sad.
And with that, pajama time! -
Santa Monica Pier and Warner Bros Tour!
Woo! Today was awesome throughout :D
We started out with a trip to Santa Monica Pier. I had definitely seen it a million times before in movies (especially the carousel, isn’t there a movie were people shoot around it at each other? It seems familiar) and it was awesome to actually go! Santa Monica Pier is definitely just one of those places you hear about through films, television, and the like. It just has that feel to it, part of it is tourist trap and the other part is “magical.” That word seems a little strong but I don’t know how else to explain it. What makes Santa Monica Pier so famous and touristy? I couldn’t give you a real answer but I feel as though the portrayals of it throughout Hollywood have a large hand in its overall feel. It was awesome to actually go to an American landmark like that has played a large part in the Hollywood and Californian history. Yay!
While we were there a few of the ladies decided it would be awesome to ride the huuuuge ferris wheel, so we did. I managed to get some awesome pictures of the beach and the pier and the ladies while we were up there so overall it was worth the $5 it cost to ride it :P
After we’d wandered through a few shops, we met up with the rest of the LA crew for lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. I hadn’t been there since I lived in San Jose (which was foreverrr ago) and it was nostalgic being back. They had the iconic bench outside, the movie and soundtrack playing inside, and movie memorabilia plastered on all the walls. Bubba Gump is definitely a restuarant that only exists because of an iconic Hollywood movie. It’s pretty funny to think that a huge restuarant chain spawned for that reason alone. Hollywood, in many ways, is pretty powerful in its contributions to tourist attactions.
With the end of our delicious meal we headed out to Warner Bros Studios for our VIP tour of the lot. Our tour guide was Stephanie, and while she wasn’t quite IRA, she was definitely a lot better than Omar (better known as NOmar). Our tour started with a quick video that pumped everyone up for Warner Bros (it had so many Friends and Harry Potter clips!) and then we headed out to our little cart-esque vehicles that took us into the Warner Bros lot.
We drove through a few set streets used primarily in shows like The Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars. We also saw the bar used in True Blood and the lagoon from the Budweiser commercial with the frogs (BUD WEIR ERRRR). The main thing I took away from this was essentially that Hollywood can make you believe anything. Houses can be completely missing ceilings and be surrounded by concrete and the finished product that we see looks like a typical house in any neighborhood. It is amaziiing.
Our biggest stop of the day was definitely the set of THE CENTRAL PERK from FRIENDS. It was absolutely amazing. Stephanie really liked our group, so much, that she let us sit on the couch! YES! The couch! So many famous butts have sat on that couch. It was like touching a piece of history. Hollywood history was in my hands. It was brilliant and something I can probably brag about for the rest of my life.
Okay. It took a while for us to calm down from the Central Perk set, but when we finally left we headed to the Warner Bros Museum. Unfortunately they wouldn’t let us take any pictures but I saw so much awesome stuff! It was primarily costumes from movies which included:
THE JOKER (worn by Heath Ledger ): )and The Batman costume from The Dark Knight
Dr. Manhattan’s LED suit and the Rorschach costume from Watchmen
King Leonidas’s armor, plus his wife, plus Xerxes costumes from 300
Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy, and Ellen Page’s outfits from Inception (plus Leonardo DiCaprio’s totem!)
One of the creatures from Where the Wild Things Are
And then, best of all…
AN ENTIRE SECOND FLOOR OF THE MUSEUM DEVOTED TO HARRY POTTER.
I almost died.
There were costumes from all 6 movies, and an absolute metric ton of props. It was awesome. It was almost too much. I was soooo excited. lovelovelove.
My favorite costume was Harry’s costume from the end of The Chamber of Secret’s were he fights the basilisk. My favorite prop was the trophy from the Goblet of Fire that was actually a portkey that transported Harry and Cedric to the cemetary to face Voldemort. AWESOME. On a hilarious side note, I was so overwhelmed by Harry Potter everything that I had a dream Professor Hohle was Voldemort. What on earth.
The museum was great mostly because we were surrounded by lots of tangible pieces of Hollywood history. I had seen a lot of the movies the museum featured and it was pretty exciting to be standing less than a foot from costumes that big time celebrities had worn. I was most excited about the Joker’s costume, mostly because it was worn by the now deceased Heath Ledger. I still miss him.. ):
So yeah! That was pretty much our tour. We saw the iconic Warner Bros tower while we drove through the lot and that was also pretty impressive. Any kid that watched cartoons in the 90’s would instantly recognize it due to the Animaniacs. It was pretty awesome to actually drive in its shadow.
After our tour, we went to the Yardhouse for some not really needed food. It seems like all we do is eat, walk, and sit in the van. Ah well, more Woodchuck on draft! -
Today was both boring and fun.
The day started out with church for everyone but Red and I. We just wandered around Burbank for an hour or so before meeting up with the rest of the LA crew in the church’s kid room…thing. Today was our “celebrity” interview days of sorts and we met up with Dink O’Neal (an actor), Steve Marshall (a cameraman), and Janet Knudsen (a producer/production manager).
I will say honestly that I was bored for most of our interview. I’m sorry Hohle, I know you will not enjoy reading this but I’m just typing the truth. I don’t plan on going into any of their fields so the whole discussion wasn’t anything I was really, you know, passionate about. So yeah. Plus, Dink was overwhelming. Seriously.
From there we drove through Mulholland Drive, with a quick scenic stop to take pictures of downtown LA and the Hollywood sign. It was pretty awesome.
Theeeeeeen we headed to the Hollywood Drive area to meet singer/songwriter Nenna Yvonne. I will say that after our first interviews, I was not looking forward to this one but she was so down to earth and adorable. Honestly, she was really really nice. And only 22! I really hope she gets super famous, she totes deserves it with all the hard work she puts in (studying international business law while recording and touring, holy crap). Plus, then I can say we ate lunch and talked to her for a few hours :P
Our day pretty much ended with a super delicious dinner at PF Chang’s. MMMM.
Time to party with Alexandra. Woo! -
Laguna Beach!
So I’m a little sunburned… all over my face, shoulders, and upper back. Ow. On the birght side, I’ll at least be warm in the dorm tonight.
Today was an extremely chill day. I woke up at 11am (after 10 hours of sleep, wtf) and got ready to head to Laguna Beach. We left at around noon and Alexandra and I spent most of our afternoon “fighting the ocean.” Yeah, seriously. No one else wanted to go in because the water was cold but we BEASTED it. It was fun, although we got beat up a little (the ocean might be stronger than us). We spent the better part of half an hour attempting to shower sand out of every article of clothing before heading to get Starbucks and ice cream with a few of the ladies. We met up at the van at 4pm and headed back to the dorms to shower.
We went out for dinner in Downtown Disneyland (which made me want to go back) at a mexican restuarant called Tortilla Jo’s. It was pretty delicious. I got a rasberry margarita and delicious chicken enchiladas. We also ordered guacamole as an appetizer and they made it fresh at our table. It was nothing short of heavenly (lol, rapture). Alexandra and I went outside to watch the fireworks and we regrouped and went home.
Hung out with the ladies tonight, Alyssa is leaving tomorrow. Sad day ):
But tonight was fun. Sarah was on crack, the littlest thing would make her laugh for hours. It was amazing.
PostSecret time now! Then sleeeeeep. -
