BG was sponsoring the Atlanta Olympics that year, and some marketing person thought it would be a fun idea to put our home state on name badges as kind of a US ambassador-like gesture I guess for all the extra visitors the parks expected.
I don’t know if we saw an increase in visitors that year. Williamsburg is like a 12 hour drive from Atlanta. But I did have one guy complain to me about the Italian food we sold in the cafeteria, that it was horrid, and his wife was Italian, and she couldn’t eat this. Almost 30 years later and I still remember that guy. Why was he remotely expecting decent food at a theme park? I have no idea. And I still have Funiculì, Funiculà running through my head on occasion. Thanks BG.
Huh. Small world. I worked at BG that year. It was my first job. Didn’t keep the name tag though. They kept putting your home state or country on badges for a few years after.
If you ever came thru the employee break area behind the stage in Italy, there is a good chance I fixed your food and rang you up!
Italy was one of my favorite places to go for lunch! It was a long walk, though; I was in the Emporium in England. So we probably did meet!
That would be a long walk in a short lunch break. Walking to/from employee parking to Italy was almost a workout in itself. But I did enjoy it most after closing, when it was soothingly dark, empty pathways, yet the ambient music was still playing. I could squint and pretend I had to cut through actual Bavaria to get home. I would be so tired after a 12 hour shift that I didn’t have to pretend too hard either!
Hah! My mom was my ride to work, and since she started her work day at 6 am, that meant I got dropped off at a little after 5 am, several hours before the park opened. And the music was still playing then. I got so sick of hearing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (at least, La Primavera. I don’t remember if they played other music from The Four Seasons).
I did close on occasion, but I was usually opening. I admit it was one of the better jobs I had when I was young. I tried transfering to other stores the following season (one in Germany, then one in France). I should’ve stuck with the Emporium.