AOIT Morningstar Marina Internship Blog 10

My internship at Morningstar Marina was a really good experience overall. I learned a lot of lessons and a lot about who I am as a person while working. I am very glad that I got an internship that I enjoyed and wanted to go back to again. I am excited to be going back this summer having different experiences and learning some new things. I met some great people that I am happy to be working with this summer too. I'm so glad that I learned many things I can take with me the rest of my life with every job I have. Working at a marina is nowhere near what I thought it would be but I am so happy that I had the opportunity to do it. I would definitely suggest it to anyone else that thought about working at a marina. In the end, I am very content with how my internship went.

AOIT Morningstar Marina Internship Blog 9

With any business that has customers there will always be issues. Especially when it gets busy and it starts to get a little chaotic. There were definitely many issues when the computer would stop working and we would have to compromise and figure out how to check people out without the computer working. Another issue was when other employees would detail a boat for someone and when the person came to pick it up they weren't always happy with how it was done. You can't just keep it how it is or be unhappy back to the customer, you have to fix it and do it how they want it to be done to make them happy. Especially at the lake storming is a big issue that happens whenever and isn't something you can avoid or fix. You have to figure out on your own what you have to do. I always tried my best to stay calm and solve each problem in the easiest and calmest way that would make everyone happy.

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I have learned a lot about myself throughout the internship. It helped me know more about communication skills that I didn't even know I needed to have. It also taught me a lot about customer service and how people will act when they are unhappy. I learned how to act when a customer is unhappy and blame it on you. A job will show you how important it is to be on time to work so they other people can count on you to get your job done because if you don't show up someone will have to do your job for you. It will also show you how important it is to be responsible because you have your own responsibilities to deal with and so does everyone else. Another thing is work ethic and how important it is to a business. For me, I learned how important everything is and how you have to be responsible for yourself.

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Although this internship was very enjoyable and I will be going back next year, I knew going into it that it had nothing to do with my future plans. I have always wanted to be a Elementary teacher since I was young and still do. Being a dockhand definitely did not change how I felt about that or where I wanted to go to college. I did learn that I still want to be an Elementary school teacher because of how much I love little kids. A lot of families come to the lake so as I'm working I see lots of children and talk to them. It was nice to be able to enjoy a big part of why I want to be a teacher while working a job that has no real relation to teaching. I also know that in the future if anyone needs help on a boat or pumping gas I can gladly help. Even though being a dockhand and working at a marina has nothing to do with teaching there is a small part of teaching involved. As I checked out people to use our rental boats I had to teach them how to use the boat in the best way. There is a little part of teaching in almost every job you will have, so I'm lucky to be able to have some aspect of my future in my summer internship last year.

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When I first started at Morningstar Marina all I did was stay on the gas dock, pumping gas, and watering plants. When running the gas dock you open it up in the morning by pulling up the curtains, turning on the computer, putting in the cash drawer, and unlocking all of the gas pumps. Throughout the day, you will help anyone dock their boat that comes, pump their gas and check them out. At the end of the day you close the dock by putting down the curtains, locking all gas pumps, turning off the computer, taking the cash drawer out, and figure out the overview log report for that day. As the summer went on I started to be given more responsibilities such as run errands for my boss, clean boats, and dealing with bookings and rentals. The rentals are definitely the most stressful part because to book them you have to make sure you get the right boat, amount of people, name, and other important information. While checking someone out you must make sure to show them how everything works and tell them about all the safety equipment and be sure they know all the rules, even if you forget one thing it could make a huge impact. Being able to have more responsibilities and do more things for the marina was very honorable and gave me more self confidence with my work.

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I think my main contribution to Morningstar Marina was helping out all the people on the lake. Anyone who needed help with their boat, needed gas, or a tube blown up we could help. Customers would ask you any kinds of questions they have and need help with and I would answer it to my best ability. It is definitely a big contribution to help these people and help them have the best day on the lake that they can. There are many days on the job where I felt I had proud moments but there is one in particular. On Fridays and Saturdays me and my sister both worked eleven hours, it was very long and very tiring. There were many times when people would come to the gas dock after we closed, one day this family came to the dock after we had closed the dock and finished the report for the day. They told us that they had no gas and that they needed to get home. After lots of talking and trying to explain to them that we couldn't open the drawer again, me and my sister finally decided to give them the gas to get home. It made me feel very proud even though it had been a bad day and I wanted to go home, I decided to help someone else.

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I was very surprised with my internship and how it actually ended up being. My sister worked there the year before me and always told me stories but I never actually knew what it was like. It was surprising and very different than I expected but in a good way. I did not realize how busy a place could actually get and how stressful it is when you have so many things to do but not enough time or people to do them all. I definitely was not expecting how hard it would be to work all day in the heat. I also was surprised at how much fun you could have at work and how there is always something exciting going on at the lake. I had control of my attitude everyday at work but I didn't have control of what happened everyday or how busy it got. It was not exactly what I was expecting at all but it was definitely a good surprise.