Medieval Times

As the last few days of my job at Medieval Times come to an end, I looked back to a blog I wrote all about my first day there in the castle. It’s very old, but it really made me think of everything that went on in the castle and how I can’t believe it’s coming to an end. It has been a great experience, thank you everyone for supporting me and helping me through it. Here it is:

“Welcome my lords and ladies to the castle! How many are in your party this evening?”

That’s right, I have to say this about 700+ times every weekend. In case you haven’t heard, I am now employed at Medieval Times in Dallas. I was amazed when Mike said I got the job and took me off to meet Don McCoy. Don used to be the king, but he quit show cast and moved to manager of the photo department, while Chris, the photo manager at the time was moved to Food and Beverage manager. While this wasn’t the smartest thing in the world, Don is much more lenient than Chris. But sometimes that can be a bad thing. Sure he is nice a lot of the time, but watch out…he’s always watching. These are the events that happened before I started working and I was filled in on when I started by my friend and coworker Daniel.


Day 1: Thursday, April 17, 2008

So I was at school anxiously awaiting the arrival of Daniel to take me to my first day of work at Medieval Times. He was running a tad late due to his school running over class a little bit, but he picked me up and we were on our way to Dallas.

We stopped at McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat before having to get my first day of work started. On the way he was explaining every aspect I probably already knew about my job and what to expect. I listened and nodded my head while hurriedly trying to finish my cheeseburger and fries.

Once we arrived at the castle, he explained I would need to talk to the costume lady. It was then she handed me my puffy shirt, a brown sash, and what looked like to be a pair of ladies capris. I asked her where the pants were and she responded, “No pants, tights!” Now, some of you at this point are probably thinking, “Ewww, he wears tights?” Yeah, I do now, so get over it. Trust me, it is the last thing us photo people have to worry about. So once I found an empty locker, put my things in there, put on my costume and headed back to the photo lab, the feeling of nervousness that filled me was unlike any I felt before. Little did I know, it was about to get worse.

I arrived in the photo lab suited up and ready to go. Daniel then handed me a small plastic shield. I turned it over and it read, “MATT W.” What? Since when did my first name have a W at the end followed by a period? He then explained that I was the second of two Matts that were working in photo. I shook off the idea as if nothing and started work.

He told me I would need to be in tower in about 15 minutes. So I went on over to tower and waited. And waited, and waited. After about 6 minutes, a bald guy with side burns and a goatee ran up and said, “Come with me, you’re going to be rolling tower along with 11 other serfs and wenches. I had absolutely what this bald man was talking about, but he was wearing tights as well, so I listened. We lined up and when a guy with long hair and a radio said, “Tower’s rolling.” I was in the middle of a line of 7 serfs followed by the executioner, the Chancellor and the King. The funny bald guy was also in the line. They just told me to do what everyone else did. So when they bowed, I bowed. And when they started walking back into the castle, I followed suit. Then the real fun began.

I soon learned that this funny bald guy’s name was Phillip, and that he was a valued asset to our little department. He had a great Medieval Presence that even I envy. I was soon to learn that a good Medieval Presence was all you really needed in this job. And also a strong sense of confidence that people thought it was normal that you were wearing tights.

I learned what I was supposed to do and with Keri as Princess that night, everything went great. She gave me some good advice on what I needed to work on for the next shows that would follow my Medieval Times career.

After tower was over, I met up with Dan and Don back at the photo lab. They said I needed to learn about selling photos. So they partnered me up with Phil and we went out into the arena. He taught me one thing. Just sell. The more we sell, the higher our raise might be. So we were selling and he had gotten through twenty photos. We only managed to sell one photo. Not good. But oh well. It’s not about selling the photos. Right? Anyway, he told me to wait at the door inside the arena to watch the show. I watched and as the knights were being introduced, he bust in through the door and said, “Come on Matt! We’re going to precession!!” What? What the heck is that? I didn’t say that out loud because I knew Phil would try and explain it to me the best he could. What he explained was too good to be true.

“We get a part in the show?” I responded after his long testimony as we walked down the long corridor that led to the employee hallway. We walked in and he yelled, “I’ve got a processional virgin here! He needs a cape!” The hallway was filled with serfs and wenches. One wench was holding a bundle of gold laced capes. She handed me one and said, “You’re both in green, don’t screw up.” I didn’t even know what to do, how could I not screw up? Once we were lined up in the pit, Phil told me a story about his flash light and how he lost it down in the pit three times. And just before the mob of serfs and wenches started moving toward the big opening that was the entrance to the arena floor, he gave me to instructions, “Watch for horse shit, and try and keep up.”

With flags in hand, we walked out onto the arena floor. The audience was cheering, clapping, screaming, and just about everything you can to do show appreciation to someone preforming something on a stage. Only this was a big sand pit. After procession was over and we all went back inside, everyone seemed to complain about procession except for Phillip and I. He enjoyed it because it was the only time his degree in theater could come into play, and I really liked it because I was in a freaking show! It was one of the coolest, scariest, nervous feelings I had ever felt. It was awesome.

I went back to the photo lab and sold a few more rounds of photos with Phillip. Then we turned everything in and Daniel told Phillip to go home. He went, but not without a fight. He had a little word fight with Daniel, I think people call those arguments. But he did end up leaving. Wishing me a good career ahead of me. Shortly after, Daniel told me to go out and change and wait for him.I went and changed, put my costume back with the wardrobe department, and walked out the employee entrance. I stood by Daniel’s car, the Ford CLI edition Taurus, (inside joke, that’s wrong Keri) and awaited what wonders would this workplace of a castle would hold for me in the future to come.

Special Thanks to: (In order of Apperance)
Phil
Keri
Lara
Lacey
Brady
Thanks for all your help in starting my job off right at the castle.
Never shall you be forgotten.