What? No forks?

[Sienna]

I just have to share this bad CM experience, to rant a little bit and get it off my chest, then to laugh and just get over it.

We just got back last night from a 4 days/3 night trip. Yesterday is the last day and we hit Mickey's Toontown. It's lunchtime and we're hungry. There's a couple of food booths, so at one booth I ordered a salad for me and a sandwich for my husband, and at another booth, my husband orders a kid's meal for our daughter. I get to the table and notice the CM didn't give me a fork. I go up to the counter and he says, "we don't have any - check the next window." Um...okay. At the next window they only have knives and spoons. The CM there tells me they should have them at the place where I bought the salad, and points me back to the first CM. I say, "I know they should have them, but they don't." So I go back to the first CM. He says, and I kid you not, "We don't have any. I don't know what to tell you." I'm stunned. I say, "How can you sell salads and not have any forks??? Am I supposed to eat it with my fingers or what???" I was *this* close to returning my salad, or at least raising an even bigger stink, when my husband found an extra fork (unused, still in the plastic wrapper) that was left on a nearby table (where it came from, I have no idea, since there was a fork shortage in Toontown yesterday). I was really ticked off and it put me in a really grumpy mood the rest of the day. (Yes, we were also leaving later, so that might have had something to do with my mood as well. )

 

[tinkcollector]

Sorry that you had a bad day. But after all you were in Toontown, I'm sure you could have found a fork in the road! Sorry I could not resist.

 

[BlueBayou]

Okay, I must say that is just plain odd. I can't believe they wouldn't have forks.

You know - in my 10 or so trips to Disneyland - I have never eaten in Toontown. Maybe I know know why, you are expected to eat like a dog... or a mouse...

 

[bumbershoot]

That is really weird!

You know - in my 10 or so trips to Disneyland - I have never eaten in Toontown.

IMO, keep it that way. DS was having a freakout b/c he was refusing to eat, so we ordered an "emergency" cheese pizza there and it was just the worst. And they come with some sort of "tangy vegetable salad" which is basically pickled vegetables dumped into a container from a jar (or a vat, perhaps) and was awful. I really can't recommend eating in ToonTown!

On the other hand, the day we ate there they did have forks.

 

[Sienna]

I'm sure they had forks somewhere, but I didn't even get a "hold on a minute while I find them." Classic case of passing the buck. Not wanting to go the extra mile. Or maybe they were filming for candid camera.

 

[ter-moo]

I had a similar thing happen on my trip to DL last weekend. We stopped in at Bengal Barbecue and I ordered a glass of ice water with my meal (DD had milk). He gave me a bottled water, which was the usual $3 or so. I said, "No, I wanted a cup of water." He said, "Oh, we don't DO that." I said, "Oh yes you do!" (knowing full well that free ice water is a perk at the parks)

He looked stunned that I argued with him and just stood there. I said, "Well, I guess you've already charged me for this, so I'll just take the bottled water."

The service there was SOOOO slow (and this was at an off-time with little or not line) that I didn't want to wait around and argue any more.

 

[funnygarcia]

My DH wanted to buy a bottled water at a cart, they didn't have any left.

Learned from the CM that they hadn't restocked the cart all day long. (This was Albort BTW, he later told me it wasn't until evening before he got restocked- turning away guests is no fun for him and for the guest.)

Sometimes it's not the fault of the CM you are talking to, it could be they are stuck in that one spot and have to rely on someone else.

 

[tinkermell]

I had a similar thing happen on my trip to DL last weekend. We stopped in at Bengal Barbecue and I ordered a glass of ice water with my meal (DD had milk). He gave me a bottled water, which was the usual $3 or so. I said, "No, I wanted a cup of water." He said, "Oh, we don't DO that." I said, "Oh yes you do!" (knowing full well that free ice water is a perk at the parks)

He looked stunned that I argued with him and just stood there. I said, "Well, I guess you've already charged me for this, so I'll just take the bottled water."

The service there was SOOOO slow (and this was at an off-time with little or not line) that I didn't want to wait around and argue any more.

I had the same experience there. I asked for a cup of ice water. They said they don't have ice water on tap. What?? I must have looked very astonished, cuz she then offered a cup of ice, but I had to get my water from a fountain. I said that's fine by me.

A little confusing when you know they have tap water there.

 

[Albort]

My DH wanted to buy a bottled water at a cart, they didn't have any left.

Learned from the CM that they hadn't restocked the cart all day long. (This was Albort BTW, he later told me it wasn't until evening before he got restocked- turning away guests is no fun for him and for the guest.)

Sometimes it's not the fault of the CM you are talking to, it could be they are stuck in that one spot and have to rely on someone else.

hahah, i was gonna say... OHHHH CRAP!

This is true as i will confirm it. I however have also stock carts before and on esp busy day, it takes about 1 hr to do a run. Its a lot of work to do. Take Christmas as an example, i started at 11, all my carts i was looking after was constantly running dry. I was going as fast as quick as i can i, worked around 11- 6:30 without taking a single break or a lunch, just going out with stuff, coming back empty, going out with more stuff, continuously. Its really hard to satisfy guest. >.<

 

[mindylovesmickey]

hahah, i was gonna say... OHHHH CRAP!

This is true as i will confirm it. I however have also stock carts before and on esp busy day, it takes about 1 hr to do a run. Its a lot of work to do. Take Christmas as an example, i started at 11, all my carts i was looking after was constantly running dry. I was going as fast as quick as i can i, worked around 11- 6:30 without taking a single break or a lunch, just going out with stuff, coming back empty, going out with more stuff, continuously. Its really hard to satisfy guest. >.<

I think it's great when CM's work so hard, you know you can't please everyone, but when you do the best you can sometimes that just has to be enough.

I worked Customer Service for many years (not for Disney of course), and let me tell you, sometimes so matter how hard I tried to go above and beyond, many times it just was never enough. And sometimes there's only so far you can go to handle things. I've had people reduce me to tears on several occassions and that's not fun. So when on the other shoe I really try to give the benefit of the doubt and not ask for too much. I think I really only get t'd off when someone just obviously doesn't care or doesn't put forth any effort at all.

 

[Albort]

I think it's great when CM's work so hard, you know you can't please everyone, but when you do the best you can sometimes that just has to be enough.

I worked Customer Service for many years (not for Disney of course), and let me tell you, sometimes so matter how hard I tried to go above and beyond, many times it just was never enough. And sometimes there's only so far you can go to handle things. I've had people reduce me to tears on several occassions and that's not fun. So when on the other shoe I really try to give the benefit of the doubt and not ask for too much. I think I really only get t'd off when someone just obviously doesn't care or doesn't put forth any effort at all.

yeah, i hear you too. On my 2nd day on the job, i got completely cussed out by a guest for putting more churros in the machine claiming that i was wasting her time and that i paid money to get in blah blah blah blah, so i wasnt too happy and just got a bit grumpy. Then my manager came around saying there was a lady that complained(at City Hall) that i was harassing her. :\ I do too, i have learned to be completely nice.

I was on the phone with Verizon once and her computer crashed, took her over 5 min to get it reloaded. I was like, take your time, i know how CS is like, you guys work soo hard and yata yata yata and she thanked me for understanding... then she comp my txt messages

 

[KerTggr]

Then my manager came around saying there was a lady that complained(at City Hall) that i was harassing her. :\ I do too, i have learned to be completely nice.

Had a similar experience when I was working for the CP @ RNRC in WDW. This group of 4 came up and were grouped together in rows 3 & 4. I keep grouping and they have 3 other sets of people behind them. AS they are getting on the ride - they yell back to me and the guy loading asking if they can sit in front. We say "not on this train, but if you want to wait, step back and let the next set of people go." They decided to ride that train. Then when they got off, they asked for our mgr and complained that I & my castmember were rude and wouldn't let them ride in the front. To placate them, our mgr let them ride again - this time in front (though they rode separate trains each). She knew we didn't really care where people rode, because you can always find a party of 2 or 1 that are willing to just ride. At least our mgr was nice about it and just turned it around before they went to GR...

 

[tinkermell]

Another experience I had was last December and the crowds were pretty heavy. It was our last day, and were looking forward to the French Market's French dip sandwiches. We tried to get them the night before, but I didn't realize that they change their menu in the evenings.

Anyways, it was around 12:30pm or so, and we were in line for quite awhile as you can imagine. So we finally get to the counter to order, and they inform us that they are all of beef for the sandwiches. I could'nt believe it. How does Disney run out of beef the busiest time of day. And it was still pretty early. You know how it feels when your mouth is watering for something and then it gets taken away. Well they felt pretty bad, cuz they could tell how dissapointed I was, and slightly upset, I will admit. Well they looked everywhere, downstairs at the next counter and still nothing. I then said to the CMs, "I'm sorry, I know this isn't your fault, but I was just looking forward to the sandwich, and we will order something else." So I did. As we were checking out, they had scraped together a sandwich for us, and gave it to us for free. Unfortunately I had meant to tell City Hall how hard they worked to get me that sandwich, and I forgot. I'm going this weekend. I must remember to do that.

So yes Albort...........we know your job is not very easy at times. Especially when things are out your control, and you can't do anything about it.

See you Friday!!!

 

[ter-moo]

hahah, i was gonna say... OHHHH CRAP!

This is true as i will confirm it. I however have also stock carts before and on esp busy day, it takes about 1 hr to do a run. Its a lot of work to do. Take Christmas as an example, i started at 11, all my carts i was looking after was constantly running dry. I was going as fast as quick as i can i, worked around 11- 6:30 without taking a single break or a lunch, just going out with stuff, coming back empty, going out with more stuff, continuously. Its really hard to satisfy guest. >.<

Albort, I drove my 14 year old daughter crazy last weekend looking at the guys at every churro cart to see if it was you. I don't think I saw you, but she would never slow down long enough for me to get a good look!

 

[Tink208]

And they come with some sort of "tangy vegetable salad" which is basically pickled vegetables dumped into a container from a jar (or a vat, perhaps) and was awful.

They were serving that same "tangy vegetable salad" at the Haus place in Fantasyland; it is another place we have put on our "Never Eating Here Again" list.