SOME CMs at Test Track ...

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

A child got sick on a ride previously and was crying in fear of getting sick again, yet you forced her? Good for the CM for sticking up for her. Your nephew screamed for 40minutes and he too was made to ride?!?!? Maybe your "mom" should get her priorities in order and decide what is important- bullying her grandchildren onto rides they are afraid of? That's her idea of a good time? Sorry but the Cm was right on that one.

As for the OP's situation, this is terrible to hear. But you did no one any favors by just walking away. You should have reported the CM's rudeness so no one else would have to deal with it. They needed to understand what was wrong with how they treated you and how it is unacceptable. If they get away with it, they just think it is okay.

Uuuuuuummmm....when did I say I "forced" her on??? If she had been unwilling to go on, I would have not made her go. She told my "mom" (why the quotes on mom btw?) she would go on. I get a little sick on the ride sometimes as well, but I go on it for my mom. There's nothing wrong with wanting one family picture with all of us on the ride together. Guess what? She enjoyed the ride and didn't get sick. I know my child, and if she wasn't willing to go on it, I wouldn't "force" her as you put it. We asked, she said yes, but was a little nervous about being sick. Period. The CM was wrong. Period. No customer deserves to be treated that way, especially when she told the CM she wanted to ride. Weird how somehow I forced her.

As for my nephew, he is not my child. It is not my choice whether he goes on a ride or not. He is my brother's child. My brother knew that his soon to be ex-wife purposely puts fear into her children to try and ruin the vacation for him, and he knew once he got him on ONE time, he would be fine. That is what happened with every single ride. He even freaked over Pirates. Again, once he rode, we never had an issue again. This last year he didn't freak out once. Please, you don't know my family, so please don't judge. We are very loving and dedicated parents, and so is my "mom". We would never put our children at risk.
--------------------
(In response to another poster who I didn't quote) When someone is nasty and clearly out of line, they need to be reported. The SUPERVISOR said she was wrong. Therefore she was. I don't see it as revenge or "backstabby" to expect to be treated well when my family has spent something like 20 grand on a trip. We just wanted to get back on the ride and not be treated badly. My daughter felt like it was her fault, which it wasn't, and told the supervisor she wanted to ride, but the girl wouldn't let her. All we wanted was to get back on the ride, which we did. It wasn't about revenge in any way. Revenge would be taking it one step further after it had been dealt with already and written or called about it. I am not saying it is wrong to do that, but if it has already been dealt with, it is done.

 

[Planogirl]

99.9999% of our cast member interactions have been fantastic. Year after year, they were all great. I had almost begun to think that these guys loved there jobs so much, that they'd do it for free, until one evening at Test Tract. We happen to be standing behind an ex-CM, who appeared to be by himself. Standing in line, we got to the first CM on duty and he happened to know the ex-CM in front of us. The CM on duty said; I heard you quit. He said yea, I finally got out. The CM on duty said; I've been trying to get out for a while also. (I took it as getting out as if they were trapped) This was supposed to be the happiest place on earth, even for the CM's. My perspective for the CM's changed then and there. Maybe it wasn't such a happy place for the CM's.

I can see the appeal of working for such a place but the low salary, difficult working conditions and general difficulty of working with the public might just destroy that appeal over time. There is no excuse for being rude but I just wonder how frustrating some of the jobs might be.

 

[Traveliz]

99.9999% of our cast member interactions have been fantastic. Year after year, they were all great. I had almost begun to think that these guys loved there jobs so much, that they'd do it for free, until one evening at Test Tract. We happen to be standing behind an ex-CM, who appeared to be by himself. Standing in line, we got to the first CM on duty and he happened to know the ex-CM in front of us. The CM on duty said; I heard you quit. He said yea, I finally got out. The CM on duty said; I've been trying to get out for a while also. (I took it as getting out as if they were trapped) This was supposed to be the happiest place on earth, even for the CM's. My perspective for the CM's changed then and there. Maybe it wasn't such a happy place for the CM's.

They might have been just referring to out of that attraction or area. Alot of times they are somewhere they really don't want to be working but have to work there 6 months before they put in a transfer. Even then TT (or other) CMs may be cross trained at a variety of attractions in their area and really prefer one more than the others yet because of staffing end up working their least favorite much more than they want. A TT CM could also be trained at MS, Ellen's, Spaceship Earth, and Nemo. I am only offering this up as information; not for everyone to say then they should just quit or work elsewhere...everyone knows that isn't so easy these days.

Liz

 

[hookedonears]

I can see the appeal of working for such a place but the low salary, difficult working conditions and general difficulty of working with the public might just destroy that appeal over time. There is no excuse for being rude but I just wonder how frustrating some of the jobs might be.

These guys weren't rude in any way. It was just a little silly naivety on my part busted. For the first time, the real world just came crashing into such a magical place. I've often thought about what kind of job I'd want if I ever worked for Disney. There's no doubt that I'd want to be as far away from the parks as possible. Maybe some off property remote office some place. I wouldn't want the magic tainted by employment in the parks becoming nothing more than just a job.

 

[hookedonears]

They might have been just referring to out of that attraction or area. Alot of times they are somewhere they really don't want to be working but have to work there 6 months before they put in a transfer. Even then TT (or other) CMs may be cross trained at a variety of attractions in their area and really prefer one more than the others yet because of staffing end up working their least favorite much more than they want. A TT CM could also be trained at MS, Ellen's, Spaceship Earth, and Nemo. I am only offering this up as information; not for everyone to say then they should just quit or work elsewhere...everyone knows that isn't so easy these days.

Liz

They continued there conversation for a little bit longer before the line moved on, and it definitely centered around leaving Disney.

 

[Planogirl]

These guys weren't rude in any way. It was just a little silly naivety on my part busted. The real world just came crashing into such a magical place. I've often thought about what kind of job I'd want if I ever worked for Disney. There's no doubt that I'd want to be as far away from the parks as possible. Maybe some off property remote office some place. I wouldn't want the magic tainted by employment in the parks becoming nothing more than just a job.

Reality sets in when you're on the front lines. I always marvel at how many of the CM's stay so friendly and positive. I couldn't do it.

I agree that a behind the scenes job might be great.

 

[hookedonears]

Reality sets in when you're on the front lines. I always marvel at how many of the CM's stay so friendly and positive. I couldn't do it.

I agree that a behind the scenes job might be great.

I agree, for as little as these people get paid, it takes special people and incredible training to for the most part always have smiles on their faces and to be as nice as they almost always are.

 

[Smuckles]

(In response to another poster who I didn't quote) When someone is nasty and clearly out of line, they need to be reported. The SUPERVISOR said she was wrong. Therefore she was. I don't see it as revenge or "backstabby" to expect to be treated well when my family has spent something like 20 grand on a trip. We just wanted to get back on the ride and not be treated badly. My daughter felt like it was her fault, which it wasn't, and told the supervisor she wanted to ride, but the girl wouldn't let her. All we wanted was to get back on the ride, which we did. It wasn't about revenge in any way. Revenge would be taking it one step further after it had been dealt with already and written or called about it. I am not saying it is wrong to do that, but if it has already been dealt with, it is done.

You may be misunderstanding what I wrote or I was not clear. For that, I'm sorry and offer this clarification: I never said that wanting to be treated well is vengeful or "backstabby" and my response wasn't really targeted towards your story in particular. I was stating that the people who have a problem with a CM and don't say anything to that person are being backstabby and vengeful when the only action they take is to report them to someone else. It accomplishes nothing except possibly creating a punishment for the CM later. What could possibly be vengeful or backstabby about wanting nice treatment?

Your story wasn't precisely what I was talking about (my reply just happened to fall underneath yours). I was mostly responding to the stories of CMs doing or saying something the posters didn't appreciate and then all of the replies were suggesting to contact management after the fact.

Your experience wasn't that. You dealt with it in a timely way in a manner you saw fit. It didn't sound like the CM was going to let up and there was no way to respond to this without getting another person involved. Your story wasn't what I was talking about.

Unrelated to you, and directed back to the thread in general once again: I think everyone will have a much better time at WDW (and life in general) if they can just stop with the mindset that they're the customer and therefore the most important person in the room. Someone earlier in the thread had mentioned that if a CM doesn't like the heat or the pressure (I'm paraphrasing), they shouldn't work at WDW at all. Well, isn't this a job that's hard to get? Having it implies that the CM wants it. When they're performing that job in a way you don't believe is correct, they probably don't want to be doing it that way. They probably, at the end of the day, feel as badly about it as you might.

These are people with lives. They have families. They have interests, triumphs, and ultimately hardships. Everyone is a complicated ball of circumstance and a slave to their emotions. It's entirely possible that these people were having a bad day (or a few) and were emotionally compromised. For that reason, I wonder about approaching these types of employees with a response similar to "Hey, I didn't really appreciate that because ______. I know you wouldn't want to do that on purpose, so I thought you should know that it happened. How are you doing today?"

The common criticism to this entire thought is likely that we spend so much money to go to WDW and therefore anything that is not perfect is unacceptable. Who cares what the CMs have going on in their personal lives? They're just there for me since I'm paying to be there. They should just suck it up and deal with it at home. When they're at work they're there for me!

Is that really an appropriate way to approach the world when we're the customer? I find it appalling, to be honest.

I'm not suggesting this is what caused the behaviors mentioned at TT, but isn't it possible that a CM just received terrible news and it has emotionally compromised them? Would they be delivering the best service under those circumstances? What if their supervisor won't let them go home and deal with it? What if they need to remain at work in order to pay the bills (like everyone else)? I'm not suggesting that it's acceptable. I'm not suggesting that a CM should be able to do and say whatever they want in the event of some personal problem.

What I AM suggesting is that we really shouldn't expect that these human beings to stop being human beings just because we're paying to visit WDW. They have lives and circumstances and to suggest that they need to forget everything when they're at work is absolutely stupid. It's a nice goal, but it's naive.

One of the appeals of WDW is how it lets you leave behind the problems of life for a little while. We shouldn't forget that when we're there we're interacting with a lot of people who aren't leaving behind the problems of life.

 

[ThreeBeans]

Nah Dont yell back A simple "care to repeat what you just said" does the trick

I do the same with my kids. A cool, "Excuse me, I don't think I caught that?" usually stops rude behavior and an apology and a rephrase is forthcoming.

 

[Bob NC]

he very sarcastically yelled over to me, "How am I supposed to know if you have your room key or not? If you're staying at a Disney resort, you have one. Smart people don't leave their rooms without their key. Check your pockets." Then, like the one in January, he gave me eye roll.

He seriously "YELLED" this whole, long soliloquy at you while you were in line?

I just can't picture that.

 

[ChancesAre]

Please take note that I used the word "some" in the title.

I wonder if anyone else has encountered rude CMs at Test Track?

Before I state the negative, I will point out the positive. MOST of the CMs at Test Track have been fantastic and had the typical Disney positive attitude. It is so rare to find a rude Disney employee that, when there is one, it really stands out.

I have been going to WDW since opening and never remember a single incident of less-than-stellar service with a smile before the last two trips.

In January, I met two consecutive rude CMs at Test Track. Since they were working in close contact with each other, I assumed they were bickering among themselves and wrote it off. But, now, having a completely different CM at Test Track get nasty, I have to wonder if there is a problem behind the scenes at that ride.

In January, the first CM rolled her eyes at me and then turned her back, refusing to answer, when I asked her to repeat what she had just told me to do. She had been barking orders rapid fire, pointing and yelling out numbers to everyone. It was mass confusion and I wasn't sure where I was supposed to be.

As I went into the design room right after the incident, I went to the screen I thought I was supposed to be at. The second rude CM came and asked, "Where are you supposed to be?!?!" And he was really not nice in the way he asked. I answered....I think it was #7 or something...and that is where I was. He pointed to the row behind me and yelled, "THAT'S NUMBER SEVEN! YOU LOOK OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT!"

Just to be clear, the screen I was on also had that number and nobody else was on it. Half that row was empty. Since the girl refused to repeat which lane I was supposed to be in, I chose the one with the least people.

So, this past weekend, we went on Test Track again. We were in the fastpass lane and there was a CM standing there directing everyone to use their room keys on the design pick machines. I turned and asked my son-in-law if we had our room keys. Since my daughter was outside with the baby, I thought our stuff was probably in the bag outside with her.

The CM either thought I was talking to him, or just wanted to be a jerk and butt into our conversation as he very sarcastically yelled over to me, "How am I supposed to know if you have your room key or not? If you're staying at a Disney resort, you have one. Smart people don't leave their rooms without their key. Check your pockets." Then, like the one in January, he gave me eye roll.

I seriously should have yelled back that I wasn't talking to him and he needed to get a grip.

We had a not-so-nice experience with a couple of CMs at Test Track in December concerning the rider swap. I won't go into all the details, as I've previously posted all about it, but I was really taken aback by it. After some suggestions by other posters that I should have complained about it at guest relations, I actually did end up sending an email and got a very nice call from someone. They wanted to compensate me for it somehow, but I declined it. Not looking for hand-outs, just better service.

 

[DeaverTex]

...snip... I think everyone will have a much better time at WDW (and life in general) if they can just stop with the mindset that they're the customer and therefore the most important person in the room.

...snip...

Reference the bolded: Yes, the customer IS the most important person in the room. Without the customer there would be no room and no job. The employee (CM) deserves courtesy just as the customer does, but the customer is paying the bills. The employee is entitled to have a bad day, and being grouchy or out of sorts (the kind that results in a an eye roll or a head shake) is understandable and not an issue. He/she is NOT entitled to take that out on the customer -- ever. Put that plastic smile on with duct tape if necessary, or look for a job that doesn't deal with the public.

(Which is why I'm very happy in a job where I don't have to deal with customers!! I'd never make it as an out-front CM at Disney.)

 

[FortForever]

He seriously "YELLED" this whole, long soliloquy at you while you were in line?

I just can't picture that.

He absolutely did.

He was yelling for people to use their room keys and kept the same volume.

We were standing still in line, not next to him but up at the top about to leave the foyer when the line stopped. I had asked my SIL about the room keys as we were walking up to the end of the line. We were there long enough for much more to be said had any of us wanted to.

 

[mickeyonasticky]

Like all humans, CMs have good days and bad days. That's no reason for them to take out their bad day frustrations on the guests.

That being said, I think that some people posting on this thread should work attractions for a week before complaining. It is a very, very repetitive place to be. And while some people love and thrive in the repetition, some people simply don't enjoy it. When it comes down to keeping your job over a potential safety violation (like dispatching a ride vehicle with an upset guest), I would side with any CM choosing to pull a guest off a ride vehicle.

When an attractions attendant at any theme park sees a guest who may cause an unsafe situation while riding, that attendant doesn't know your whole family history of "we sometimes feel a little sick" or "he/she was only crying a little" or "I just had to hold his/her hand" or "he/she will calm down as soon as the ride starts." That attendant has to make a judgement call based on what they've seen in front of them, otherwise (in a worst case scenario) it could literally cost them their job.

And yes, any attraction attendant's judgement outweighs a mother's authority.

 

[FortForever]

Like all humans, CMs have good days and bad days. That's no reason for them to take out their bad day frustrations on the guests.

The CMs are human??

Seriously, though, I agree that people can have bad days.

I really posted this thread wondering if there were other problems with the cast on TT specifically. Since the redesign, it seems chaotic and I was thinking that may have some impact on the morale and general attitude. In my mind, I was blaming this more on the new version of the ride than the individuals.

Since only one other person has posted about that ride, and their experience seems to have more to do with a confusing situation, I'm thinking it's just a coincidence that I ran into unhappy CMs twice in the same place.

But, once again, even on TT, the awesome CMs I have encountered way outnumber the few negative ones. Forty years of positive experiences at WDW override a couple of bad moments.

This doesn't change my positive opinion of CMs in general. They do a super human job of keeping gazillions of guests organized and happy. It's an amazing feat since a good number of them are just college kids. I've seen police break out riot gear for less hectic situations....on TV, of course.

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

You may be misunderstanding what I wrote or I was not clear. For that, I'm sorry and offer this clarification: I never said that wanting to be treated well is vengeful or "backstabby" and my response wasn't really targeted towards your story in particular. I was stating that the people who have a problem with a CM and don't say anything to that person are being backstabby and vengeful when the only action they take is to report them to someone else. It accomplishes nothing except possibly creating a punishment for the CM later. What could possibly be vengeful or backstabby about wanting nice treatment?

Your story wasn't precisely what I was talking about (my reply just happened to fall underneath yours). I was mostly responding to the stories of CMs doing or saying something the posters didn't appreciate and then all of the replies were suggesting to contact management after the fact.

Your experience wasn't that. You dealt with it in a timely way in a manner you saw fit. It didn't sound like the CM was going to let up and there was no way to respond to this without getting another person involved. Your story wasn't what I was talking about.

Unrelated to you, and directed back to the thread in general once again: I think everyone will have a much better time at WDW (and life in general) if they can just stop with the mindset that they're the customer and therefore the most important person in the room. Someone earlier in the thread had mentioned that if a CM doesn't like the heat or the pressure (I'm paraphrasing), they shouldn't work at WDW at all. Well, isn't this a job that's hard to get? Having it implies that the CM wants it. When they're performing that job in a way you don't believe is correct, they probably don't want to be doing it that way. They probably, at the end of the day, feel as badly about it as you might.

These are people with lives. They have families. They have interests, triumphs, and ultimately hardships. Everyone is a complicated ball of circumstance and a slave to their emotions. It's entirely possible that these people were having a bad day (or a few) and were emotionally compromised. For that reason, I wonder about approaching these types of employees with a response similar to "Hey, I didn't really appreciate that because ______. I know you wouldn't want to do that on purpose, so I thought you should know that it happened. How are you doing today?"

The common criticism to this entire thought is likely that we spend so much money to go to WDW and therefore anything that is not perfect is unacceptable. Who cares what the CMs have going on in their personal lives? They're just there for me since I'm paying to be there. They should just suck it up and deal with it at home. When they're at work they're there for me!

Is that really an appropriate way to approach the world when we're the customer? I find it appalling, to be honest.

I'm not suggesting this is what caused the behaviors mentioned at TT, but isn't it possible that a CM just received terrible news and it has emotionally compromised them? Would they be delivering the best service under those circumstances? What if their supervisor won't let them go home and deal with it? What if they need to remain at work in order to pay the bills (like everyone else)? I'm not suggesting that it's acceptable. I'm not suggesting that a CM should be able to do and say whatever they want in the event of some personal problem.

What I AM suggesting is that we really shouldn't expect that these human beings to stop being human beings just because we're paying to visit WDW. They have lives and circumstances and to suggest that they need to forget everything when they're at work is absolutely stupid. It's a nice goal, but it's naive.

One of the appeals of WDW is how it lets you leave behind the problems of life for a little while. We shouldn't forget that when we're there we're interacting with a lot of people who aren't leaving behind the problems of life.

I'm glad you clarified, though I wasn't upset or thinking you were talking to me. I just responded to it b/c I disagreed with it. No biggie. Thank you for clarifying.

I don't think that people expect everything to be perfect (at least I don't) on vacation b/c you never know what is going to happen. However, I don't believe people should be treated badly no matter what is going on in someone's personal life. I say that having been in jobs that deal with the public (manager in food services, karate teacher, and I own my own business that requires me to sell directly to my customers face to face). At work it is important to leave your personal life at home. Otherwise you won't have a job. I just recently quit my karate instructor position, and if I had been rude to parents or children when I had upsetting things going on in my life, we would have lost students, and I would have been fired. We always said that when we stepped on the mat, everything else stayed off the mat.

I just don't feel that there is ever a good enough reason to treat people badly whether it be in our everyday life, or at work. That's my two cents though.

Reference the bolded: Yes, the customer IS the most important person in the room. Without the customer there would be no room and no job. The employee (CM) deserves courtesy just as the customer does, but the customer is paying the bills. The employee is entitled to have a bad day, and being grouchy or out of sorts (the kind that results in a an eye roll or a head shake) is understandable and not an issue. He/she is NOT entitled to take that out on the customer -- ever. Put that plastic smile on with duct tape if necessary, or look for a job that doesn't deal with the public.

(Which is why I'm very happy in a job where I don't have to deal with customers!! I'd never make it as an out-front CM at Disney.)

Agreed. In every job I've had they always said the customer was always right. Now. That being said, I do understand that there are some people who treat people badly, and in some cases the CM may have been abused by a customer previously, but it will never be me, so I don't expect them to take it out on me.

Like all humans, CMs have good days and bad days. That's no reason for them to take out their bad day frustrations on the guests.

That being said, I think that some people posting on this thread should work attractions for a week before complaining. It is a very, very repetitive place to be. And while some people love and thrive in the repetition, some people simply don't enjoy it. When it comes down to keeping your job over a potential safety violation (like dispatching a ride vehicle with an upset guest), I would side with any CM choosing to pull a guest off a ride vehicle.

When an attractions attendant at any theme park sees a guest who may cause an unsafe situation while riding, that attendant doesn't know your whole family history of "we sometimes feel a little sick" or "he/she was only crying a little" or "I just had to hold his/her hand" or "he/she will calm down as soon as the ride starts." That attendant has to make a judgement call based on what they've seen in front of them, otherwise (in a worst case scenario) it could literally cost them their job.

And yes, any attraction attendant's judgement outweighs a mother's authority.

I agree with your first statement, but it sort of went downhill for me after that. If someone has a job dealing with the public, no matter how much they hate their job, they still have to treat people with respect. If they hate their job, then they need to work somewhere else. It is not an excuse to treat paying customers badly. My gosh, I had a job that was beyond repetitive, and that wasn't for me, so I left and started teaching karate. I recognized that I wasn't happy, and though I took a MASSIVE pay cut, I left.

No one was really complaining on this thread. We have just spoken about our experiences and expressed sympathy for a bad experience someone had. I am someone who is in complete bliss at Disney. I would sleep in a hammock if I had to. I am so darn happy there. However, when I was treated badly, and yes, it was bad treatment, not a judgement call, I talked very nicely to the supervisor. He flat out said she was wrong. He said Disney's policy was that they were only supposed to stop people from riding if they were in danger. The supervisor said that if she was just crying in her seat, not refusing to sit down, the girl should have started the ride. We even told him about my nephew the year before, and he said that as long as he was seated and buckled and not trying to get out of his seat, that the CM allowing him to ride was correct.

And...by the way, she never pulled us off the ride. She just wouldn't start it until she stopped crying. That made my daughter cry even worse b/c she told the girl she was fine and she wanted to ride. I could see if a kid was saying they did not want to ride, then she would have been in the right. However, the people in charge of her said she was wrong. The CM just stood there saying she wasn't starting the ride. She never asked us to get off. She never did anything more than to speak to us rudely and wait. We got up and left of our own accord b/c I did not want to hold up the ride for the other people in there with us.

In this case, per her supervisor, her judgement call was a bad one, and she may have jeopardized her job by the way she treated us. Like I said, she was gone when we got back up there a couple minutes later. You're right. The CM does not know everyone's family history, but that is not their job. Their job is to follow Disney's policies, and she didn't. I can say that b/c that is what I was told by her superior.

I am not a complainer. I have only ever gone to management twice at Disney. The first time was when our rooms at CBR had mold on the walls, and the second was in this scenario. We were very nice to all involved, and never treated anyone badly. We have never asked for compensation of any kind. The only thing we didn't want to do was wait in that line again. They let us go in the fastpass line and we got right on.

When it comes to my child, only my authority matters. I would never put my child in harm's way. I did not force her in any way on that ride, and she told me and the CM she wanted to ride. That should have been the end of it right there. Besides, I once saw a mother hold her daughter up to puke over the side of BTMRR, then made her get on the ride, so I don't feel bad at all for taking my daughter on that ride.

 

[StillWorldlyWise]

Not sticking up for the behavior but imagine that you are working 13 hours straight for a week in the heat with crowds and day after day people asking the same questions, etc. it does get frustrating. No they shouldn't have taken it out on you just giving another viewpoint

BUT see - it DOES seem like you are sticking up for them. I can't imagine the number or rude and stupid they encounter each day but that is their job. The eye roll I would not like but it is probably forgivable in their circumstance. But to imply that the OP was stupid for being at the wrong machine was over the top.

 

[StillWorldlyWise]

What about speaking to these offenders instead of being backstabby and escalating things immediately to their supervisors?

"What you just said made me feel confused/embarrassed/whatever and I didn't like it. I know you didn't mean for that to happen. What's going on today?"

People will usually do the right thing if you give them a chance to. In my experience, people in a customer-facing role tend to accidentally give poor service when they focus too much on one aspect of their jobs instead of finding a nice balance between those aspects.

For example, a CM focusing too much on efficiency might come off as rude or confusing. They might believe they're doing good work by attempting to be efficient and don't realize it's making them act rude towards their customers. E-mailing a manager privately, after the fact, is not helpful at all. It's petty because, at its core, it's just revenge.

You can call it something else, but it's really just a cowardly attempt at revenge. Anyone who would claim that they're trying to help the CM deliver better service in the future is really just trying to make themselves feel better about it. If they were so focused on providing the CM feedback, they would provide it directly. Feedback that is direct, relevant, and timely is the most effective. What's a manager going to do about this? Reprimand them? That's your revenge. Coach them? Why should it be a manager? You were there. You knew how it made you feel. Why can't you provide that feedback?

As I said, people want to do good work and will usually do the right thing if given the chance.

EDIT: And I don't mean to be a jerk, but the thought of taking a photo of these people is one of the creepiest things I've ever read. Seriously, don't do that. You are a stranger and you shouldn't be photographing other people like that.

You're just totally wrong.

 

[Smuckles]

You're just totally wrong.

Which part is wrong? The bit where I suggest that people want to be successful at their jobs and when they're not being successful they probably would want to correct that? Or is it my continued insistence that people provide the feedback themselves?

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything wrong with telling someone when I believe they've messed up. I don't need to funnel that information to someone who wasn't there so they can provide the feedback. If I have a preference in favor of a supervisor being told before the offender, then clearly I want some form of punishment for this offender. If I was solely focused on coaching, I could simply skip the employee's manager and coach them myself.

The thought of offering compassion to someone who might not deserve it is not a bad thing. I see nothing wrong with responding to these things with concern instead of guns blazing. A simple "hey, what's going on today?" can open up so many more avenues than being confrontational. How do you think a rude CM would respond if a guest that they were rude to showed them concern?

I just wonder why everyone thinks it's so bad to directly tell a CM what they did and how it made you feel and then acknowledging that they probably didn't mean to do it. Why is that worse than complaining behind their back? What does that accomplish?

To perhaps clarify one last point, I didn't mean to imply that the guests are not important. I realize they're the customers and without them these CMs would not have these jobs they might appear to be taking for granted. My intention was to point out that the CMs do not abandon their identity while at work. Life happens and just because we're paying money does not mean we shouldn't treat them like any other person we encounter. Just because they're at work and we're not doesn't mean they don't deserve a kindhearted approach -- even when they're wronged us. I did not intend to imply that the CMs described in these stories were justified in their actions. The behaviors are not acceptable. I'm just trying to point out that just because we're customers doesn't mean everything has to be a fight. There are much better ways to approach problems involving other people.

I have written a lot in my replies and that makes it easy to pick out small portions and respond only to those without the surrounding context. Naturally, that's upsetting to me. I understand that my opinions can be upsetting to some of those reading them. So, I'm probably going to back out of this discussion in the interest of keeping everyone happy and not upsetting anyone else further.

 

[conandrob240]

Besides, I once saw a mother hold her daughter up to puke over the side of BTMRR, then made her get on the ride, so I don't feel bad at all for taking my daughter on that ride.

I can see why this made you feel better about putting your scared, possibly sick little girl on a ride or forcing your screaming nephew on it. There are worse things, right?

The CM was 100% right to refuse to start a ride when she saw a scared,sick and, in her opinion, possibly forced child on her ride. Any chance the supervisor might have just been appeasing you when he said she was wrong?

Now, for the rest of this thread. No, things don't have to be perfect. But a CM paid to work at WDW needs to be respectful at all times. There can be no lapses in that. If a CM rolled his eyes at me or was rude to me, you can be sure I would report it immediately if not for any other reason than a teachable moment. It is the supervisor's job to coach to how the interaction should have been handled, not mine.