The pressure to provide "excellent" service

[JillSchorr]

just came off the Fantasy and had a great time, but I have to say, the way our server gave us the riot act of making sure he gets an "excellent" rating was so off putting. I'm sure they are under insane pressure by Disney for excellent standards, but it was not subtle...it was down right uncomfortable. Maybe it was the language barrier in the delivery I don't know.

I'd really love to read about the "behind the scenes" of Disney crew...I can't even imagine.

 

[Hundredacre]

just came off the Fantasy and had a great time, but I have to say, the way our server gave us the riot act of making sure he gets an "excellent" rating was so off putting. I'm sure they are under insane pressure by Disney for excellent standards, but it was not subtle...it was down right uncomfortable. Maybe it was the language barrier in the delivery I don't know.

I'd really love to read about the "behind the scenes" of Disney crew...I can't even imagine.

We have the same issue. Every. Cruise. It's awful. We keep thinking dcl will address it but they don't.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We actually avoid the MDRs on the last night for this reason. We actually feel the servers start performing like circus animals. No need. They don't need to humilate themselves in this way we hate it! I wish they would just be paid a good wage and end this begging show. Include it in the my fair I don't mind. Of course I am payimg the tips. No need to beg or perform for me.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I have no problem rating someone excellent if they deserve it. Unfortunately it has been a long time since we've actually experienced excellent service on any cruise line. We've been cruising on Disney for more than 10 years, and the "full court press" on the final night has always been evident. It is doubtful Disney will take any action to change, since it has been that way for at least the past 10 years.

 

[hanscarlet]

It seems to get worse on every cruise we go on. The Assistant Server said it will allow them more time off during their contract. Do you ever put yes for "did you receive pressure to put an excellent rating?" I never do but I am starting to think we should.

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

Our head server only briefly mentioned the report card, i definitely didn't feel pressured. They did provide excellent service.

 

[queendarvet]

Maybe we have been lucky but we always receive excellent service. Perhaps some nights better than others but we understand they have a difficult job. Early into the cruise we stress the word excellent when they ask how things are going and we tell the servers no worries! That seems to eliminate the need for the servers to continue to press us for excellent ratings.

 

[Hundredacre]

We actually avoid the MDRs on the last night for this reason. We actually feel the servers start performing like circus animals. No need. They don't need to humilate themselves in this way we hate it! I wish they would just be paid a good wage and end this begging show. Include it in the my fair I don't mind. Of course I am payimg the tips. No need to beg or perform for me.

We have actually started avoiding the main dining rooms towards the end of the cruise too. The excellent service speech drives my husband crazy. I thought it was just us. It's pretty bad when they are ruining meals like that. Ironically the excellent service speech is the opposite of excellent service. It is really over the top as well because I find they ask a lot during the week if everything is great, etc.

 

[kamik86]

I haven't cruised disney and the lines I have cruised we have had a few people mention the little cards to rate people but nothing more then 30 seconds of hey you'll get these in your room and it really helps us to fill them out. My name is ____. Which doesn't bother us.

Honestly if I got what you were talking about I would immediately say that if I heard one more thing from them about the report card I would be giving them a 2.

 

[JillSchorr]

We have actually started avoiding the main dining rooms towards the end of the cruise too. The excellent service speech drives my husband crazy. I thought it was just us. It's pretty bad when they are ruining meals like that. Ironically the excellent service speech is the opposite of excellent service. It is really over the top as well because I find they ask a lot during the week if everything is great, etc.

Our "excellent" speech started the first night of the cruise! And every time we had dinner! I gave everyone excellent ratings..even though I think the MDR food is mediocre (I know that isn't my servers fault, but feeding the masses in general) however I did say on my comment card that I was pressured to give "excellent" ratings.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Our "excellent" speech started the first night of the cruise! And every time we had dinner! I gave everyone excellent ratings..even though I think the MDR food is mediocre (I know that isn't my servers fault, but feeding the masses in general) however I did say on my comment card that I was pressured to give "excellent" ratings.

Oh my! We tried everything! From saying we have already paid the tips, signed the card. Still the pressure and juggling act! I said that on my card also. By the end I thought any moment I will have a light shined in my eyes and good cop bad cop routine.. Lol.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Do you ever put yes for "did you receive pressure to put an excellent rating?"

Yes. I did put excellent on my survey and also put that I felt pressured to give excellent ratings because both were true. The first night, I got the excellent speech by the server and the head server. It was too much. It would have been fine if they just said that they want to give excellent service and to let them know if they weren't.

Mid week (7 night cruise), I got it again, this time mostly by the head server. She asked about my service and food and I when I told her everything was good, she said, "That means you'll be giving us excellent in 3 areas. Food, service and themeing all need to be excellent. That's great. I'm so glad you'll be giving all excellent marks." My server asked on another night if there was anything he had done that wasn't excellent because he wanted the opportunity to make things excellent before the last night of the cruise. I actually was mad at DCL at that point because I figured someone up above all of them is pressuring them too much. It seemed like if the service was excellent and I didn't like the themeing and didn't put excellent for that, the servers would be dinged. How lame is that?

 

[Plaid Princess]

Interesting, I've only ever had servers mention it in passing... although I am usually quite upfront throughout the cruise about the service. I've only ever had excellent service from the MDR's, and I frequently tell the servers that. Perhaps they feel less pressure if they receive validation as we go along?

 

[Mortlives]

The excellent speech annoys me as well. I have gotten into the habit of saying that I know anything less than an excellent is a failure the first time they bring it up. It seems to shut it down. Sidenote: our last cruise was on Celebrity. No survey, no cards, no excellent speech. Just excellent service.

 

[wcw57]

I've posted this before but I am nothing if not redundant:

Our server gave us the speech after the second night of a 7 night cruise. I never knew how many different ways you could accentuate the word excellent....

He asked if there was anything he could improve to give excellent service. So I told him. Bring my coffee with the dessert, don't make me look around for you when I want a refill, don't make me sit around for 15 minutes waiting for a piece of pie, or ice cream, or whatever....

He acknowledged each of my suggestions with great aplomb. ........and then the service got steadily worse each night thereafter. I eventually started getting my own refills at the coffee station....nobody stopped or questioned me. My family and the other family at the table kinda enjoyed joking about how lousy the servers were doing; anticipating and predicting each night's failures. We tried to be compassionate, but we failed.

I am looking forward to a different set of servers come February.

 

[BigredNole]

I worked in a service group in my company for 3 years. It was the absolute worst experience ever. The pressure is insane on the employees no matter how effective and excellent they are. It wasn't until 6 months in that I found out how bad it really was. Coworkers were telling customers that if they are surveyed that they provide a 10 out of 10 for the service. I didn't know why until I received my first "evaluation". I still had a very high score, but lower than I had expected. The organization goals were to be at or above 70% customer satisfaction. Customers are surveyed to respond with a number between 1 for poor and 10 for excellent. Anything that was not a 10 was a 0. So if you were given a 9, it was a zero in the average. Out of 10 surveys, you get 7 10's and 3 something else, this is 70 total divided by 10 surveys = 70%.

What shocked me even more, is most industries follow the same practice. If it is not a 10 it is a 0. They do this to determine the percentage of Excellent vs Not Excellent. For Disney, I can see them saying anything below 90% is a failure. Thus the reason they are probably so upfront with it.

Needless-to-say, I will never get back into that environment again. I threatened with a lawsuit when I was rated very low with only one commitment "Meet organizational customer sat goal of 70%". I had a 98% customer sat number. They tried not giving me my variable paycheck and defined pay raise. In hind sight, I should have let them rate me low and then file a lawsuit.

 

[melwill530]

I wonder if their pay is directly affected by not getting an excellent. My husband works service and their pay (commission only) will be cut for anything below an excellent. Also in the hospital industry, the hospital loses money for anything below an excellent and the next rating below. Crazy standards as many of us who fill out survey scores are hard-pressed to automatically give an excellent especially if we are having to pay a lot of money to get our cars repaired or if we ar sick and our pain is not eased.

 

[olookasquirrel]

It's so strange to me, because I've always been told on evaluations that there's no such thing as a perfect score. You can do very well, but you can always improve on some aspect of your job. So the all or nothing scoring system bothers me.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We actually avoid the MDRs on the last night for this reason

Do you ever put yes for "did you receive pressure to put an excellent rating?" I never do but I am starting to think we should.

The excellent service speech drives my husband crazy.

Our "excellent" speech started the first night of the cruise! And every time we had dinner! I

I've learned to head off the excellent speech by allowing it the first time. Then I'm very clear in my response: "OK, you said your speech. Now, if I hear it again, it will affect the rating." If they start it again the next meal, I tell them that I will be mentioning it to the head server that I've asked not to get the excellent speech numerous times. Usually, I don't have to take it that far.

Yes, I've checked "yes" on the "did you feel pressured to provide excellent ratings".

 

[CamColt]

This bugs me too. I do find sometimes now it is earlier in the cruise and more often, not just the last night, and I really hate listening to it, even when we have servers we adore! We have had some head servers casually work it in at the beginning, for example he will tell us it's his job to make sure everything is excellent for us, and if it is not to let him know...that I'm ok with. It's when they start mentioning the cards specifically, that is gets weird. Honestly, I don't feel they should be allowed to even mention that, but I guess they are.