A CM said WHAT???

[lark]

Great thread.

Lots of the stuff reported here that CMs have said is really awful. But some of it is really funny too.

I'm sure that many of you, like me, have had jobs where you've dealt with the public. It is absolutely staggering, at times, the kinds of things people will say. Even where your job is to be nice, an 8 hour shift is a long time, and some times you're not at your best and it's impossible to bite your tounge. I imagine being a CM working in MGM and being asked like 10 times a day where the TOT is. I think eventually, I would snap off something sarcastic, or just go nuts. Maybe not necessarily to someone that asked me that question, but perhaps even the next well meaning person.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, so I'm not going to give an example (and it ties in later), but the thing I find most amazing at disney is the propensity of people to inject themselves into a conversation to which they are not a part. On elevators, in the monorail, in the parks, it seems to be something in the water. Something about all the friendliness at WDW seems to give people this incredible urge to just start speaking to you about your conversation. Sometimes it's great -- like when someone overhears you talking about needing to get somewhere and they tell you there's a boat you didn't know about. But sometimes, it's insane -- there needs to be a rule that if you're not reasonably certain that you understand what people are talking about, don't inject yourself. Anyway, I think this sensibility has got to be particularly difficult on CMs who, I'm sure, hear it all, and have to deal with some stupidity that most of us can hardly fathom.

 

[ksoehrlein]

In October we were waiting for the monorail and there was no one else waiting so my DD was talking to the CM - my DD told the CM how the next day we were going to MGM and she was going to ride ToT for the first time ever and how excited she was

The CM proceeded to tell my DD how scary it was and that she had ridden it once and would never ever ever in a million years ride it again

OT, but my friend did that to my DD. She described the ride using the phrase "makes your stomach go up into your throat," which does describe the feeling you get during the drop, but you just don't say something like that to a very literal 4-year-old! Oh well. My friend will soon learn; she's now expecting her first baby. (DD still hasn't ridden ToT yet.)

 

[Disney Doll]

And to top it all off, Space Mountain is inside a building, so it doesn't appear to be a mountain from the outside! Unbelievable! Too bad we can't turn these CM's in right then and there! I know, take a picture of them with your cell phone or digital camera and share it, (along with your comments) with Guest Services on the way out!

They all wear name tages. Look at thename tag, make a note of the day, time & location where you had the encounter and report them. Disney will be able to figure out which "Bill from Trumbull CT" was standing at TTA at 2PM on December 16th 2005.

 

[Disney Doll]

Generally, if someone says something offensive or inappropriate in my presence, I call them on it right then. If they continue with their offensive behavior, I go to their supervisor. This is not only in WDW, but everywhere.

I have no patience for "they're frustrated because they don't get paid a lot" or "maybe they are having a bad day". If you are rude to me, and I call you on it, I don't expect you to conitnue to be rude.

I work for a living too. The times when patients have said to me "that comment hurt my feelings" or whatever, i have apologized and shut up. We all have bad days, that's very true. But if you are the employee and I am the customer and I comment to you about your rudeness, I don't expect to get continued rudeness.

That being said I have always found Disney CMs to be very nice overall. I can't say I have ever encountered someone totally rude. I have encountered some that were less "glowy" than others, but I chalk that up to personality more than rudeness. Some folks are just more reserved than others, and I ma sure they encounter their share of rude guests as well, so In ever treat a CM rudely.

 

[Joanna71985]

They all wear name tages. Look at thename tag, make a note of the day, time & location where you had the encounter and report them. Disney will be able to figure out which "Bill from Trumbull CT" was standing at TTA at 2PM on December 16th 2005.

Yes, but the nametag isn't always correct. I know a couple of days that I had to wear a nametag named "Alice" because 1) my new nametag for the celebration wasn't in and 2) I lost my other one. So heads up that the nametage might not be right.

 

[Principessa1284]

bumpity bumpity bump

 

[D L and K's Mom]

Last trip DH, DD DS and I went on Kali River Rapids. Since DS is in a wheelchair they have to load them in a different area of the ride. The Cm commented on "what a pain it was to load and unload the boats and how it took sooo long". Well we didn't say anything but I felt sad. We got the last laugh though as another CM justlet us go 3 times without unloading us. As we would progress in the line to get out he would give us the thumbs up sign when we returned the thumbs up he would push us through. The last time he thumbed up us we thumbed down and he pulled us in. We thanked him and he smiled and said he could see DS smile and hear him laughing so he figured he might like and exteneded ride!!!
On one of our trips DD was celebrating her 2nd birthday. We got her a Birthday Button in MK. The CM who gave it to her said something like...Is it realllly your birthday. DD who was only two said yes and tried to hold up 2 fingers (she held up 4...) The CM said to another CM, I thought so another convient Disney World Birthday. I just let it go . I guess they see a lot of people who say it is their birthday.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

these are so fun to read

 

[Kristina]

On our first trip last year we were having a wonderful time at the MK when we decided to get a fastpass for Haunted before we went to lunch. There was a CM there who didn't like that idea at all and tried to talk us out of it, saying that by getting fastpasses we would be creating an even longer line and in effect ruining things for a lot of other people.

Sure, there wasn't much of a line at that time but it was very hot out and sure enough when we came back, fastpasses in hand the line was quite long! It was just her attitude that surpised me because she was very put off by us, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. I really just couldn't believe it and we still remembered her this year as we went to ride Haunted!

 

[shar2ak]

Lat week we were walking up the ramp to the monoraill to get to MK. There was an older man in his 60's in front of us in a wheelchair by himself. He gets to the top of the ramp and the CM opens the gate to the handicap area for him to get ready to load onto the monorail. The CM asks him how many in his party and the man replies 1. The CM then says in such a loud voice that everyone turned around...."who goes to Disney by themselves, don't you have anyone to go with you?" The man was so embarassed he just looked at the ground and didn't say anything, everyone was just shocked that this CM did that. It truly ruined my night, I was just so sad for this man and I couldn't get the episode out of my head of seeing him so sad and embarassed, I still get sad thinking about it.

This is so sad

Shar

 

[pampam]

Well, this wasn't bad but I thought this was funny. DH and I were waiting for Dreams Come True (It All Started With A Mouse) MK parade at MSUSA. The singing barbershop cortette came to us and asked us where we were from and we told them we were from California. One of the guys asked, "Why did you guys come here, since you have a DL in California?" And another guy poked him and said, "Shut up! We want them to spend their money here!" We thought that was so funny, that everyone and the group around us started laughing.

Those Dapper Dans are a hoot. They are always saying things like that. I've heard that joke about California from them before.

Once we were talking to them, and my DD said to one of them "Hello, Joe." I looked at him. He looked like he was Joe, but his name tag said another name. I said to my daughter "Oh, that's not Joe. That's (whatever his name tag said)." Quickly, he covered up his name tag with his hand, and said that he had forgotten his name tag at home. We all laughed about that one.

 

[budbeerlady]

Bump, some are too funny!

 

[krismom]

I actually posted this in the wrong place the first time I tired (somehow it ended up on the Christmas thread) - I am trying again....

**********************************************************
This is my first post - but I must admit that I am a frequent visitor to the site

This happened about 10 years ago. My parents use to take my brother and I to Disneyworld in exchange for us taking them to a nice restaurant somewhere in the park (nice deal if you can get it). This has to do with the Italian restaurant in Epcot.

I am a cancer survivor. The year that this happened was the year that I had a bone marrow transplant. I had the typical "cancer kid look" - bald, pudgy, vaguely disfigured. We went to the Italian restaurant as my treat. The server at the restaurant treated us terribly - I have not had such bad service at Disney, before or since. The food was cold, the waiter was rude, the service, for lack of a better word, sucked.

After being treated like garbage for the 2 hours that it took to get our cold dinner, we asked for the bill. The server replied, "Well since you are part of Candlelighters - there is no charge for the dinner". We never gave him any indication that we were part of any organization. He just assumed, because of my appearance, that we weren't paying. And because we were there for the "free meal", he assumed he wasn't getting a tip - so there was no reason to be nice to us.

Being the polite Canadians that we were, we explained his mistake, recieved our bill - and paid it. I am also pretty sure that I left an appropriate tip for the bill amount. Of course, we have never been back to that restaurant.

I would have just said "thank you" and left. After being treated rudely and after what you had gone through with cancer- it would have been the least they could have done for you!

 

[AllisonG]

subscribing

 

[alliecats]

Not long after the Tigger fiasco of 2004, DH and I celebrated our anniversary in WDW. It is a ritual to have our picture taken with Chewbacca, so we took individual photos. When it was my turn, Chewbacca took a death grip on my arm and kind of hugged me up like he wasn't going to let me go. I thought that was pretty funny, and then the CM/Handler (wearing a suit, he looked like an executive, not a regular cast member), said "Now, Chewie, we don't need any more of THAT kind of trouble!" and everyone cracked up as Chewie relaxed his hold. I was surprised he said that, esp. since he was a "suit." Funny, though. You can tell I am cracking up in this photo:

 

[PrincessLindy]

When our daughter was two we went and took her Godfather to help. We had stayed too late at Boardwalk because she was sleeping in the stoller anyway. It was about 1:00 in the morning and we went to the busses to catch the DTD bus to trasfer to OKW. The bus pulls up and lets out a couple people. The whole trip we would get on and ask the bus drivers on crowded busses if we could take the stoller on the back door so we don't smack people with it. Well this guy as we were walking up to the door starts to close the door on us. Our panicked friend jumped in the back door to yell stop, we need to get on. Bus stops and he opens the back door and we hop on.

The driver then tells us to get off because we got on wrong. So it is after 1:00 in the morning we climb off the bus with a sleeping 2 year old and a stoller. We board 'correctly' meanwhile bumping the stoller against the remaning drunken passengers. He then yelled at us from Boardwalk until after Yacht club.

I understand it is dangerous to get in on the back door, but he panicked and then when he stopped and opened the door we figured that is how he wanted us to get on. We did not feel like waiting another 45 minutes for a bus at that time of the night. Why did he think we were at the DTD bus stop at 1 in the moring? He should have waited for us to board correctly.

The other passangers were also very upset on how we were treated. The next day we reported him and the guest services were very upset. They even called over the manager to call transportation right away. They gave us VIP seating for Illuminations that night and gave us a call the next day to apologize again.

 

[Maliki2]

Obviously not understanding that I use my cell phone mostly for business purposes, the CM whose name tag showed she was from France said, "You are so weird". I looked at her like she had a snake on her head! I had been calm, yet frustrated, throughout my conversations with the CM's, knowing it was not their fault I lost my cell phone. But they could tell I was a bit frustrated at the situation, not them. And I have no idea why she said what she did.

The other CM, in horror by what Miss France said, speedily stated that they could call a couple of places for me to see if it had turned up elsewhere. I then informed Miss France that some of us use our cell phones for other purposes than to chatter with friends, and that my phone was used for business reasons. She kind of took the hint then that what she said was so off base, insulting and inappropriate. What a ding a ling!

Haha...not Disney related but I had a similar experience here at work. I work security for a local college. During the summer we put up people from all over the world. This past summer we had a bunch of people from Greece staying on campus. So I get a rescue call to check on one of them that has itchy marks all over her body (mosquitoes bites). She seems to be upset and fine, but we ask if she has any friends that wants us to take to a local 24 hr store, to get medicine to relieve the itching. (we didn't have to but we were being kind). She said yes, and two of her friends came along , we drove them to the store and back (since they had no clue about the area). As they were getting out of the car, one said "thank you", and the other one said "You guys are scarey". I looked at my other co worker with this confused look on my face, almost to say ***! So I know exactly how you feel!

 

[goofyshell]

Bumping....

 

[HollisterSweetie]

Lat week we were walking up the ramp to the monoraill to get to MK. There was an older man in his 60's in front of us in a wheelchair by himself. He gets to the top of the ramp and the CM opens the gate to the handicap area for him to get ready to load onto the monorail. The CM asks him how many in his party and the man replies 1. The CM then says in such a loud voice that everyone turned around...."who goes to Disney by themselves, don't you have anyone to go with you?" The man was so embarassed he just looked at the ground and didn't say anything, everyone was just shocked that this CM did that. It truly ruined my night, I was just so sad for this man and I couldn't get the episode out of my head of seeing him so sad and embarassed, I still get sad thinking about it.

Stories such as this just break my heart.

 

[JodyLynC]