Am I being silly or was this rude?

[zillow]

After reading all of the threads about negative treatment of DVC members - I think that I may have experienced it myself. When checking in to VWL in May we had a nice cast member who was obviously in training. CM was very friendly but the supervisor standing beside him had a look on her face that said she has a ___ up her...well you get the picture. Anyway, she hardly said a word except to pretty harshly criticize or comment on something the CM did or did not do. Never said a word to us until she looked at the reservation (we were checking into 2 2-bedrooms for our group of 14) and said "Wow, you have a lot of points". Now, I don't know why this bothered me but it wasn't said in a nice tone or with a smile. For some reason it struck me as very rude and keeps replaying in my mind sort of like the Brady Bunch episode where Marsha is hit with the ball before her big date and keeps saying "Oh my nose..." Am I overreacting? Oversensitive? I sort of felt like I had to explain myself. We were treating my husband's 2 sisters and their families to a trip and had banked and borrowed to do it, etc. See? I'm explaining myself...

Trip was almost otherwise perfect and as always loved the VWL.

- Carol

 

[lllovell]

I will say that while the comment seems inappropriate, I am not sure I could consider it rude. Sounds like she wasn't having the most "magical" day and in the customer service field that is no good, but I don't think that she was intentionally being rude to you. That said - - - people doing her type of job need to understand that no matter what kind of day, you need to great people politely and with a smile. I think had she smiled at you and said hello, you might not have thought twice about her comment.

 

[Scoootch]

Well....being the overly sensitive person I tend to be most of the time I'd have to say I'd be thinking the same way I totally agree the CM manager was being rude though as far as not even acknowledging you until suddenly noticing something like how many pts you do or don't have ....none of anyone's beeswax who may be standing around and able to overhear her To me, I don't know what's more unprofessional? Not even acknowledging you or announcing your wealth of pts outloud?! Even if the CM was trying to hang back and let the Trainee CM do everything, if the manager CM is going to come close enough to stand over their shoulder where you will see them they should at the very least be saying Hello and acknowleging your presence! That's a major pet peeve of mine I think it all just goes to what people have been saying now for a while about the CM's not getting enough training lately Being that WDW is known for their customer service and what they charge us all for pts or cash, IMHO they should make the CM's go through some kind of seminar once or twice a year to brush up on their csr skills But.....chances of this happening don't seem to be in the cards sadly

Anyway, glad the rest of your trip was wonderful!

 

[JimMIA]

"Wow, you have a lot of points" sounds to me like one of those comments people make trying to be friendly and complimentary when they realize their behavior to that point has been lacking. I wouldn't have been especially put off by it, I would have just thought they were awkward.

However, I would have been put off by the harsh, negative criticism of the trainee in my presence. That's rude - both to the trainee and you.

There are helpful, constructive ways to monitor work and make corrections as you go along, but what you describe is not one of them. If the trainee was brain-dead, she should have taken them in a back office and strangled them, but there is no excuse for criticizing them publicly. One of the basic rules of leading people is "Praise in public, criticize in private." Sounds like someone needs a little Supervision 101 training.

Depending on the severity of the behavior (and my mood swing at the moment), I might have taken the supervisor aside and told them I didn't think their behavior was appropriate...privately, of course. At a minimum, I probably would have given them a "sorry you're having a bad day - don't ruin mine" look.

 

[dianeschlicht]

"Wow, you have a lot of points" sounds to me like one of those comments people make trying to be friendly and complimentary when they realize their behavior to that point has been lacking. I wouldn't have been especially put off by it, I would have just thought they were awkward.

However, I would have been put off by the harsh, negative criticism of the trainee in my presence. That's rude - both to the trainee and you.

There are helpful, constructive ways to monitor work and make corrections as you go along, but what you describe is not one of them. If the trainee was brain-dead, she should have taken them in a back office and strangled them, but there is no excuse for criticizing them publicly. One of the basic rules of leading people is "Praise in public, criticize in private." Sounds like someone needs a little Supervision 101 training.

Depending on the severity of the behavior (and my mood swing at the moment), I might have taken the supervisor aside and told them I didn't think their behavior was appropriate...privately, of course. At a minimum, I probably would have given them a "sorry you're having a bad day - don't ruin mine" look.

ITA. Reprimanding a trainee in the resence of a customer is very poor behavior. I'm pretty good at those "sorry you're having a bad day-don't ruin mine" looks! As to being offended by the "remark", I probably would have hardly noticed that.

 

[alsipd]

I would have to say "silly"

You asked!

 

[SleepyatDVC]

zillow,

Can't tell if it was your imagination or not since we weren't there to witness the "attitude" of the supervisor.

But I think I know what you mean about a supervisor totally ignoring you. We had one of those before. The supervisor was "helping" another CM and did not even establish eye contact with me at all, which I thought was kind of weird and a tad rude but I didn't let it bother me at all. Although, it was weird enough to be memorable.

Maybe the supervisors training the CMs are suppose to be "invisible" and are not suppose to interact with the guests at all and to let the trainee be the voice or something. However, their "ignoring you attitude" makes them even more obvious and makes you feel like the invisible one!

Even if they are not suppose to interact with the guest, a quick glance and quick small smile before glancing away would do a world of good in conveying to the guest that I see you but I can't talk to you and you should think of ME as not even being here.

 

[Greysword]

Ok, so...since the question was answered by our fellow DISers pretty much how I would have expressed it, I'll ask the bitting question:

What is more worrisome, the idea that you were able to use a brady Bunch reference to explain your detail fluently or the fact that I know exactly what you were talking about and could then empathize?

 

[Nanajo1]

If you were checking in on a cash basis would she have said boy you must be rich? I probably would have just smiled at her. Glad it didn't ruin your trip.

 

[KristinU]

hmmm, it does strike me as a bit rude...like if you were paying cash it would be completely inapropriate for the CM to say "boy are you spending a lot of $$$"

BTW, I LOVE your Marsha Brady reference!

 

[Tine731]

I would have to say "silly"

You asked!

Ditto.

 

[Tine731]

Ok, so...since the question was answered by our fellow DISers pretty much how I would have expressed it, I'll ask the bitting question:

What is more worrisome, the idea that you were able to use a brady Bunch reference to explain your detail fluently or the fact that I know exactly what you were talking about and could then empathize?

 

[zillow]

Thanks for the answers! I guess it is being silly but I tend to agree that it came across like a 'gee you have a lot of money' or wow - 'how much do you get paid'. - As if it was a bad or selfish thing to have a lot of points. Of course, maybe it just hit a chord since I don't have a lot of points 'sniff'... If she had smiled when she said it, it probably wouldn't have bothered me as much. Thanks for indulging my obsession with it though.


I agree with those that said she wasn't treating the trainee well - I suppose I could have said something but 'start of vacation' attitude had already found me.
Greysword, glad you liked the Brady ref. I suppose I'm dating myself a bit there...

 

[Disney Doll]

Well, I think that it depends on the "tone" that is used with a comment like that. You know, it's the old "it's not what you say, it's how you say it" thing.

My guess is that, since you described how nasty she had been to the trainee, her "tone" when she made the comment was probably less than desirable.

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

I don't think its rude. A bit inappropriate maybe. She just may be socially lacking or it could be hard for her to make small talk with 'a ___ up her...'