Anyone else notice low moral amon CM at WDW

[tootsiemolly]

Please forgive me if this has been discussed recently. But, after returning from an 8 day stay at WDW this last week I couldn't help but notice how many rude comments, or poor attitudes we received during our trip. For example about a half a dozen older, retirement aged CM running the rides had frowns and grimmaces on their faces, made rude comments toward the people in line, and enforced the rides rules or procedures with poor attitudes. ie wait here, wait to board etc. I also notice unkept railings that were in need of paint, or a good washing. Dirty and unkept bathrooms. We also went to park our stroller before Tarzan Rocks, and one CM's points and says park it over there. My husband says here? and point's in a direction. Then a different CM comes over and yells "you can't park that there sir." My husband comments, "you people need to get a better attitude. I was only asking where you wanted me to park". They just gave him dirty looks. I asked for information, direction etc. on 3 seperate occasions I got rude responses. My husband commented on the fact you can't ask for any help around here. Then to top it off. I am at Epcot at the Land food court. The lines were long and this guy starts to make conversation with me. He starts the conversation with I should know better than to come here on a Sat. I asked him do you come here often? He responded he had a silver/lifetime pass because he was a retired Disney employee. Then he proceeds to go on for 15 min. about how bad disney has become to work for. That they extended the requirement for retirement from 20yrs. to 25 years and that they were forcing their employees out by discontinuing benefits because Disney doesn't want to pay for it. He told me his wife, mother, and father still work at Disney trying to reach retirement. He stated that Disney has gone from a family to a corporation. He said the MVMCP use to be for employees now the employee's don't get a x-mas pary. That Moral is low. That Eisner only cares about money. That he has ruined the Disney Family environment that use to be. etc etc. The fifteen min went on forever. I felt bad for the man. He was probably in his late 40's. I didn't know how to respond to him. Or what to say accept I am sorry.

What is everyone elses opinion. Is Disney going to recover? I even noticed the Chili's in Lake Buena Vista had a sign up that said sorry we can no longer offer CM the 15% discount. Even Chili's was empty.

 

[nativetxn]

I didn't experience anything like this on my trip in December, sorry to hear that you had some rude cms. That is very sad.

Katholyn

 

[one_cat]

I didn't notice anything like that either - in fact I was pleasantly surprised this trip how pleasant everyone was, guest and cm. Several CMs went out of their way to help us - volunteering stuff that was not even necessary. I only remember noticing one rude CM but I always try to give people a break - everyone has a bad day once in awhile.

 

[damo]

Friends of ours just came back from a week at AKL. She said exactly the same thing! Lots of people were complaining about service, etc. and the CM's just didn't seem to care. She was really disappointed as she hadn't been to Disney in about 5 years and isn't going to go back again.

 

[helenabear]

Sorry you felt this way... honestly I didn't notice this at all when I was there. Well, there was one CM that would be what I would call 'average service' for around here and I thought "well that wasn't very Disneyish" but thinking further I realized I would be please with the service if I had received it here (if that makes sense). So I guess you could say I had great service in general and was very pleased with the CMs as a whole and had a great time chatting with many of them in line and around... and two were good sports and played along with me while I was on the phone with a friend. Just sorry you felt that they wern't up to par.

 

[honeywolf7]

The only bad CM I had in September was a woman who was Hispanic and didn't speak enough English to tell me how to get to Fulton's from where I was in DTD.

 

[Lanshark]

We noticed much the same thing during our June trip. We didn't, however, experience any rudeness towards us. Some were not too helpful though. We did hear several CM's make disparaging remarks about Disney in general. Many seemed unhappy with their jobs. We've been there 20 times over the past 25 years and have never heard these types of comments before.

 

[CarolA]

Well, half of anything is perception.

 

[Otimon]

As an older retirement aged CM, please let me apologize to you for the remarks of those CM's you encountered. I am very sorry for your experience and it was something that should never have happened.

This is one CM who adores working for Disney and loves every minute of it. Wish you had been over to see me.

Best wishes.

 

[wdw4us]

I just got back a week ago. I was at HRH for Thanksgiving weekend and then at the BWV for the next full week.

Not only did I see a vast improvement of service - friendly and efficient at the HRH and got the same at WDW.

I was not thrilled with going to US/IOA again but my kids wanted to go. I had been there in Oct and THEY were rude. We came into contact with one great CM the whole day at US/IOA and she was a young woman in her early 20's After that day I'd had it and did not want to go in November/Dec. Well I had made my bed and went through with it. I was pleasantly surprised at how vastly improved US/IOA was, the Hard Rock was great and we had a nice 3 days there.

The BWV and all of WDW was GREAT! We were 10 in our family and everyone had a wonderful time. It's rather hard to please 10 and they did it!

Don't get me wrong, we've had vacations where this has happened but we try to look past that and have a good time.

For me it's like trying a new restaurant. If you go and it's not very good, I generally try it again. We're not always up to speed every day. It's really too bad that this happend to you. I know how much it costs to go to WDW and that is disappointing when you are let down. Give it some time and maybe try again for a bit shorter stay to "test the waters" so to speak.

Try to remember the GOOD moments and let the less than stellar ones fade away.

denise

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by honeywolf7
The only bad CM I had in September was a woman who was Hispanic and didn't speak enough English to tell me how to get to Fulton's from where I was in DTD.

I would not consider that bad at all. What prevented you from obtaining a map and reading it? I am puzzled, how did the fact that she did not speak English well enough for you equate to a bad CM? Remember, there is NO national language.

 

[7thdwarf/dopey]

I wonder.......how would we be taken by CM's if we wore anti-Eisner t-shirts on our trip coming up?? Or perhaps other visitors.

 

[isyne4u]

I have to say that after my 9 day trip in November I didn't have anything akin to a bad or rude cm. I have to say that they were especially helpful and friendly. One cm in particular I owe a large debt of thanks to...I don't remember his name, but I had had a long day and then had to travel from AKL to ASM to drop off some passes for friends arriving the next day. Unfortunately there are no direct routes if you don't have a car. The bus driver apologized to me that he couldn't deter (it was almost 1030 at night) from his route from AKL to DTD to drop me off at the ASM. He was very sympathetic especially since I was 7 weeks pregnant and really feeling nauseous! I finally got to ASM delieverd the tickets to the CM at the counter and then proceeded to wait for a return bus to DTD. By now it was almost midnight as it took quite some time to make the journey. I was beginnning to feel really sick and went back to the desk at the ASM and asked them if they could call a cab for me as I was feeling icky b/c I was preggers. The wonderfl cm tried to call but got put on hold. He then asked me to wait and he disappeared backstage, when he reappeared he had keys in his hand and told me that he would personally deliever me to my hotel. Not only did he go out of his way to help me but he was so friendly and chatty that it was a really pleasant ride back to AKL!!

The only rude and grumpy people I saw were the guests yelling at their children or at CM's for not allowing them to do something they were not supposed to be doing.

Sorry you had such a bad experience!
tara

 

[DocRafiki]

This is sad.



I saw a lot of unhappy CMs even as far back as '92 when I worked there. It was almost always the full-time permanent CMs who were bitter. Fortunately, they had SO MANY seasonal/temporary CMs who were just happy to be there for the experience, that you barely noticed the sour grapes.

Oh yeah, and I agree it is very poor form for them to have CMs onstage that can't communicate with the native guests, for whatever reason.

 

[Pig Pen]

The guy was in his late-40's and was retired?????? Sounds to me like Disney treated him pretty well.

 

[gshoemate]

You also have to remember that not everyone loves Disney....yes it's true. Just like any other place in the country people have to work because they have to and they don't always enjoy their jobs. Yes, I know at Disney it is supposed to be a magical place. But I will tell you, I go to WDW alot and you would be amazed at the abuse that some of the CM's have to deal with. People not listening to the rules, arguing about the rules (that the CM's did not make), people thinking that the CM's are babysitters and that they can just dump their kids off at the playgrounds and they will be taken care of, and the list goes on. Not every visitor is nice to CM's. I try to go out of my way to be nice to them because I see what they have to deal with on a day to day basis. Everyone has their breaking point, even at WDW.

But please remember that there are CM's out there that really go out of their way to make things special. You should remember their name, where they are from and what area they are working in. Then when you return home, take a moment and email Guest Services, they will receive recognition and that just might turn a CM's bad day into a good one, then they can go spread that Pixie Dust.

 

[meeko_33785]

I'm sorry to hear that. For all the years I've been going to WDW, I cannot think of a single time where I ever experienced a rude CM. Lately I have noticed that many of the CMs are a bit more blase' then they use to be, but not really rude. To be perectly honest, it's getting to be like that everywhere I think. Most places you go, whether it be a grocery store, restaurant, or shopping mall, I've esperienced that more and more employees are becoming more and more like this to their customers. It's kind of sad, and especially sad that Disney who once prided itself on the friendliness and attentiveness of their CMs is falling into this as well. Still I would hazard to say that 80 to 90 % of the CMs I have experienced have been at least friendly, attentive, and very polite. I'd say the spark in the CMs is still there, but every year slowly but surely, the amount of CMs with that spark seems to decline.

 

[honeywolf7]

Bingo to what Doc Rafiki said......If working in the U.S. among guests (and especially if you're a custodial hostess who from what I understand have a great deal of guest interaction), you need to speak English well enough to help them.

 

[Poohbear123]

Try living in Miami where you have to know 3 languages. I get along just fine!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by honeywolf7
Bingo to what Doc Rafiki said......If working in the U.S. among guests (and especially if you're a custodial hostess who from what I understand have a great deal of guest interaction), you need to speak English well enough to help them.

Well speaking English sure won't help non speaking English people. Perhaps it was you that had the problem, not her. As I said, read a map. That comes in English.