Disney is totally heartless!!!

[A Mickeyfan]

I have to agree - a lot of the unhappiness seems to have stemmed from The Disney Store. Speaking from experience here, I did work with the Disney Store for years. It was the individual management chains that made it either pleasant or hell...not the company known as Disney. That you're going to find everywhere whether you work at Starbucks, Disney, JCPenney, Kohls, etc.

The Disney Store was strict about time off - it's retail. They had black out days, weekends and yes, months during the busy holiday season. They had limits as to the amount of days you can request off per month and only certain days at that. That's retail. It's when people want the rules bent for them that they get p.o'd and start spouting that Disney is mean, Disney should be more friendly, and my favorite, that's not what Walt wanted.

yes they did have black out days.. and no I was not asking for a black out time.. when your family is going out of town and you only work 3 days a week, 4 hours a day.. you give them 6 months notice.. how can you justify them turning it down? What would you do? Would you stay home and work for Disney and let your family go .. miss your 12 year old son playing a sport out of state to work 12 hours a week.... In actuality, I was asking for 6 days off, a mere 24 hours out of one year! I guess that is too much to ask for in retail.. I have worked retail before where you have gotten vacations. Disney is a company that doesn't give one I guess... Sorry, but my feelings still remain the same. When you request the time (part time at that) six months ahead of time due to a family event (and proud to say my son was in a baseball tourny out of town)... I neglected to mention that I had friends at the store that were willing to do my shifts for me.. but the SM wanted no part of it. It was a flat out NO... and the time off was in July... slow season for our store! That is just spitful and wrong to do to an employee. Are we not allowed any time off? To put your mind at ease.. I was not asking for a black out season date. I was not one of those cast members...


ps.. I also want to add that I work in the school district. Once when my son got sick at his school, the principal at the school I worked in would not let me leave to pick him up... yet when she had children sick at her school, she got very angry when the parents did not pick up their chidren. There was a double standard there. She wanted the sick children out of her school, yet she did not want her employees to go get their sick child. Needless to say, I am not at that school anymore. I am at a school that allows for us to get our children if they come down sick. Again.. it comes down to management. That principal is not a principal anymore either.... she was forced into retirement.... wonder why It is a proven fact that when you are good to your employees, your employees are good to you.. Better moral=better work production!

 

[mickeysgal]

It is a proven fact that when you are good to your employees, your employees are good to you.. Better moral=better work production!

Absolutely.

You had to do what was right for you and your family. I wouldn't want to miss something that important either. You gave it your best shot with them in regards to telling them far, far in advance. They decided not to work with you on it. You tried. Nothing much else you could have done. It boils down to whether you (the collective you) have a good store manager/assnt. managers. We had a great managment team to start, but then, wow...it turned on a dime when they changed the manager and one assistant. We had a very rough go of it for awhile.

 

[remain seated please]

It is still amazing how the people who questions and criticize Disney are labeled as arrogant, bitter, unhappy, angry, name-callers, and the like. On this thread alone, there have been several people who have shared stories about their experiences as Disney "castmembers" that were not all praise and pixie dust. Every single one of those stories were questioned and in some cases dismissed by some of the people here.

That is why I referred to people as having clouded judgement. I have not said "bad" judgement. Just clouded. You see Disney the way you want to see it. Of course somebody is going to argue and say that I am doing the same way. The difference is that I (like others) have cited specific examples of Disney's poor treatment of employees that involved myself and others.

The title of this thread is "Disney Is Totally Heartless". Some people have tried to justify Disney's behavior as "this is how corporations work" or "employees have a responsibility to the company", etc. You have tried to justify Disney's behavior as not that of Disney, but that of a "chain of managers" who apparently make up the rules as they go. Well I've got news for you. Those managers are Disney. Their actions reflect on the company. Good or bad. The arguments against what myself and others have said have not been backed-up by specific facts to the contrary. Rather, just a bunch of denial. So if some people think what I have been discussing here has been arrogant or bitter, I'm afraid the mirror has two faces.

If you really want to engage in a discussion, give some examples that support your argument. Make it constructive instead just defending Disney because it's Disney.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

If you really want to engage in a discussion, give some examples that support your argument. Make it constructive instead just defending Disney because it's Disney.

I can think of two things off the top of my head without even truly thinking about it that prove that not all managers at Disney are like the managers you had.

In late winter/early spring of 2005, we thought my mom had cancer. It turned out to not be cancer at this time, but we decided to take a trip that we had always talked about taking -driving across the country, coast to coast. When we started the planning, we weren't sure of my mom's condition. I talked to my manager at the store about it and she talked to my district manager and approved me to take a month off of the store to go on the trip of a lifetime.

Last year, my DBF surprised with a trip to WDW in the beginning of December. Even though technically we weren't supposed to have vacations, my manager allowed me to go. I had a wonderful and magical trip with my DBF and I was so thankful that my manager let me take that trip.

Just like many posters have said, not all managers are bad and not all managers are good. I guess we're lucky that we have the good ones.

 

[WDSearcher]

If you really want to engage in a discussion, give some examples that support your argument. Make it constructive instead just defending Disney because it's Disney.

Please go back and re-read post #152. A specific example WAS cited.

The difference between those of us on the pro-Disney side vs. you is that we are all willing to concede that yes ... there are people who are treated badly and who have negative experiences while working here. We get that. However, either our personal experiences have been different, or we're willing to allow that our employer is not 100% perfect all of the time. You, however, are only willing to believe the bad part of Disney. You have no problem believing and building on the negative stories, but you can't seem to believe or concede that there are also people working at Disney who enjoy it, who have good managers, and who have had positive job experiences there.

Your opinion comes off as very one-sided. I happen to really enjoy my job at Disney, and I like working here -- corporate warts and all. It is the best job I've ever had, and I've had a few. But to you, I'm just someone with clouded vision who can't see what a horrible, money-grubbing corporate rat I'm working for.

And maybe that's why it's working out for people like me and it didn't for people like you. I came into the Company understanding that it was a business. As a previous poster said, I wasn't expecting them to be my family. They are my employer. I knew they had shortcomings when I started. I knew it wasn't going to be pixie dust and smiles every day. I came in eyes-open. I think many of the people who are now so anti-Disney had unrealistic expectations, thinking that working here would be as magical as it was being a guest. But that's not possible. A job is a job. A vacation is a vacation. They're two totally different things.

 

[TheFlame]

WOW! We would have been closed down 10 pages ago if we had gotten this off-topic on the camping board!

I have to lurk on these other boards more often, you guys share my passion about sharing personal opinions!(just look at my tags! ) They are just that and that is what makes this country so great! I am loving these "discussions" y'all are having! If I ever need someone to get my back I will look over here!

 

[Goobergal99]

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Absolutely.

You had to do what was right for you and your family. I wouldn't want to miss something that important either. You gave it your best shot with them in regards to telling them far, far in advance. They decided not to work with you on it. You tried. Nothing much else you could have done. It boils down to whether you (the collective you) have a good store manager/assnt. managers. We had a great managment team to start, but then, wow...it turned on a dime when they changed the manager and one assistant. We had a very rough go of it for awhile.

ok.. we are on the same wave lenght.. I was a little confused on your first post to me... sorry if I sounded harsh... and yeah, it does boil down to the SM and ASM. The ASM ended up being the SM and she always asked me to come back... then the stores were sold to TCP.. now I hear they are sold back.. either way, I have too much on my plate to go back. Beside, I like being able to go away for the weekends.. and having the entire summer off... I use to work for TDS when I was with the school district. I actually left the schools (very dumb of me) for a while to give TDS full day availablity..(morning and afternoons) they still only had me work 3 days, 4 hours, just some days I was an opener... During Christmas season I was doing OT... that the SM put me on for then yells at me for doing when she saw my check I told her, she was the one that kept calling me in when there were no shows. I use to come at the drop of a dime to open with her if the other CM was runing late or what ever... I won the Team Spirt Award several times. I even won things for best sales... I was a good employee & I wasn't expecting special treatment, but was expecting her to be reasonable when giving her the notice of 6 months.
Then the time she wrote me up(was the day I gave my notice), I had told her I could not come in on a particular day, before she made the schedule. I told her if she had to have me come in, I could in the afternoon, not morning. What did she do, she put me on the morning. I told her I was not coming in and that I had someone to work for me.... she knew I wasn't coming in. The day before I reminded everyone. I even called the day of and the ASM was fine with it.. the other CM showed for me and all was fine. That following day when I came in the SM called me backstage and wrote me up. As she said, she put "me" on that day, not so and so... and she wanted me there. That was my last straw for me.. She knew I could not make it in... she knew that when she did the schedule... instead of 10-2 all she had to do was 2-6 & I would have been there.. but that morning I had to take my son someplace...
all of this happened with in the same time frame.. the morning off and the time off in 6 months. She had notice of the time I needed & she used her authority to be a bully basically. It did boil down to management, but I look at it as managment does represent the company. and... she did get what was coming to her, she ended up having to leave due to day care issues when she finally had her baby... I know it is mean to laugh but hey, what comes around goes around.... Before she left, there were only 3 original people left in that store.. others either left the company totally or trans up to the parks. They all left because of her! Then the ones that came up to the parks, did leave due to problems with managers up there....

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

A Mickeyfan:

That is really sad what happened to you...and that's not right. Do you think you still would be with the stores if you had had a different manager?

You won the one thing that I've always wanted to win at my store, the Team Work Award. Maybe now that we're back with Disney, I'll finally have my chance.

It really makes me sad when I see what happened with your manager and with Please Remain Seated's manager because not all of the store managers are like that. I know that as long as I can give some availability on a day I would need an evening off, I would be fine. I guess, like I've said before, I'm just really lucky at my store to have such a wonderful management team.

 

[remain seated please]

A Mickey Fan,

You and I have a very similar story, only I was the Store Manager. When I arranged my long weekend off, I did so with plenty of management coverage in my store. I went to my District Manager for additional approval and she gave it to me. It was three days before I was to leave that she changed her mind and said I had to work.

I explained to her my situation and once again that my team was more than able to handle the store in my absence. She insisted that I worked "or else there would be disciplinary action". I also told this to the RD while she was in my store. The two of them chose to bully and threaten me, standing on either side of me while I was sitting at my desk. They stood over me and talked down to my as if I was a child.

So the disiplinary action was termination. I was freed from that situation and able to create real problems for both of them through HR. Fortunately I had prepared my case against the DM for well over a year, documenting all of the unfair things she did to me and other managers. Some public and some private. She and the RD also got theirs in the end. And I'm glad that I was able to bring the truth to light and give them the black eyes thay deserved. The day I heard that both of them were no longer with the company was the day I was able to close the book on my time with Disney.

I told my management team that I would certainly be fired for ignoring the orders of the DM and RD. But I didn't care. The day I was let go, the DM called me at home an asked me to meet her at another store. I said "no problem" and proceeded directly to my own store to pick up my things and say goodbye to my cast. I wrote a letter and gave it to my ASM, asking him to make sure the others got to see it. My ASM was furious at what was happening to me. The guy and gal that were also working started crying. I hugged them and reassured them that everything would be just fine. And then I left that store for the last time. It was closed down less than 3 months later.

I can totally relate to your story and I respect you for standing your ground and leaving the job that you loved for valid reasons. Had you have accepted the write up and stayed on, things would have only gotten worse for you.

 

[joshsmom]

I haven't seen the OP for several pages. Wonder if she ever got a copy of the policy?

 

[manning]

A good manager makes a big difference.

I had one who for some reason had it in for me. Made life miserable. He had everyone convinced I was a deadbeat.

I went on a three week vacation and he had one of his top guys fill in with the thought in mind that he would build a case on me.

When I got back the fill-in told me I had one of the top two toughest jobs in the dept and couldn't figure out how I was able to handle it. Word got around that I wasn't a deadbeat and about 4 months later the manager was gone. I even got a promotion.

Turned out the fill-in was telling everyone about the situation and it got to the right ears.

When we got the new manager productivity increased in the whole dept. And he treated everyone right and knew the jobs of all his people. When we got short handed due to illness or vacation he even pitched in.

 

[fey_spirit]

Newsflash! So are Ben and Jerry and they aren't jerks about it.

You don't have to be an A-- hat to run a business... just to run a corporate nightmare where the fuel is greed.

Newflash, Disney is a business, and are in the business of making money....PERIOD!

 

[fey_spirit]

You know if they're going to do stuff like this they should really man up and own it. It's bad enough to pull stunts like this but to then try to keep it buried from the public... well let's put it this way - you don't wear sheets over your head when you're proud of what you've done.

I, too, am very sorry about your baby. The death of a child is tragic no matter the age of the child.

I am wondering how Disney would take this thread. People have gotten in trouble at work for what has been typed her, I think. I'd be careful of that because you all certainly do not need that on top of all the heartache you are already going through.

 

[eliza61]

Are they just another Wal-Mart, Ford or Exxon or not? Wal-Mart = Disney?I remember the day when 'The Disney Way' was taught on college campuses, when Disney held symposiums to help other companies do things 'The Disney Way' ... But now they're just another Company and that's OK with folks because they have to report profits to Wall St. Because it's a brave new world???

How was PIXAR able to do things 'The Disney Way' when Disney no longer could, yet they were competing in the same time and space.

The Company could still have a heart if the basic ideals of what made Disney great and successful were still paramount in their core beliefs. But they aren't and this is what we get...Just another company.

Yes, they are. Didn't you see the flak wal mart got themselves into for suing a quadapelegic over her medical bills? It was all over the news.

Haven't you guys watch the news. Companies are no longer offering pension, benefits. Heck I work for a major chemical company (in DE, do the math) the only reason they offer family leave is because it's mandated by law for companies with over 500 people.

I wish every one would let go of this "Pixie Dust/St. Walt" vision we have in our heads about Disney and Walt. Read his biography, the man wanted to make a dime just like every one else. Disney world is a publicly owned corporation with stockholders. Their job is to report dividends to those stockholders (disclaimer: I am one). Period.

 

[sha_lyn]

I wish every one would let go of this "Pixie Dust/St. Walt" vision we have in our heads about Disney and Walt. Read his biography, the man wanted to make a dime just like every one else. Disney world is a publicly owned corporation with stockholders. Their job is to report dividends to those stockholders (disclaimer: I am one). Period.
__________________

ITA...Walt made dummy corporations to buy up land to build WDW. He wanted to pay bottom dollar, and was afraid that the property owners would raise the price if they realized a huge corporation was buying the land.
All this BS about the Disney way, if walt was alive etc is just that, BS.
Walt was a business man that did whatever he needed to keep his expenses low and his profits high.

 

[MELSMICE]

Walt was a business man that did whatever he needed to keep his expenses low and his profits high.

I'm confused about what is wrong with that in general.

 

[honeymom]

I am so sorry for you and your family.

Tell HR that while you understand their policy, is there anything they can do to help you. Perhaps they can help set up a fund and solicit donations to help you. Tell them that you are having trouble enough getting through this and you need help. There are so many Disney employees that if each one could give just $1 you would be okay.

 

[WDSearcher]

Tell HR that while you understand their policy, is there anything they can do to help you. Perhaps they can help set up a fund and solicit donations to help you. Tell them that you are having trouble enough getting through this and you need help. There are so many Disney employees that if each one could give just $1 you would be okay.

That's a lovely thought, but unfortunately the OP isn't the only CM family at WDW going through something like this. In my department alone, two secretaries have spouses in the hospital recovering from illnesses, one woman recently had a miscarriage, one is just starting chemo for breast cancer, and one CM had massive damage to his parent's home in the Iowa floods. If every Disney employee gave $1 to the OP, what about all the other CMs who are struggling with difficult circumstances? Not to mention all the CMs who are just barely making ends meet as it is.

That said ... Disney does have a large volunteer network, as well as the ability (through Community Relations) to help with fundraisers and other events that CMs can coordinate to raise money. And there is no limit to what can be done in individual departments. The OP's husband's area (since he's the one who works for WDW) could certainly take up a collection for the family or help them out in some way and, in fact, they might have already done this. But it's not really HR's place to coordinate that kind of effort. That belongs to the volunteer groups.

 

[honeymom]

That's a lovely thought, but unfortunately the OP isn't the only CM family at WDW going through something like this. In my department alone, two secretaries have spouses in the hospital recovering from illnesses, one woman recently had a miscarriage, one is just starting chemo for breast cancer, and one CM had massive damage to his parent's home in the Iowa floods. If every Disney employee gave $1 to the OP, what about all the other CMs who are struggling with difficult circumstances? Not to mention all the CMs who are just barely making ends meet as it is.

That said ... Disney does have a large volunteer network, as well as the ability (through Community Relations) to help with fundraisers and other events that CMs can coordinate to raise money. And there is no limit to what can be done in individual departments. The OP's husband's area (since he's the one who works for WDW) could certainly take up a collection for the family or help them out in some way and, in fact, they might have already done this. But it's not really HR's place to coordinate that kind of effort. That belongs to the volunteer groups.

I am not saying it is HR's place. But, HR doesn't seem to have told her about this network through Community Relations. Often, organizations have these type of "Helping Hands" units. She needs help and this is obviously overwhelming. It would be very productive if HR can provide her with the contact info for the people that can help her instead of just giving her the information about the insurance and not being able to help. It would also be very productive to publicize this group and their efforts.

Maybe you can pm her with the contact information for the CR group.