Don't go there

[maxiesmom]

I have just returned from a web site recommended by a different forum and feel violated! It was supposed to be a cast members view on stupid things guests do. I thought it would be funny, that maybe I had done something similar to those found at that site. What I was not prepared for was the hostility with which these cm's were treating these guests. Please help restore my faith in cm's! I keep telling myself that these must be a disgrunteled minority and that most cm's are happy to help and truly love there jobs. But I shudder to think what "stupid question" I have asked. I am never going to that web site again. Please sprinkle some pixie dust on me so I feel better!

 

[miste76]

Pixie Dust for you!!!

 

[reedycreek]

what website was it?

 

[mickey0216]

I'd like to know the URL as well. If I've done something wrong - there is no way for me to be a better person if I do not know what I did wrong.

 

[Sandyincanada]

I haven't looked at the site but I'm not surprised. Customer service is always a hard line of work and the pay isn't usually great. They have to deal with alot of rude people all day and millions of kids. I'm sure there are some who work there because they truly love Disney but I'm sure there are many who are there because they need a job.

 

[lovethattink]

We have APs and go to WDW ALOT. Over the years we have met some great cast members. I would say the majority of CM we encounter are awesome!!! It's interesting to see them when they are off of work. I'm happy to say, that these CM's are tue Disney fanatics! So if you are looking for great CM's and have a question, look for these CM as they are awesome! Scott from NY on the trams at MK, Mary in WOD, Dick from PA at MGM stores, and Linda from PA at MGM stores, and Jim from Emporium.

 

[Joyciemc]

www.stupidguesttricks.com
I think that's the site the OP is referring to. It was in a MousePlanet article a couple of days ago.

 

[maxiesmom]

You are right, Joyciemc! I thought the site would be funny, but some of the cm's comments listed were downright cruel. I was truly horrified!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Have not looked at it, but I would say with the many, many thousands of CM's involved, 50-55,000, with approximately 1,000 new ones a month, and 1,000 leaving per month, there will be a few disgruntled, pixie-dust-tarnished, loss-of-the-magic ones here and there. I have met many hundreds over the years and have rarely, very rarely, met one who was not a CM, in the truest image of what Walt would like to have had a CM demonstrate.

 

[CarolA]

I went there and I thougth it was funny!

I mean you have to have someplace to vent about the stupid things people do and it is better to do it on a message board then to your face.

(And I have seen some truly stupid things while at Disney. Some guests treat the CMs as thier personal whipping posts. And I do wish the CMs could do what they want with the guests who think the rules don't apply to them. You know the ones... taking the flash photos, stopping in the middle of the row in the shows, trying to jump line at the character greetings.....)

 

[DukeStreetKing]

Playing Devil's Advocate here - I can't imagine what it must be like to witness some of the things that we guests do and be forced to be polite and cordial all the time. I think the CM's need a place to vent and express themselves out of the public eye.

It's just too bad that "we" are able to access the above mentioned website and read it. But that won't stop me from continuing to read it.

 

[maxiesmom]

It wasn't that they were venting. We all need a place to do that. It was that they were stating that if someone annoys them, they will deliberately give them the wrong answers. There is a difference between being rude and being mean! And if you think giving people wrong answers and wrong directions because you are tired and frustrated is acceptable, you do not deserve to be a CM!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

I checked out the site to see if I were mentioned there. While I did see a few of the things I might have done in the past, before I became a much improved guest, thanks to the DIS- I did not really see anything awful other than the one CM who supposedly told a guest that the railroad was closed due to possible terrorist activity and even that I bet was just wistful thinking on his part.

With that being said (and in such a run on way LOL) I was shocked that it was not more negative. If I had to be nice to everyone all day long, no matter what they did, I would be tempted to either drop an anvil on my own head or commit some serious indescretion such as printing off fake FP's for Space Mountain to hand out to the offending parties, and having them all gather together in one long, never ending trip.

Are you not all happy that I am NOT a CM???

SG/Linda

 

[disneyjunkie]

I just read a few of the threads there. A few of them are pretty funny.


For the most part the CMs seem to be complaining and or venting about the same things some of us complain about.

 

[miste76]

I thought a lot of it was funny... if you look at it from their point of view.... some of the silly things that they hear over and over again... I didn't think it was all that bad.

 

[dirkus]

I took a peek at the site and, yes, there are a number of rather blunt and even abusive posts. But the people on the site have a hard job and they are just "venting" to others that will understand. It's not meant to be a guest site like this one.

I did find a gem in the posts though... check this one out.

 

[CarolA]

I went back and read some more. I was just rolling in laughter.

I mean.... you want to stay on the ocean while at Disney, you want to stand up on the rides and you want to sneak your child into rides they don't meet the qualifications for and you don't think the CMs are annoyed.

I had a friend who worked at Opryland and she used to tell the funniest stories. One family refused to take the tram to the park, they wanted to go by boat from the parking lot to the park. (There was a river beside the park, but... ) After telling the parking lot attendants that they were STUPID and that they demanded a boat, the attendants sent them to a bench overlooking the water, no dock in site and a VERY steep slope to the river.... The idiots sat there until a manager came over to try to convince them that their only options were walking or the tram. The woman then cussed out the manager so badly that he refunded thier parking charge and asked them to leave the park. As security escorted her to the car she was yelling at other guests.... THEY LIED THERE IS NO BOAT TO THE PARK, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THESE THIEVES! Maybe she thought she was at the MK and could take the boat?


Dirkus, thanks for posting that link (but I am crying!)

 

[maxiesmom]

I guess what angered me most was the "here's your sign" section. At the top the author states that most of the answers given were actually said to the guest. There is lots of sarcasm, and alot of pointing the guest either in the wrong direction or the long way around to where they are going. As someone who has a terrible sense of direction, let me tell you being pointed the wrong way to a bathroom when you have to go is NOT FUNNY! I work in a mall, so I get what you would call "stupid questions". I have yet to tell a customer a falsehood because I was in a bad mood. I realize everyone needs a place to vent, but I was taken aback at the fact that they were disrespectfult to their guests because they were being "stupid." Keep it to yourself, then go vent. Don't take it out on the guest! No matter how they are behaving.

 

[dirkus]

maxiesmom,

Disney is no different than anywhere else -- they are going to get all kinds of people working there regardless of how well they try to screen the applicants. I imagine, though, for every one CM that purposefully misdirects or otherwise mistreats a guest, there are 100's that will bend over backwards for them. You can even see this in many of the posts on the site in question. That does not excuse the behavior of the few and if a guest experiences it they should report it -- I just don't think we should be surprised by it.

 

[maci]

I actually thought they were funny too!

I have worked retail forever, and I think any service industry is very hard to work.

The CM's are just people like you and me, I bet they love their jobs, but it doesnt make it any easier to get asked the same stupid questions day in and day out. I am sure most do their job with great professionalism, and then go in the break room or discussion board and vent. I know for a fact I have done the same!

That is why I would not want to work at disney even though I am a disney fanatic, it would take all the magic away!