Ever have CM's take the Magic out of it?

[LovinPooh]

GOOD GOD!!! What should I have called the CMs that werent so magical?? Jerks, used some profanities?? It blows my mind how people blow up over stupid things. Only on this board do you have to watch every word you say cause there is someone out there that will pick it apart piece by piece and not even care what the poster was trying to say.

kay, there were a few CMs that acted goofy? Is that better??As to not offend anyone who takes the word 'nerd' that seriously???
I guess I have learned my lesson on the etiquette of the word nerd.

unsubscribing from this thread that is for sure!

 

[Magpie]

GOOD GOD!!! What should I have called the CMs that werent so magical?? Jerks, used some profanities?? It blows my mind how people blow up over stupid things. Only on this board do you have to watch every word you say cause there is someone out there that will pick it apart piece by piece and not even care what the poster was trying to say.

kay, there were a few CMs that acted goofy? Is that better??As to not offend anyone who takes the word 'nerd' that seriously???
I guess I have learned my lesson on the etiquette of the word nerd.

unsubscribing from this thread that is for sure!

"Jerks" would have made more sense, actually.

It was only a (minor) issue, because... well, gosh, what ELSE would you call most of us folks on this board, other than "huge Disney nerds"?

You might as well have said, "I will say that for every 1 CM that has been a DISer, there has been a dozen that have been awesome." See?

Have a magical day!

 

[jenaemmaFL]

I am not sure if I am the only one that feels this way, but the CM's that work the Haunted Mansion at MK are the absolute worse! You ask them a question they just stare blankly at you, how rude! They never smile, look like a corpse and worse, never, ever even say hello! I am done with that ride, they have just ruined the magic for me!

And of course, the above is all in jest. I have been well over 60 times in my life, and have never encountered not even a one wayward, off kilter CM..maybe I just don't notice or just been lucky. If I ever encountered a rude CM, I would make sure Walt's ghost knew about it. It is uncalled for. My daughter is a CM and her manager has even explained to them that if they are in a bad mood, do not feel good, grouchy and just in a pain in the **** mood, stay home and come back when you feel like spreading cheer and magic. Great advice, me thinks.

 

[Nixie]

What surprises me the most about this thread is how many posters have said that a CM has grabbed them. Yelling at me is one thing. Putting your hands on me is a whole nother thing.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I don't believe anyone blew up over the nerd comment. We simply joked about how the word was used. Reading intent into type doesn't always work.

 

[rolliev60]

Originally Posted by maxiesmom
Because then you have people heading up front because whatever they want "won't take too long". Now maybe it is just to hand them a plate of fries, or hand them a cookie. "It won't take too long". And then when they are busy again you would still have people trying to walk up for pop refills. Now you have 2 lines instead of the 1 you should have, and many annoyed people.

This past summer I was flying solo for a few hours in the MK and the heat index was 106. I stopped in at CHH to get a cup of ice water. The line was so long you had to queue up in rows of velvet ropes. When I finally got to the cashier and asked for the ice water she told me, "Oh, you don't have to wait in line for that! just walk up to the counter in front of all those people and they'll give you one." I looked at that hot, sweaty, hungry mass of humanity and said to her, "Uh, I don't think that's happening, I'll just wait." The lady in front of me laughed and said she agreed with my decision. As I stood there waiting, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was the cashier holding a cup of ice water out to me that she had went and gotten for me. What an angel!

The one time I remember a CM going off at me was at Mickey's Philharmagic. We were entering the theater to get our seats and the group in front of us decided to not move all the way over to the right and they sat down dead center of the row. We stood there dumbfounded and the CM in charge of seating starts YELLING at ME! "Didn't you hear what I said? Move all the WAY TO THE RIGHT!!!!" I looked at him and yelled back, 'What the heck are you yelling at me for? Am I the one who stopped in the middle of the row? What's wrong with you?" He promptly turned his back on me as he must have thought I was an easy target but boy did he pick the wrong person to mess with!

 

[k5thbeatle]

What surprises me the most about this thread is how many posters have said that a CM has grabbed them. Yelling at me is one thing. Putting your hands on me is a whole nother thing.

I agree with you. Although I have never seen this level of rudeness I am surprised by the number who have said this has happened? I'll let anything roll off my back but grabbing me or putting their hands on me or any of my family would be crossing the line.

 

[maxiesmom]

This past summer I was flying solo for a few hours in the MK and the heat index was 106. I stopped in at CHH to get a cup of ice water. The line was so long you had to queue up in rows of velvet ropes. When I finally got to the cashier and asked for the ice water she told me, "Oh, you don't have to wait in line for that! just walk up to the counter in front of all those people and they'll give you one." I looked at that hot, sweaty, hungry mass of humanity and said to her, "Uh, I don't think that's happening, I'll just wait." The lady in front of me laughed and said she agreed with my decision. As I stood there waiting, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was the cashier holding a cup of ice water out to me that she had went and gotten for me. What an angel!

That is awesome!

 

[Joanna71985]

If so it has changed in the last year or so, becuase the one I was talking with awaiting my DGD said they were contract workers to WDW.

AKK

Hmm, that's weird. As far as I'm aware, BBB has always been CMs. They still take CPs too

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

Unfortunately yes I have

I was in MK solo and saw the fairies had just opened - one of my young relatives is tinkerbell mad so I though it would be nice to get a photo for her. I went in and was 3rd in line, an older lady cm basically came up to me and asked if I was solo, she then went onto say "oh, we don't get many of those here" and gave me a not so friendly look.

That's sad. I went to meet the fairies solo and the CMs were nothing but wonderful. They, and the family behind me, were all encouraging me to go meet them.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Well I suppose I could chime in here with a story. It wasn't that huge of an issue but a clear example on an under trained CM.

I used to travel with a service dog, and would always get the little pamphlets that said where the break areas were. It also listed which rides the dog isn't allowed on and which rides you had to be able to transfer from a ECV or wheelchair for. Under Spaceship Earth, it didn't say the dog wasn't allowed on, just that a dog might be bothered by the smell of Rome burning. I'd ridden it several times over the years with a different dog and never had an issue, and the current dog had ridden before and not been bothered by it. Knowing to go around to the side entrance, a CM came charging at us saying "No the dog IS NOT allowed on this! There is a scent effect!" or something along those lines, but she had no intention of letting us through. I told her straight out "You're wrong, it's only a caution. This dog has ridden before and it's not an issue," and showed her the pamphlet. She got all huffy but let us through anyway. She was the only CM to ever say anything about it, no other CM ever brought up the scent.

I say it's not a huge deal because I was informed enough to know better, and it didn't turn into a big fight or anything. I know the CMs don't encounter every situation every day, and that all dogs are different so I'm sure some probably react to that smell. She was simply incorrect in her information for that particular ride and I've encountered that before, and I didn't care for how she approached the situation but it wasn't enough to ruin my day.

 

[POOHsie]

Speaking of Spaceship Earth, I went in the HA side entrance with my scooter. You have to transfer to a wheelchair for boarding. I was on a solo trip, and the CM wouldn't let me go up the ramp in a wheelchair without my own assistant! I thought that was an actual rule, until I posted on the DisBoards and found out from other mobility-impaired soloists that this CM was full of "Rome-Burning Smoke."

 

[theparsons]

The only "less than magical" CM's we've run into were at HS. We found the CM's at Starring Rolls Cafe to be curt, unfriendly and scowling. I would've chalked it up to a long, bad day behind the counter, but it was only 11am and not busy at all. Oh well.

They are always that way, lol. I think that's where the Grumpy substitutes go to work.

 

[SiennaMadchen]

Wow, these are sad stories to hear of CM. So far, we have only met really awesome CM's. There was one in Disneyland just this past summer that was sweeping the lunch area at a counter meal we were having. It was the end of the day and my son was exhausted and dropped his cupcake and was a bit upset. We told him that we were about to leave the park and if he wanted a souvenir, we did not have time to sit for another cupcake. She saw this and went to the front to get him another cupcake to go. It was really nice of her.

 

[kmb584]

The only time that comes to mind was in April 2012. We were finishing our (early) dinner at H&V when DD (who had just turned 3) accidentally knocked my half empty glass of water over. Our waitress, just a table over, literally screamed at her, in her face -- "YOU DON'T DO THAT! NO, NO, NO! NOW I HAVE TO CLEAN IT UP!"

DD started shaking then burst into tears. People throughout the restaurant were glaring daggers at the waitress while sympathetically looking at DD. My anger level was through the roof and just as I was getting ready to demand the manager, he appeared and escorted the waitress away. He came back a couple of minutes later apologizing profusely, comped the meal, and gave us all-inclusive FP's to use for the rest of the day.

I don't know what happened to the waitress but because of her, we simply won't dine at H&V again. I've never experienced anything like that.

 

[minnie mum]

Wow, something tells me that waitress was job hunting the next day. I'm glad to see that the manager was so on top of things, though, and did what he could to make up for what happened.

 

[Ash20]

Luckily I have only had two situations with rude staff in WDW. The first was when I was queuing for food in MK at a quick service restaurant. Everything was fine as the CM took the orders of the people in front of me, however when I got to the front of the queue the CM closed her till turned her back and just walked away. Didn't say a single word, not even a "sorry it's my break now can you join another till", just turned and walked.

The second situation was also in MK when I was in a gift shop. I went to a till point which was empty and waited to be served by the CM. After about 2-3 mins of standing at the till and the CM ignoring me, I thought maybe the till isn't open so I said "excuse me are you serving at the moment?". She then shouted "I'M BUSY HELPING ANOTHER CUSTOMER, CAN'T YOU WAIT". She pointed to a woman who was looking at something on a rack near the till. I was shocked that the CM had shouted and I'm guessing the woman was too as she turned on the CM and told her off for shouting at me when she wasn't actually in the queue and I was only a kid.

Those are the only times I remember thinking hey that CM was rude, but I have also encountered some CMs in DL Paris and California who I felt did something a little extra which I will always remember, so it goes both ways.

 

[1stvisit0909]

In the last couple visits, I've noticed CMs interacting out of character with each other, venting, gossiping, etc. I feel that it's taking the magic out of the attraction. I even had the young girl who was wrapping my DD hair give a play-by-play of a date she had with another CM. Totally inappropriate conversation.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Nope. in all the CM interactions we had, they were perfectly in character, friendly, helpful and nice. Save one Grumpy the bus driver. But I quickly forgave him it was his last ride of his day and I'm sure the guy that jumped thru the handicap door on the bus while people were still unloading was the 400th of the day and he closed the handicap door with a slam and pointed out the "do not enter" sign. I was glad he said something! They were cutting line at the bus stop terrible that day. Then a lady was trying to wake up her child to get off the bus and people started pushing on through the front door, and the driver said "Could you please wait until this lady with her tired child gets off?!!!" When my family got to the front of the line we stopped, DH wasn't paying attention and asked me why I stopped as a lady tried to cut in front of me, and I told him, the bus driver asked us to wait. Stopped that lady in her tracks, and when we got on the bus driver told us "thank you for waiting" and I we said "you are welcome, thank you for driving us" and he smiled. When we got to MK and got off, we told him thank you again, and he grinned at us and thanked US for being polite, that it turned his evening around. Gotta do what you can to spread pixie dust, regardless if its your job or not.

I walked up on a couple of CMs to ask a question, they were very aware of people around them and dropped any conversation as soon as a guest approached. Even the face painting girls, who were the SAME girls that painted my DDs faces at 9 am, were still painting strong when we went back for touch ups at 6pm, mentioned to each other briefly "wonder where our replacement is, hope she's ok" but that was it.

 

[bdklein]

Slightly off-topic, but this one makes our family just chuckle. While taking our picture at CRT, Cinderella let out a 'toot". Just goes to show they're really just human beings.

 

[*HappyDisneyMom*]

I've actually encountered many rude CM's, and it always makes me wonder why on earth they were hired in the first place.

We were staying in the Contemporary, and my kids spotted Donald and Daisy for a character meet all dressed up in their holiday gear. We missed them the week before so this was our last chance. We're waiting in line and the CM keeps reminding us all that Donald and Daisy have to go soon. Literally my kids were the only kids (4 & 5 at the time) waiting in line. It's now our turn and the CM announces sorry guys Donald and Daisy have to go. My jaw literally dropped as I'm standing there, I look at the CM like seriously-you see me in line, the only one with kids to meet the characters and when it's their turn you turn them away. I get it that the characters are on a schedule but really, the kids got turned away? I stormed off with my kids in tow, I didn't even know what to say to them. I still will never forget it, because at that moment my heart broke a little, I couldn't believe that someone that worked at Disney could be so heartless.