Flip side of rude CM's - Rude guests!

[disneycruise05]

Oops...forgot to post my guest story!! During my trip last summer, my friend and I were about to get on the time rovers at Dinosaur when 2 parents in front of us were trying to drag their daughter on it. She couldn't have been much older than 6 and she was sobbing that she didn't want to ride "the scary ride." The CM finally suggested that maybe this wasn't an appropiate ride for her and that they might enjoy the Primeval Whirl and TriceraTop Spin more.

So the parents huffed off complaining that they really wanted to ride Dinosaur and began yelling at the poor girl for not being brave enough to "ride something that wasn't that scary at all." Now, as an (at the time) 18 year old male, I found Dinosaur to be pretty scary. My friend couldn't stop laughing at our picture because he's sitting there just looking at that stupid, jumping dinosuar as I'm ducking below the handle bar screaming my head off. But I digress...

 

[schmitty]

Slightly OT (kinda, maybe, just a little bit)...but...I really didn't want to get into this with the first post, but...(as I put on my flame suit) if you tell me "Merry Christmas," I'm going to immediatly respond with "Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah, your choice)." Being Jewish, I don't appreciate it when people assume my religion is the same as their's.

As others have stated, by saying "Happy Holidays," the CM's are ensuring that they don't leave anyone out of place. It's not like we all carry signs saying "Christian," "Muslim," "Jewish," etc. so the CM can custom create a holiday greeting for each guest. If the CM's all said "Merry Christmas" to everyone, I can assure you that there would be a large group of people that would not be OK with that.

So, in conclusion, by saying "Happy Holidays," the CM's are protecting both themselves from singling out certain groups (and looking prejudice) AND people of other religions (myself included) from feeling singled out (and therefore loosing some of the magic that we all go to WDW for) by not fitting in with "the norm."

OK...that's my rant. Flame as you see fit!

I feel Happy Holidays is very offensive to Muslims and Hindus as they do not have any Holidays in December. However the Islamic Holiday Hajj is in December this year so it should be allowed with them. But next year its not ok and will not be ok for another 12 or so years when it will be in december again.



And to stay on topic, Ive never encountered any rude guests.

 

[Fitswimmer]

I feel Happy Holidays is very offensive to Muslims and Hindus as they do not have any Holidays in December.

OK, I"ve got to ask-why is someone wishing you happiness offensive?? I don't care if someone wishes me "happy holidays" in the middle of June! (I'm Catholic and I don't have any official holidays in June) Have we really all gotten so hypersensitive that even an expression of goodwill has to be an occasion for potential discrimination? Don't people call vacation "holiday" in England? If you're in Disney, you're "on holiday" then, right?

If someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah, I say thank you even though I'm Catholic. I don't get offended, I don't make some snotty comment about not being Jewish-BECAUSE I know that the person is just trying to be pleasant. If I know a person's preference, I will use it. If not, I'll stick with Happy Holidays because I'm covering the bases.

If we can't get some perspective on an issue this insignificant-how can we ever hope to deal with the big ones??

 

[Joanna71985]

Slightly OT (kinda, maybe, just a little bit)...but...I really didn't want to get into this with the first post, but...(as I put on my flame suit) if you tell me "Merry Christmas," I'm going to immediatly respond with "Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah, your choice)." Being Jewish, I don't appreciate it when people assume my religion is the same as their's.

As others have stated, by saying "Happy Holidays," the CM's are ensuring that they don't leave anyone out of place. It's not like we all carry signs saying "Christian," "Muslim," "Jewish," etc. so the CM can custom create a holiday greeting for each guest. If the CM's all said "Merry Christmas" to everyone, I can assure you that there would be a large group of people that would not be OK with that.

So, in conclusion, by saying "Happy Holidays," the CM's are protecting both themselves from singling out certain groups (and looking prejudice) AND people of other religions (myself included) from feeling singled out (and therefore loosing some of the magic that we all go to WDW for) by not fitting in with "the norm."

OK...that's my rant. Flame as you see fit!

ITA!!

 

[micksterlee]

I have spent alot of years working in retail and the most amazing thing to me is when I watch parents training their children at a very young age to be rude. I wish I had a dollar for evry time I have heard a parent say "come on don t worry about the mess we made these people get paid to clean up after us." Or when you tell their child not to dangle from a store fixture that is about to topple over and crush them, they reply with "Dont you dare tell my kid what to do, I ll have your job!" Something tells me that if they did have my job they wouldn t last long lol.

 

[Kay1]

DisneyCruise05, I hope no one flames you. I, too, very strongly prefer the more inclusive "Happy Holidays."

 

[Mickey1122]

It seem like most of the holiday decorations are geared to ward those who celebrate Christmas. They have booths in World Showcase, but that was all I saw representing other religious holidays. The Osborne Lights can be enjoyed by all, but they were in Christmas shapes.

 

[Syrreal]

You have GOT to be kidding. . .OMG. . .that poor CM! Was she allright? Was security called? How could anyone do such a cruel thing? I just don't understand. . .

I really do wish I was kidding. She was thankfully all right. The punch didn't break any skin but she got a huge bruise and had to be sent to 1st aid and the hospital to make sure that there was no internal damage. Security was called but by that time the guests had stormed off still complaining that the wheelchair had not gotten there fast enough and that they were going to have the job of everyone involved (CMs, Managers, etc). It was really very sad.
This one is the most appaling story that I know but unfortunalely it's not an isolated incident. I used to work on one of the attractions that has the moving walkways. Most of the time the guests are fine, happy, but then you get the guests who for whatever reason are having a really bad time. They can be overheated, grumpy, or whatever, and you are just not moving fast enough for their liking. This particular time, I was taking a wheelchair to the waiting area. I was still on the moving walkway when a guest came up behind me and I guess I was not out of the way fast enough so he pushed me out of his way. I fell on the walkway and almost into the attraction itself. If my fellow CM had not seen it and stopped the ride I may have been seriously hurt. Luckily I escaped with just a cut on my knee and a few scratches on my arms. Again, the guest just bailed and I was on my way to 1st aid.

It makes me wonder if we all just didn't relax a little on our vacations and remember that we are not the only people on the planet, if many of these incidents wouldn't happen.

 

[GoofyBaby]

Slightly OT (kinda, maybe, just a little bit)...but...I really didn't want to get into this with the first post, but...(as I put on my flame suit) if you tell me "Merry Christmas," I'm going to immediatly respond with "Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah, your choice)." Being Jewish, I don't appreciate it when people assume my religion is the same as their's.

As others have stated, by saying "Happy Holidays," the CM's are ensuring that they don't leave anyone out of place. It's not like we all carry signs saying "Christian," "Muslim," "Jewish," etc. so the CM can custom create a holiday greeting for each guest. If the CM's all said "Merry Christmas" to everyone, I can assure you that there would be a large group of people that would not be OK with that.

So, in conclusion, by saying "Happy Holidays," the CM's are protecting both themselves from singling out certain groups (and looking prejudice) AND people of other religions (myself included) from feeling singled out (and therefore loosing some of the magic that we all go to WDW for) by not fitting in with "the norm."

OK...that's my rant. Flame as you see fit!

No need to flame at all! I completely respect your opinion. As a Christian, I will continue to say Merry Christmas, but with absolutely no intention of offending anyone. I guess it bothers me that people are afraid to say it out of fear of offending someone when all they really want to do is spread holiday cheer. Now if someone says Merry Christmas to someone who obviously isn't Christian and they do it with the intention of offending, that's a different story. Again, I certainly am not trying to offend anyone when I say it - I am trying to spread joy!

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic. .

 

[GoofyBaby]

I really do wish I was kidding. She was thankfully all right. The punch didn't break any skin but she got a huge bruise and had to be sent to 1st aid and the hospital to make sure that there was no internal damage. Security was called but by that time the guests had stormed off still complaining that the wheelchair had not gotten there fast enough and that they were going to have the job of everyone involved (CMs, Managers, etc). It was really very sad.
This one is the most appaling story that I know but unfortunalely it's not an isolated incident. I used to work on one of the attractions that has the moving walkways. Most of the time the guests are fine, happy, but then you get the guests who for whatever reason are having a really bad time. They can be overheated, grumpy, or whatever, and you are just not moving fast enough for their liking. This particular time, I was taking a wheelchair to the waiting area. I was still on the moving walkway when a guest came up behind me and I guess I was not out of the way fast enough so he pushed me out of his way. I fell on the walkway and almost into the attraction itself. If my fellow CM had not seen it and stopped the ride I may have been seriously hurt. Luckily I escaped with just a cut on my knee and a few scratches on my arms. Again, the guest just bailed and I was on my way to 1st aid.

It makes me wonder if we all just didn't relax a little on our vacations and remember that we are not the only people on the planet, if many of these incidents wouldn't happen.

Oh dear. . .never in my life could I ever dream of hurting someone like that. . .I can't even be rude to someone, let alone push, shove or hit someone. Hearing that just makes my heart sink. . .you know, people who do cruel things such as those really have no love in their own hearts. It is my opinion that they don't love themselves, so how could they ever show love for another, especially someone who is a stranger to them? Certainly this is not an excuse for their horrid behavior, but you are absolutely correct in that they should relax on their vacations and think of people other than themselves. In these two guys' cases, perhaps they should get some therapy or take some anger management courses before they set foot in The Happiest Place on Earth! I've never seen anything but joy in the World and I hope that I never see any anger because it would break my heart.

I'm really glad you and your friend weren't seriously injured physically but I can only imagine what that could do to a person emotionally, especially to someone who is as sensitive as I am - I'd be a ball of tears!

 

[GoofyBaby]

I really do wish I was kidding. She was thankfully all right. The punch didn't break any skin but she got a huge bruise and had to be sent to 1st aid and the hospital to make sure that there was no internal damage. Security was called but by that time the guests had stormed off still complaining that the wheelchair had not gotten there fast enough and that they were going to have the job of everyone involved (CMs, Managers, etc). It was really very sad.
This one is the most appaling story that I know but unfortunalely it's not an isolated incident. I used to work on one of the attractions that has the moving walkways. Most of the time the guests are fine, happy, but then you get the guests who for whatever reason are having a really bad time. They can be overheated, grumpy, or whatever, and you are just not moving fast enough for their liking. This particular time, I was taking a wheelchair to the waiting area. I was still on the moving walkway when a guest came up behind me and I guess I was not out of the way fast enough so he pushed me out of his way. I fell on the walkway and almost into the attraction itself. If my fellow CM had not seen it and stopped the ride I may have been seriously hurt. Luckily I escaped with just a cut on my knee and a few scratches on my arms. Again, the guest just bailed and I was on my way to 1st aid.

It makes me wonder if we all just didn't relax a little on our vacations and remember that we are not the only people on the planet, if many of these incidents wouldn't happen.

Oh dear. . .never in my life could I ever dream of hurting someone like that. . .I can't even be rude to someone, let alone push, shove or hit someone. Hearing that just makes my heart sink. . .you know, people who do cruel things such as those really have no love in their own hearts. It is my opinion that they don't love themselves, so how could they ever show love for another, especially someone who is a stranger to them? Certainly this is not an excuse for their horrid behavior, but you are absolutely correct in that they should relax on their vacations and think of people other than themselves. In these two guys' cases, perhaps they should get some therapy or take some anger management courses before they set foot in The Happiest Place on Earth! I've never seen anything but joy in the World and I hope that I never see any anger because it would break my heart.

I'm really glad you and your friend weren't seriously injured physically but I can only imagine what that could do to a person emotionally, especially to someone who is as sensitive as I am - I'd be a ball of tears! I'm so sorry you & your friend had to go through that. No one should have to.

 

[KimWDW]

No need to flame at all! I completely respect your opinion. As a Christian, I will continue to say Merry Christmas, but with absolutely no intention of offending anyone. I guess it bothers me that people are afraid to say it out of fear of offending someone when all they really want to do is spread holiday cheer. Now if someone says Merry Christmas to someone who obviously isn't Christian and they do it with the intention of offending, that's a different story. Again, I certainly am not trying to offend anyone when I say it - I am trying to spread joy!

Since my original post (on page 1 or 2) was the one that started this side-topic, I just want to point out that the people who did this were not doing it to spread joy. It was the CM's job to say "Happy Holidays" to every guest that came through the turnstile. And every few minutes some nutjob would scream at the poor CM, "NO! IT'S MERRY CHRISTMAS!" All because FoxNews got him fired up or something. Can you IMAGINE how annoying that is to the CM to be yelled at for saying Happy Holidays? Over and over again every day for the entire month? He/she is just trying to do their job and wish Happy Holidays to all and they have to deal with these nutjobs yelling at them. It was horrendous.

 

[disneymac]

There really are no rude people at WDW. These are really just CM's acting as rude people to other CM's so that the rest of us will watch and learn from it how not to act. Man they think of everything.

awesome!

 

[jjarman]

OK, I"ve got to ask-why is someone wishing you happiness offensive?? I don't care if someone wishes me "happy holidays" in the middle of June! (I'm Catholic and I don't have any official holidays in June) Have we really all gotten so hypersensitive that even an expression of goodwill has to be an occasion for potential discrimination? Don't people call vacation "holiday" in England? If you're in Disney, you're "on holiday" then, right?

If someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah, I say thank you even though I'm Catholic. I don't get offended, I don't make some snotty comment about not being Jewish-BECAUSE I know that the person is just trying to be pleasant. If I know a person's preference, I will use it. If not, I'll stick with Happy Holidays because I'm covering the bases.

If we can't get some perspective on an issue this insignificant-how can we ever hope to deal with the big ones??

I agreed with you completely. I don't like the Happy Holidays thing only because it is said only to keep from offending someone however remotely that may be. Now, if guests were coming in for MVMCP then it should be Merry Christmas. It isn't MVMHP (hanakkeh - sorry can't spell) or MVMKP (kwanzai).

 

[JRawkSteady]

I agreed with you completely. I don't like the Happy Holidays thing only because it is said only to keep from offending someone however remotely that may be. Now, if guests were coming in for MVMCP then it should be Merry Christmas. It isn't MVMHP (hanakkeh - sorry can't spell) or MVMKP (kwanzai).

I don't mind when people wish me Merry Christmas even though I'm Jewish. I love Christmas...Santa Claus and Reindeer have nothing to do with religion. HOWEVER, your line of thinking doesn't make sense. Just because it's a Christmas party, why should everyone be expected to normally be celebrating Christmas? Just because it's not a Hanukkah or Kwanzaa party, doesn't mean you shouldn't say Happy Holidays to cover everyone's holiday. Especially if it's during the week of Hanukkah or Kwanzaa!!

Now I wish it were December.

 

[nuke]

No need to flame at all! I completely respect your opinion. As a Christian, I will continue to say Merry Christmas, but with absolutely no intention of offending anyone. I guess it bothers me that people are afraid to say it out of fear of offending someone when all they really want to do is spread holiday cheer. Now if someone says Merry Christmas to someone who obviously isn't Christian and they do it with the intention of offending, that's a different story. Again, I certainly am not trying to offend anyone when I say it - I am trying to spread joy!

Now back to our regularly scheduled topic. .

I really don't understand your logic. You want to spread holiday cheer but only on your terms? That is what I am getting from your post.

I stopped saying Merry Christmas a few years ago when I worked in a mall. I realized after someone walked out of my office that maybe they weren't Christian and didn't celebrate Christmas. I don't say Happy Holidays so I don't offend someone. I say Happy Holidays so I include EVERYONE in my spreading of Holiday cheer.

 

[Syrreal]

I'm really glad you and your friend weren't seriously injured physically but I can only imagine what that could do to a person emotionally, especially to someone who is as sensitive as I am - I'd be a ball of tears! I'm so sorry you & your friend had to go through that. No one should have to.

I managed to keep a brave face while I was still onstage, there is a series of protocol we were following, and I was cleaning up. Plus I didn't want to scare the other guests more than they had been. It's always scary to see anyone fall and especially in a dangerous situation. I was more worried about the little kids who were worried that "Cinderella" fell. (I used to be called that by so many of the kids that it made me wonder if they thought I was Cinderella BEFORE she met the prince- HA)
The second I went behind closed doors I burst out crying. It freaked me out that some stranger would do that. That guy had me beat by atleast 80lbs! I was scared.

Thankfully, most of the guests are sweet, kind, people. I can't tell you how many times little kids made me smile and the great convesations I had with so many people. Even on the most stressful days there were so many moments of joy that it made everything worth while. Yes, CMs are underpayed and overworked- that's not going to change anytime soon. It can be easy to to get bummer out about all that. But, I have to tell you, all of a sudden you have someone (no matter what age) who is just so excited to get on your ride and they are just so happy to be there that you can't help but smile. Then you have the little girl who tells her parents that she is scared to ride your ride unless you sit with her! It still makes me smile

 

[Lynne M]

It seems to me that when you're wishing someone a "Merry" or "Happy" whatever, you're telling them that you hope they enjoy celebrating THEIR holiday. Not your holiday.

Therefore, I wouldn't wish someone I knew was Jewish a "Merry Christmas". That, I think, carries with it the implication that I don't think much of their holiday.

If I'm reasonably sure the other person is Christian, I will say "Merry Christmas". If I'm not at all sure what the other person's religion is, I will say "Happy Holidays", to avoid offense. To me, it's just the polite thing to do.

The whole idea of the greeting is not to announce which holiday YOU'LL be celebrating, but to genuinely wish the other person well during the holiday season. No matter what they celebrate.

 

[Hoopfamily]

When DH and I were at Magic Kindgom in June we had Fastpasses for Peter Pan. As we waited in the fastpass line for our turn a gentleman in the regular line spotted us, pointed at us and loudly proclaimed to everyone within earshot that it was "absolutely ridiculous that they allow adults without children to use fastpass." He then proceeded to go on and on about adults like us taking up time from his kids vacation because we were using all the fast passes, getting all the adr's and getting good parade, fireworks spots. I'm sorry, but when did WDW become families only? It was bizarre...I have one word for this man..."PLANNING"!

We had almost the same experience at Peter Pan in 2002. There was a wait of like 45 minutes and we had fastpass. We returned at the appointted time and when the CM opened the chain for us the guy who would have been next freaked out. Started cussing out the Cm and me. I turned to him waved and said Have A Magical Day sir. The CM started cracking up. It was great.

 

[Pisces_Regina]

We had almost the same experience at Peter Pan in 2002. There was a wait of like 45 minutes and we had fastpass. We returned at the appointted time and when the CM opened the chain for us the guy who would have been next freaked out. Started cussing out the Cm and me. I turned to him waved and said Have A Magical Day sir. The CM started cracking up. It was great.

I think you handled the situation with finesse!

EVERYONE who is planning a trip to WDW should try to learn as much as possible about the theme parks and resorts beforehand--in order to avoid miscommunication, confusion, hostility, and distress.