have you ever seen CM's "behaving badly"?

[Accident]

I wasn't going to chime in but with all the trips I've taken, I can't think of any incident that I would call behaving badly or negative to their role while working. with the exception of the original post and the characters who weren't in character I'm not seeing anything here that I would call behaving badly.

 

[cleopenn]

We just returned from our first trip so I'll provide the total newbie perspective...

Badly? No

Less than what I expected? Yes. There were a number of times young (college program maybe?) CMs were snarky in an eye-rolling way, like we were bothering them with our questions. I was surprised by how hard I had to work to get answers to what should have been simple questions. Because of all the great info I got on this forum (thanks al!!) I knew just enough to be dangerous.

I was surprised by what I perceived to be the off-brand behavior by the younger CMs. I worked at a bank for a number of years and there were very clear rules and guidelines about behavior and "branding" so I have an eye for that sort of thing. As someone else mentioned, i didn't expect to see CMs more interested in gossiping with each other, checking phones and the "I don't know, leave me alone" behaviors.

There were a number of CMs that shined and they exceeded the snarky, lazy ones so it isn't like I left with a bad impression, just not the best place in the world experience I was expecting (unrealistically) from reading leading up to our first trip.

(For what it's worth, I worked in customer service at three jobs so I know how hard it is)

 

[Miskey]

I knew just enough to be dangerous

That makes it sound like you were trying to "one up" the CMs and looking for ones that didn't "shine".

I haven't seen bad behavior, but I've sure seen a lot of them put up with way more crap from the public than I ever would. CMs are just regular human beings (that are being paid a crappy wage), not mythical beings that blow pixie dust out of their nose

 

[lizandjason]

'Behaving badly'? Should we send them to Disney time-out? These are adults who get paid far too little for the happiness they provide. Let's show them a little respect.

 

[disney world dreamer]

'Behaving badly'? Should we send them to Disney time-out? These are adults who get paid far too little for the happiness they provide. Let's show them a little respect.

i do show them respect.

 

[cleopenn]

That makes it sound like you were trying to "one up" the CMs and looking for ones that didn't "shine".

I haven't seen bad behavior, but I've sure seen a lot of them put up with way more crap from the public than I ever would. CMs are just regular human beings (that are being paid a crappy wage), not mythical beings that blow pixie dust out of their nose

Definately not, I don't go looking to frustrate myself by "picking" at anyone. More along the lines of reading in the board that I needed 60 minutes to get to another resort for an ADR and having a CM tell me I only needed 20-30 minutes.

 

[RealBlast3]

Sorry, but I don't consider most of the reports here, including the opening post, to be what I would call "cast members behaving badly". Talk about hyperbole! Alot of these "incidents" were really just accidental things that were overheard by guests. It's more of an "unfortunate" mistake than "behaving badly" and certainly nothing that should impede anyone's vacation.

The castmembers are not robots. They are not fairytale men and women who only speak in the Disney tongue. No one can be "on" 100% of the time. Are we really complaining because cast members took you out of your vacation? Because they dared to complain to another cast member or talk about their social life? Or even vented some frustration in salty language when they thought no one was listening? They are human. These are hardly make it or break it moments that should spoil anyone's vacation.

In fact, I rather consider these breaches in all Disney all the time, rather amusing. It's hard to keep up the magical facade, I would imagine, and seeing the occasional cracks on a castmember doesn't bother me at all. If anyone is so outraged, they can always report the castmember to Guestservices if anything truly egregious and a genuine "behaving badly" moment has occurred.

As for something like "snotty attitude", I mean, even Disney World is the real world, as long as they are doing their job, is it really worth complaining over?

I've been to Disney on numerous occasions and I can honestly say I can't remember anything that stands out to be included in this thread. I mean, I'm sorry but I hardly consider two or more castmembers who are standing together waiting for customers choosing to pass the time "talking" to be something that shatters the illusion of my Disney magic and worth bringing up as "behaving badly". Should they all just grin stupidly at each other and only talk in Disney language 24/7?

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Last December at HS there was a very unfriendly CM directing stroller parking. It wasn't very busy. The spot she wanted me to place the stroller in was facing a wall, so I stopped to take DD out before parking. She walked over to me in a stern voice and said repeatedly "You must park your stroller where I told you" or something like that. I finally looked at the girl in exasperation and snapped to her that I will be removing my child before I park the stroller unless she would prefer to babysit since I can't get the kid out if she's up against a wall. She was young and probably inexperienced, but she needs to learn some patience. I wasn't blocking anyone, I wasn't ignoring her, but obviously I would need to get my child out of the stroller.

 

[3smithboys]

There is only one time in all of the times that we've been that I felt that we were treated "badly." We were waiting in line at BTMRR and was told where to go next to get onto the ride. A CM pointed to the front car, so we went into that stall area. Another CM came over and started yelling at us for going into that stall and that no one had told us to go there. I just looked at him and pointed to the CM who told us where to go. Then I told him that he was the one who told us to go there, but if it was not where he wanted us to go, that he should just let us know where he would like us to wait...

I have to say I was caught completely off guard and was a bit upset for a bit. (I'm not used to being yelled at and am a rule follower in general.) I certainly didn't let it ruin my vacation (and this is the first time I've ever even mentioned it on the Dis - even though it happened years ago...)

 

[Dis_08]

Yes. And some of the things I've seen them say on various social media platforms are pretty bad.

 

[tcherjen]

CM no.... Guests quite often.

 

[lizandjason]

i do show them respect.

I'm sure you do in person. But you're trivializing them as human beings by inciting negativity about them in a public forum. It's not as if you even had a terrible experience yourself...what is the point of this thread other than being nitpicky and negative?

 

[gdrj]

i'm actually pretty surprised at how many people seem to think i'm being overly critical or negative.
of course i realize that CM's are only human but i find arguing with each other while guests are right there entering the park is unprofessional.
my thought is argue all you want back stage but don't bring it to front of house.
no guest was berating them so it wasn't a guest induced argument. believe me when a guest is the one "behaving badly" i WISH a CM would put them in their place but luckily for the guest the CM's generally keep their cool.
i have no ill will towards CM's in general. i was just curious as to whether anyone else had experienced CM's acting unprofessionally in this manner.
i hope i've made my position on CM's very clear but if not i'll spell it out again I LOVE CM'S IN GENERAL.

With any workforce of (guessing) 50,000 there are going to be some issues. With multiple visits and on property hotels stays over the past 20 + years have I seen a CM roll their eyes or not be 100% professional, sure. I have seen a 1000 to 1 good CM interactions, and CM's exceeding expectations that I choose to focus on. Now if you want to talk about poor behavior of guests and disrespectful attitudes, language and general decency that any person should have, we can speak about multiple interactions about that.

 

[Jennasis]

I'd have to really dig into the recesses of my mind and the 30+ trips we've taken to dredge up the memory of any noticeably "off" behavior of a CM. Have I had one or two be curt? Sure. Rude? NEVER. Maybe I'm oblivious, or maybe I walk around with such a sunshine-rainbows-and-pixie dust grin that the ones with a tude don't bother with me. I dunno.

But I am in no way sensitive enough where any of it would register beyond a tilt of my head like a dog trying to discern what that odd noise was, before moving on with my vacation.

 

[Jfsag123]

Only one experience to speak of, and it really didn't bother us. Walked up on two CM's having a disagreement outside of a ride once. We were coming up to get a rider swap pass. When the first CM walked away, the second CM proceeded to bad mouth him to us. I could understand her frustration and, as I said, it didn't negatively affect us in any way.

CM's at Disney for the most part have been absolutely wonderful - they are a huge part of what makes the trips so enjoyable!

 

[Boopuff]

My DD is a CM and she says it's really tough to put up with some people. She's had guests refuse to show id when trying to buy alcohol, had people DEMAND that she make a magical moment for their family by giving them something free (?), guests demanding - during pin trading - that my DD give them a specific, brand new pin that they want to trade for... (?) and my DD just tries to keep it together. smile, smile, smile!

 

[Bullseye]

Yes on a few occasions,which would account for less than 1% of all interaction with CM's over the years.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

If your position is not started at your clocking in place you get X amount of time to get to your location. For a CM who is stationed at IG there should be no problems though because there is a clock in computer and wall clock (not sure what method front gate CMs use as I was attractions) that they could have used. I imagine they either clocked in exactly on time or used their 15 minute leway prorior to shift start and forgot to pull a position which is your official clock time so they would appear late.

O.k. this was 20 years ago on my CP Program. I worked Fantasyland Merch. We had what they called walk time in our shift. We could clock out at 11:40 if you were scheduled until 12. This is because they were figuring in getting in/out of costumes, walking to the exit and transportation to cast parking. I think I did hear that they got rid of walk time later.

 

[blestmom]

No, I haven't. I've seen some really nice things with Cast Members.

One in particular, at Pizzafari in Animal Kingdom a few years back, there was a very 'difficult' group of guests in front of us in line. They were being so rude and nasty to the poor young CM. She looked like she was almost about to cry. Just then, an elderly CM came over to her, very nicely put his arm around her shoulder, and said quietly and sweetly, "It's okay. Let me take care of this. You go take a break for awhile, okay? It'll be alright." He was so kind to her. My kids have been back a few times since then and they still talk about the kindness of the elderly CM to a fellow CM.

Another time, also at Animal Kingdom, it was a quieter day, and after going through the turnstyles, we stopped to put our cards away. We overheard 2 CM's talking close to us. They were talking quietly, but we could hear. One was noticeably upset about something...turns out a family member was having a major health issue and it was just really upsetting to her. It struck me that even though Cast Members are supposed to be "in role" at all times, in reality, they struggle with real life just like the rest of us. It must be so hard for them sometimes to be so upbeat when after their shift, they go back to the 'real' world. I really commend them for making me and my family feel so special.

 

[prudence64]

I haven't had any bad experiences, but my better experiences have tended to come with the older CMs rather than the college program ones. Having worked at a college with internship programs, I can tell you that while many love it, many others of the students are disillusioned with the program once they get there and would never go back. I'm sure the attitude shows at work if they are counting down the days to having it be over. I also wonder if they are relying too heavily on the college interns and not providing enough training on traditions anymore.