Our last trip to wdw was in the fall, we did notice a pretty big decline some attitudes, we have always sent emails or spoken to managers about the positive, but this was the first time we actually sent a "complaint." We were waiting in the fp area before FOF at MK, when the CM doing parade crowd control came over and started talking to the people next to us (apparently off duty CM), she proceed to bash WDW and management and complain about her hours, scheduled assignments, and coworkers. It was beyond unprofessional and quite frankly distracted from our vacation. Now I don't expect "magic" or free stuff at wdw just plain old good customer service and professionalism.
IMHO, it doesn't matter what your job is, if you are at work you have to leave your issues at the door and do your job. This may sound harsh. Whether you are a cashier handing money, a nurse dosing medicine, an IT tech talking someone through an issue, a tax center employee looking over a tax return, or a doctor doing a surgery, you focus on your job. YES we all are human and have lives and feelings, but why do we expect less than a solid effort from anyone?
I have yet to experience BAD customer service at Disney (or a
Disney Store) .. .
But in general, you get what you pay for ... (and what you train for). If they continue to hire on the cheap with college interns that are just using this as a stepping stone .. then yes .. you will get people with the "dont' care" attitude.
The good attitude is out there, it takes quality training and good pay .. and a feeling of being "invested" in the company you work for.
Just look at the difference between how you are treated by an employee at McDonald's versus an employee at Chick Fil-A.
At McDonalds the customer is treated as a nuisance or an annoyance, while at Chick Fil-A you are always treated with a smile and a "my pleasure"
There is a reason that Chick Fil-A's are always super busy ANY time of day and McDonald's (despite being everywhere) are usually pretty empty except for people sipping on coffee taking advantage of the free wi-fi.
Depends on the McDonalds you go to, the one by my house is well staffed and I have never encountered a unhappy employee, never felt like an annoyance, and I a, always thanked.
On our most recent trip, every CP we encountered was fantastic!
My opinion - the world has changed. People are just not as kind and considerate, across the board, as they used to be. The world is more about "me" today than it has been in our history. The price that we pay for success - leisure.
How does that impact customer service, particularly at WDW? First - the guests are not as considerate as they used to be. They act out in ways that were far less common (at least, in public) years ago. Second - If you get grief from guests all day long, day after day, month after month, about things totally out of your control, it is going to impact your attitude. Third - the CMs are also taken from this stock of people who are just not as kind and considerate as they used to be. So, even on their best day they are not likely to provide the same level of customer service as someone might have years ago.
That aside, I believe that many Dis posters, as frequent WDW guests, have a romanticized view of how WDW "used to be". I know that I do, but when I really search my memory I find flaws with every trip that I have taken. But that's alright - I still love WDW. I can accept this level of imperfection.
Entirely agree
I was at Disney last week, and didn't have any bad experience with cm's. The ones I interacted with were very friendly.
I work in the customer service industry, have for 19 years now. I have worked in HR for the last 4 years at my company, hiring and training people. Unfortunately, we now live in a time where a lot of people want a paycheck, but they think all they have to do is show up, and not do the work. And that's if they come to work. I can,t believe how many people NEED this job, but then call out once a week. If I hire ten people, I'm lucky if there are 2 left out of the ten in six months. Sadly, good work ethics are hard to come by this day and age. I'm not say everybody is like this, there still people out there that do have a good work ethic, those people are just harder to find. I'm sure Disney deals with this too.
The cutbacks suck, I also have had to deal with that more than once. I understand why Disney is having to do it. I don't agree, but I understand. I know it is affecting the CM's. They may have less hours, they may have to be doing more work because of the cuts. We as the customers, should try to remember that. We should be patient and understanding also. Being courteous goes both ways.
I agree here too I have been in retail management, now HR for years, this morning I had a complaint from an employee that has called in sick 6 times in 2016, that I requested a doctors note, very entitled attitude.
This doesn't prove to me that people don't have a good work ethic. This shows me that what you're offering them isn't worth the effort. I work in customer service (1-800 number rep) too, but for the federal government. We have almost zero turn over because new hires make $35k, get 2 1/2 weeks vacation, 2 1/2 weeks sick, 10 federal holidays, 401k matching up to 5%, a great pension, and good health benefits. As a seasoned employee (20 years) I get even more.. I made $58k, last year and I get 5 weeks vacation. It is a very stressful job, but no one leaves the job unless they have to or they get promoted. Most teleservice places are $10 an hour and have horrible turnover. This is why. If you're paying people the same crappy wage they can get anyplace else, what's the point? You get what you give, and if you're only offering crap, that's all you're going to get.
They are probably picky about who they hire and rightfully so. One of the big differences her is the fact that there is a pension and the pay is decent.
In my current very small company (retail, only 14 employees), we cannot offer a pension due to budget, but we do pay minimum 3.5 dollars an hour more than minimum wage, we have little to no turnover, we have lost two people this past year - one retired and one is on a year long maternity leave. However, this is the most high maintenance team I have ever managed, countless sick calls, they complained because we only provide hot chocolate during the busy holidays but coffee and tea all year. I am actually exhausted, speaking to peers from other retail management and hr, they are experiencing the same type of "work drama" - high expectations of what they get put low expectations of effort needed.
