How do you handle other guests that are rude?

[bigblock396]

1) Being the bashful guy that I am, I try to not make waves.
2) Usually, I just say LOUDLY, "It is a shame that some people are little minded! And we should ignore them, as the must be foreigners!".

Wow, just wondering -- do you do this when you are in your CM uniform. Kinda surprised to see a CM post a comment like this.

 

[smokeyblue]

I try just to ignore it. Probably one of the rudest moments I had was at the quick service in Mexico. We had ordered our food and continued on to the pickup area. A guy came up behind me and told me I needed to get out of the line and let my "husband" pick up our food. I wanted to punch him in his red, bloated face. Instead I just muttered under my breath and complained about him when we sat down.

 

[Jess_S]

I used to ignore other people's rudeness, but I find that I have a lower tolerance for it now that I have a kid. I've taken to actually confronting people by firmly saying, "Excuse me, but we were in line and you cut us," or whatever the offense was. People will usually stop their behavior if they are called out on it. (I only do this if I'm directly affected though. It's not my job to enforce Disney's rules).

Of course, some people become incensed if you dare question their behavior, so you need to be prepared for that if you're going to actually call people out.

 

[BarbieGal457]

I tend to ignore it unless, as others have said, it is harming me or another, or risking harm. If I see that I try to alert a CM as quickly as I can and if it doesn't look to be possible, I may make a slight, polite mention and if someone tried to escalate it I would take the action to find a CM. I think the most I've ever said to a rude guest was to please ask their child to stop hitting me in the rear, and once to stop kicking me. Both times the parents were very understanding and the behavior stopped immediately. I have a bit more tolerance for "rude" smaller kids because man those lines + heat can absolutely be brutal. I also don't think the one child realized he kept hitting me in the hind hahaha!

One NYE I heard a poor CM at Philharmagic being absolutely screamed at by a family in our row because she asked them to move fully down the row. She was almost in tears and I just could not hold my tongue. I sternly told them she was just following rules and it was probably her most hectic day all year, she is not being rude she is just doing what her boss asks and does not deserve to be berated. They simmered down after that but were clearly still upset. The CM looked at me with a smile like "thank you" and I made note of her name and went to City Hall. I wanted to make sure that if that family tried to complain, it was on the record the CM was not at all rude or combative and just trying to do her job. It broke my heart. I just could not sit there and let this CM be screamed at so horribly.

 

[DisneyFive]

Too many scenarios to give a specific answer, but my general philosohy...

The last thing I want to do is police other people while I'm on vacation. If I NEED to, I will, but it would have to be an obvious need.

When I've confronted other guests in the past, I tend to keep thinking about it the rest of the day. I hate that. It sucks a lot of enjoyment out of the day. So, I try to let things go and enjoy ourselves in our Disney utopia as much as possible.

Dan

 

[MaryKatesMom]

How about, more specifically, what do you do when people don't move all the way down the row? I've been know to stand there patiently and silently waiting and looking everywhere but at them. Eventually a CM comes over and tells them to move down. I've never had anyone argue with the CM.

Every time we get on POTC my family looks at me and says "No Flash Photography" because a few years ago someone startled me in the front of the boat by turning around and momentarily blinding me and I yelled it. I didn't really mean to do it but, wow, I jumped a mile.

I used to see it during the running of the bulls to TSMM but I haven't done that in awhile, is the parents that grab their children's hands and run with them despite a CM telling them to walk. What a bad example that is!

 

[JimmyBean42]

If I see someone giving a CM a hard time and the CM handles it well, if I have time I find a supervisor and tell the supervisor what a great job the CM is doing. I have seen people be brutal to CMs at the stroller pens, at FP lines, in stores. A commendation to a supervisor means a lot.

I've written down a few CM's names, where they are from (on name tag) and location / date of where they were working and written to WDW Customer Service explaining the scenario and how impressed I was at how the CM handled an unruly guest. I give a lot of credit to CM's, because I would have a hard time dealing with some of the guests that they do.

 

[Mousemom234]

Line cutters, we just sort of widen ourselves (we're a bit wide already) and fill the space, while trying to look completely oblivious to what they're trying to do.

Rude comments directed at us/me, I've been known to nod, smile, and say a few nonsense wordsounds as if we don't understand (doesn't work if we've already been talking to each other).

Rudeness to others, it depends on how and what. Mostly we stay out of it, but might mention it to a CM if it merits it.

 

[Aurora0427]

I used to ignore other people's rudeness, but I find that I have a lower tolerance for it now that I have a kid. I've taken to actually confronting people by firmly saying, "Excuse me, but we were in line and you cut us," or whatever the offense was. People will usually stop their behavior if they are called out on it. (I only do this if I'm directly affected though. It's not my job to enforce Disney's rules).

Of course, some people become incensed if you dare question their behavior, so you need to be prepared for that if you're going to actually call people out.

This- something about having kids has made me stand up fir myself more and I have less tolerance for rudeness. That being said, I do pick my battles!

 

[srwarden1928]

How about, more specifically, what do you do when people don't move all the way down the row?

One time, I forget which show, there was a group of girls that stopped in the middle of the row. Quite a number of people walked over them, stepping on their feet. DW got the last empty seat on the other side of them. I sat down next to her, got up in "surprise", and accused the girl of sitting in my seat. She slunk away.

 

[Jess_S]

I've written down a few CM's names, where they are from (on name tag) and location / date of where they were working and written to WDW Customer Service explaining the scenario and how impressed I was at how the CM handled an unruly guest. I give a lot of credit to CM's, because I would have a hard time dealing with some of the guests that they do.

You are awesome. When I did my college program long ago in days of yore, I tried on two occasions to enforce Disney rules about not smoking in certain areas in a way I thought was polite. Both times, the guest responded with verbal abuse. It was good practice for my current job, so I actually really value that experience now. But as a 20 year old, it was pretty traumatizing. Knowing how hard it is to be the bad guy when it comes to rules, I can only imagine how much the CM's you recognize appreciate it.

 

[bookgirl]

Life and Disney time is too short to worry about others behavior. Other than a thought in my head that "well that's rude" I just let it go.

ETA: I do report dangerous behavior and sometime the teacher/librarian/aunt face comes out when I see a kid doing something stupid and you'd be surprised how often that stops behavior. Sometime even with adults LOL but I do try to keep my face to myself.

 

[piccolopat]

How about, more specifically, what do you do when people don't move all the way down the row?

I must admit to being a bit clumsy in these situations. Inevitably, no matter how hard I try, I end up stepping on toes!

 

[Disneymom1126]

I learned my lesson about trying to call out rude behavior - because no matter how polite I thought I was being, I was not prepared for the fury that came my way and it scared my DD (6 at the time). We were watching a show at the castle stage at MK when someone came and stood directly in front of DD (the show had already started). She couldn't see, but the man (and his daughter on his shoulders) were taller than both of us. I asked if he would mind standing behind us because he would still be able to see. He was fine with it, but when his wife came up a few minutes later, he must have told her about the interaction and she threw an absolute fit - calling me all kinds of names and using all kinds of words that my 6 year old didn't need to hear. I did my best to defend myself without further escalating the situation, but it was just altogether not good. 3 years later and DD still talks about it. Needless to say, I no longer underestimate what could happen when you confront people so unless something is seriously a problem, I'm unlikely to say anything. The only thing I have done since is walk a little slower/make sure someone knows I am watching if I see parents being horrible to their kids (like borderline abusive horrible, not just yelling at them, etc.). I've also used some behaviors as teachable moments. Not everyone feels the way I do, but I think it's important to be aware of how your actions affect the experiences of others, so DD hears that from me quite a bit when we are at Disney (or other places).

 

[ttintagel]

Every time we get on POTC my family looks at me and says "No Flash Photography" because a few years ago someone startled me in the front of the boat by turning around and momentarily blinding me and I yelled it. I didn't really mean to do it but, wow, I jumped a mile.

Yeah, I will lean over and politely tell people in the same boat as me in Pirates or it's a small world that their flash photography is blinding me. They usually look at me like I'm crazy, but they stop flashing more often than not.

 

[IrishNYC]

Wow, just wondering -- do you do this when you are in your CM uniform. Kinda surprised to see a CM post a comment like this.

Given the source, I'm not surprised. I'll be more surprised if you get a response.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

Wow, just wondering -- do you do this when you are in your CM uniform. Kinda surprised to see a CM post a comment like this.

1) Nope, not while in uniform.
2) Why surprised.
3) CM's see so much of this, that sometimes we are prompted to speak out - at least when in the parks on our own.

 

[SomDayMyPrnceWillCom]

I read about the child urinating in line for FOP and I had to tell this from our June trip. My 3 year old son had just begun potty training, but I was still putting him in a pull up since he was off schedule and didn't have a "routine" during the trip. So, as we are standing at the boat launch at HS, I turned to talk to my bf while my son is watching the fish in the water, look back over and he has his pants down peeing in the water. I was mortified to say the least. We were the only ones on the dock at the moment but just so happens that another group was walking down to the dock at the time and saw him. I apologized profusely to them, but they just laughed and went about their day. In retrospect, it's a story I will tell him as he grows up, but at the moment was embarrassing to say the least.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

1) Nope, not while in uniform.
2) Why surprised.
3) CM's see so much of this, that sometimes we are prompted to speak out - at least when in the parks on our own.

Exactly how I feel about people abusing and being rude to fast food employees. I worked my way through high school, college and graduate school that way. The hours are so flexible and believe it or not good employee's are hard to find so all the managers were always happy to work with me. Working one day a week buys a lot of ramen noodles.

Anyway, I always speak up when I see someone giving them a hard time. Like Pete and his rant about people who don't tip. If you were ever a server before, you would NEVER not tip unless it was god awful service.

 

[BarbieGal457]

How about, more specifically, what do you do when people don't move all the way down the row? I've been know to stand there patiently and silently waiting and looking everywhere but at them. Eventually a CM comes over and tells them to move down. I've never had anyone argue with the CM.

I politely-as-I-can step over them. To me, they're "committing" the rudeness in the first place by disregarding rules, so I don't find it rude to step right on over them. I'm sorry if I step on a baby toe or my hind is in your vicinity for a few seconds, but you take that chance when you plop on down. I would never ever purposely step on a person but if I do....oops. Of course CMs keep telling them to move down but in my prior experience, especially what I posted up-thread, people don't always listen to them and just continue to sit there and ignore them. I've tried the standing patiently waiting for them to move but anymore I just don't have time don't have time anymore to wait around hoping people who think they don't need to abide by rules eventually move.