Just got back - disturbing theme....

[fall08CP]

However, are you really surprised? The generation of kids/young adults coming up have very little experience actually working to get something. They think they are entitled to everything. Most have iphones that mom and dad pay for and have a full load at college that mom and dad pay for. I am dissappointed that Disney would accept these kinds of people with poor work ethics but you really don't know until they actually work. I guess Disney just has less to work with these days. I don't know if the management of Disney is lacking as well. I am sure they don't hold their organization to the same standards they did years ago.

I beg to respectfully disagree. I am one of those "young adults" and I have had a steady job since age 14. My parents made me put away 50% of every paycheck to go towards college, and I am thousands of dollars in debt because I chose to get a great education at an expensive private university. I never expected my parents to pay a penny for that. I don't have an iphone; I actually have the cheapest phone I could buy ($37) because it gets the job done. I have done the Disney College Program and absolutely worked my butt off and saved the money I earned rather than blowing it. There are many young adults out there that are doing the best with what they have, so I would say your description was an overgeneralization.

The OP only talked about 3 cast members. Realize they came in contact with literally hundreds of other CMs without incident. There are bad apples in every work location and it doesn't mean they aren't amazing, talented people. I know what it's like to be unappreciated and have a bad day, so it is entirely possible that's what happened. Cast members aren't perfect and they are held to a very high standard, which is something they are fully aware of. It is best to let guest communications know when something isn't up to your expectations but I wouldn't let it ruin your vacation.

 

[creativeamanda]

I understand frustrations, but IMO, yelling in front of children is not acceptable. The OP should have contacted management if it was bothering them, though. Perhaps Disney is not training their CMs as well not to yell/argue in front of customers, especially children?

I'm an educator and an administrator at that. If I found out even the custodial staff was yelling in front of children, they would be holding a disciplinary letter in their hands. Just MHO.

 

[1hero2princesses]

I used to work for disney years and years ago (not at the parks) but I have done disney training. You should never see that kind of behavior at disney or it should be very rare. Yes, people are human, yes they don't get paid a lot and yes it is a very hard job. But being nice to the guests and in front of the guests is disneys thing. It is part of what makes them disney and they are well aware it makes them special. We used to have that beat into us. No matter how a guest treats you, no matter what they say - you stay bright, you stay cheerful and you stay helpful. It was very, very hard. It was actually one of the reasons I left. It was so restrictive. I found myself being meaner and more surly in other parts of my life because I always had to be so darned nice and take it no matter what someone said! Wasn't really my personality. I do know people, however, who would make perfect disney employees (my step-mother in-law has never actually yelled at anyone in her whole life - seriously) but not me. Probably just can't find enough people like that.

 

[jimmiej]

Has nobody in this thread worked retail before?

There's a good chance that because of the economy Disney is cutting back on cast members, which would result in longer hours for the current cast members. Longer hours causes a lot of stress, especially when dealing with some of the things the cast members do. Try working ten hours on your feet with a smile and tell me you are not stressed.

I believe I heard on the DIS Unplugged podcast that the majority of the job cuts were at the executive level. Plus, the recent crowds have been quite large from what I've been reading.

 

[Cmbar]

As the general public becomes more rude, so do the employees that deal with them. It's just a natural progression. One could easily state "Oh, the CMs back in the 70s were much better." True, but were they - perhaps - presented with a more polite and easy to deal with public.

Absolutely.

 

[BostonRob]

Has nobody in this thread worked retail before?
Try working ten hours on your feet with a smile and tell me you are not stressed.
To the people who say they don't deserve slack or should be fired for this are being a bit dramatic considering this is a second hand account.

I've worked retail; it stinks. But, it was my job to spend 10 hours on me feet with a smile. And even if I didn't work for a company that pushed customer service, I'd have been the same way. I could never imagine being rude to a customer or standing around chatting while a customer needed help. I never had any patience for the morons I worked with who did treat customers like that.
So, no, I don't think cast memebers like that deserve any slack. I think they deserve to have their behavior documented, to be counseled, possibly re-trained, and eventually fired if the behavior reoccurs.

 

[Cmbar]

I beg to respectfully disagree. I am one of those "young adults" and I have had a steady job since age 14. My parents made me put away 50% of every paycheck to go towards college, and I am thousands of dollars in debt because I chose to get a great education at an expensive private university. I never expected my parents to pay a penny for that. I don't have an iphone; I actually have the cheapest phone I could buy ($37) because it gets the job done. I have done the Disney College Program and absolutely worked my butt off and saved the money I earned rather than blowing it. There are many young adults out there that are doing the best with what they have, so I would say your description was an overgeneralization.

Ok, I accept that, and I should have clarified that of course, not all kids. But since you are young, you have no clue how things used to be done and how people didn't need to cut everyone slack every second of the day because after all they may be tired or stressed and not able to afford an iphone. I commend your decisions and the fact that you work harder for what you have.

I would however be surprised if you told me that more than 50% of the kids who go to that expensive private school actually pay all the tuition room and board themselves. Because where we live that is just not the case. In our community the kids have college handed to them, they all have iphones and they all have a car to drive and work ONLY for their expenses such as clothes and such. Most don't pay a cent for car insurance, rent, or as I said cell phones.

So while I may have overgenaralized, I would be happy to hear you tell me that your generation expects to pay for their own college, work throughtou the college experience and expects to start at entry level at any job after they graduate from college. In the business world we are having a VERY difficult time finding entry level workers that actually believe they should start out at bottom level and WORK their way up to the top.

See in the old days a work ethic was part of the whole fabric of our nation. Today parents complain if their kids don't pass test and sue the school system if their kids don't get treated "fairly". Goodness gracious now we can't even give out trophies to sports teams for winning because we have to keep everyone's self esteem up and give trophies just because you participated.

Ok I am rambling, I am sorry that I offended you. Kudos to your parents that have taught you great work ethics. When you get in the real world in a job you will stand out amoung the rest, believe me! Good luck!


I still think it is harder for Disney to find kids with great work ethics like yours.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I still think it is harder for Disney to find kids with great work ethics like yours.

I agree with that.....not giving anybody excuses to be lazy or whatnot, but I do believe that the generation that is coming up has had very different "growing up" experiences than the one preceding.....shaping their work ethic and all around way they do their work.....I could go on and on, but I don't think Disney will be cracking down on a problem they don't know the extent of, so we gotta let them know when things like this happens

 

[Disnsyncey]

....and Disney does a very poor job of training seasonal CMs now.

this is a serious question, but what is the difference in training "now" and "then"? and what is "now" and "then" that you are referring to? I know that I'm not working at WDW now, but would you say that 2003 is now, or then? When I worked (and was trained) starting in 2003, I really saw no difference in the training of the FT, PT, or seasonal CMs that worked alongside of me.....and I was a seasonal with a PT schedule for 2 years.....

just wondering.....

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I would like to make a comment about this generation and their expectations/work ethics. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We learned our work ethic from our parents, and they're learning from their parents. If we hand them everything, they expect everything to be handed to them. If we give them a free ride, they expect the rest of the world to give them a free ride. Are they all any different than their parents, who want the latest everything, find everything to be passe in a matter of months, and want nothing but the best, even if that means charging everything? It's like blaming the media -- they wouldn't put trash on TV and in magazines if it's not what we, the public, wanted and expected.

FWIW, I'm just as much to blame as the next guy -- I just think we should start to take some of the responsibility back on ourselves instead of always blaming the next generation. (I'm 42, so I feel like I'm sort of in the middle).

 

[BarleyJack]

Not sure if this is the right board....
I just got back and while I had an amazing time I am slightly disturbed.
On three different occasions in different parks I witnessed cast members either arguing with each other or talking about work loudly in front of guests.

One girl was yelling at another girl to just do what you want because it's not like we get trained on that anyway. This had something to do with the single rider line at RNR.

On TSM a girl was supposed to be moving to a different job but wouldn't go. She said she wanted to stay with what she was doing and didn't leave until a manager came and made her leave.

Another time getting ice cream at the Edy's shop in Epcot there was one cashier and one ice cream scooper helping a line of about 25 people. On the other side of the counter were 9 employees socializing. The ice cream scooper started yelling for assistance (rightfully) but did not get any help, they all kept standing there. They could very well have been doing something productive, but it looked really bad.

What is up with these employees lately? These three experiences in the last four days are the only ones I have ever seen in my eleven trips. I am worried this is an indication of future customer service declines. Any insights?

How long were you there?
How many cast members did you encounter on your stay?
My best guess would be hundreds, and you notice the 3 incidents that didn't live up to your expectations.
I can understand your beef to some degree, but really, come on. People have high expectations when they/we travel to Disney, this I understand. But what I also understand is that people are people, no one is perfect and 3 instances out of ???? is really no big deal. Just my opinion, flame away.

 

[ugadog99]

Yelling at each other at work in front of guests is unacceptable. It really doesn't matter if it's Disney, Walmart, the gas station, bank, or school, it just isn't acceptable. Take it behind closed doors and then vent all you want. Whether or not the economy is bad and jobs are hard to find and stress is high, this behavior just isn't cool anywhere.

However, I have to say that in all our many, many trips, we have never encountered snippy CMs. A couple of times we have had some who just didn't quite understand their job completely, but never rude employees.

 

[jimmiej]

How long were you there?
How many cast members did you encounter on your stay?
My best guess would be hundreds, and you notice the 3 incidents that didn't live up to your expectations.
I can understand your beef to some degree, but really, come on. People have high expectations when they/we travel to Disney, this I understand. But what I also understand is that people are people, no one is perfect and 3 instances out of ???? is really no big deal. Just my opinion, flame away.

3 out of hundreds is still not up to Disney standards. Disney holds itself to an extremely high standard. That's why they're #1.

 

[sydprincess]

We had the waitress from hell at O'Hana's during breakfast last week- Mary Jo. While DH was handing the baby over to me to go by one of the characters, her foot acidentally knocked my coffee over. When Mary Jo came back to the table, DH let her know and her sarcastic response was "Fabulous." He then asked for some towels to wipe up the mess himself. I didn't hear her say this- until I played back the video from the breakfast! There was Mary Jo, making her rude comment!! Get a different job, lady! The one you have is obviously not for you.

Aside from that, all other CM's were "fabulous" on our trip!

 

[BarleyJack]

3 out of hundreds is still not up to Disney standards. Disney holds itself to an extremely high standard. That's why they're #1.

Everyone on this board is entitled to an opinion, even me.

 

[jimmiej]

Everyone on this board is entitled to an opinion, even me.

Never meant to insinuate otherwise. I just disagreed with your math.

 

[delaneyc52]

While I haven't seen anything to the extent you describe, over the past 30 plus years, I have seen the Disney "standard" deteriorate somewhat. I fondly (although not CM's) remember the very funny bus drivers, the happy theme park ride attendants, cashiers who could not do enough for you....and slowly...very slowly over the years it just gets to be a little less. The Disney model has been one admired by businesses for years. I have to admit however, that there are moments during my recent stays where I wish that the standards Disney set years ago were still the goal to attain.

 

[rchristiansen]

I don't think the customer service has really deteriorated. In fact, we were just there over the Spring break to end all Spring Breaks (remember those ridiculous crowd levels?) and we encountered nothing but excellent customer service. I think we expect so much more at WDW that we notice the sub-par behavior when we are there. There are always going to be some CMs that are just crummy. In a cast of thousands (literally) there will always be some bad apples and I believe Disney management won't tolerate that.

For example, I had a very bad experience with a cast member about 5 years ago. So bad she made me cry! --- I could have been hormonal, but she still made me cry. She argued with me over a traveler's check and refused to get a manager to approve it, etc. Then I asked for an apology and she replied with "I have nothing to apologize to you for!" This was at the Boardwalk store (I can't remember the name). Anyhoo --- my DH and I went up to the Boardwalk Lobby to let a manager know. I just wanted to let the hotel manager be alerted to the situation. Well my DH and I decided to hang out in the lobby for a while to cool off. The manager came over and sat with us and asked us to fill out an "official" form. We did. Then he hung out with us asking about our family, how long we were here on our trip, etc (Little did I realize he was fishing for information to compensate us). We were going to be there a couple more days, traveling with my DD and my parents. So we finished filling out the form and the manager came back with a voucher for $200!!!!! for us to use an any Boardwalk restaurant during our trip.

The moral of the story is, not to try and get compensation, but that Disney Management doesn't tolerate any kind of behavior like that. I think if in any situation described on this thread, guest relations would want to know. There really isn't anything they can do about it complaints are lodged days/weeks after the incident.

 

[tony609]

All I can say is that people agree to take a job at a certain rate of pay. If you accept that job you made an agreement to do that job for that rate of pay. No one forced you to do it. You should do that job to the up most and at least meet or exceed the job expectations no matter what the job. I work in retail I deal with guests everyday. My job has an EXTREMELY HIGH LEVEL of GUEST SERVICE expectations...I will repeat EXTREMELY HIGH.. A previous poster stated that CM's might be jealous that some can afford vacations in this economy and that they can't. This might be true BUT do you think the 18 year old girl at Kenneth Cole,Barney's New York or Coach can afford those items She is selling...probably not BUT she should do it with a smile on her face and give 100% because she agreed to that job for that rate of pay.

 

[Poohbear123]

I work in Customer Service, and being a customer at the time of the Ice Cream incident, I would have said: "Excuse me, this lady/man needs HELP you want to Jump in before I contact YOUR supervisor?" WORKS EVERY TIME!