Pretty shocking comments from a CM at Epcot

[smb6]

I am a southerner; and while I am do not agree with or condone racist/and other categorizing/belittiling.... I do acknowledge that it happens a lot in the South....

 

[lovealatte]

I'm looking at this situation and thinking ...if you didn't like what was being said to you by the CM..you might have said you disagreed..or you don't think you want to talk about such things because you felt it was inappropriate....or you may have told the CM that you were a pretty tolerant person but others may look to get him fired for his comments.

Are you looking to get him fired for his comments when by now it is a case of he said, she said?

I am not saying what he said was a good or just thing, but everyone of us needs to say something when it happens, not let someone else deal with it later.

Flame away.

I totally agree with this. Being after the fact, it's a bit difficult to accomplish anything in this situation.

As to all the other comments, everyone has their own opinions and reasoning. As long as you are happy with your personal views, that's really all that counts.

 

[KellyNY]

Intolerance to any group is wrong but it is a free country, so basically you are free to quietly hate anyone, as long as you do not offend or discriminate anyone. I do not think there is more intolerance in a specific geographic areas but it definitrly exists everywhere.
As for CM, definitely wrong. He was at work at this time and so officially reresented the comany. I believe he felt your husband is easy to talk to and let his guards down. Big mistake but I do not feel he deserves to be punished for that, unless all CMs are trully shiny and trully without a sin, which I doubt.
I find it very funny that your husband did not care about religious comment but got all worked out about football, sport rage I guess.
My advice, just let it go, not a huge deal, IMO.

 

[soarinup]

Megan J:

Well, I am a Southerner, and while that may be your experience, I do not think it is fair to lump all of us together like that.

I do not feel that way.

Well I AM a Southerner have been all my life, and as a whole we are very prejudiced and vocal about it. I hate that it is true, but there you are!

 

[Mamu]

Was his name Mr. Negative by any chance.

 

[Tine731]

If you hate everyone equally then your okay

 

[TnTWalter]

If you hate everyone equally then your okay

LOL.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

I am a southerner; and while I am do not agree with or condone racist/and other categorizing/belittiling.... I do acknowledge that it happens a lot in the South....

I think racism happens a lot everywhere. I understand what Megan J was saying, and I do not think she meant any harm. It just stung a little the way it was worded.

I was born in Virginia, and I lived here until I turned 22. Then, I moved to Olympia, WA, for 10 years. Afterwards, I returned to Richmond, VA, where I have lived for the last 11 years.

The one thing I noticed in Olympia was the demographics. I missed the diversity! It was a shock to me, and it took me at least a year to adjust. I missed the culture and the richness of living in a diverse population. I just checked the Census, and the racial makeup of Olympia in 2000 was 85.3% White, 1.9% African American, 1.3% Native American, 5.8% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 1.7% from other races, and 3.8% from two or more races.

In Richmond, the demographics are 38.30% White, 57.19% African American, 0.24% Native American, 1.25% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 1.49% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.57% of the population.

There are people in the South who embrace cultural diversity--me for one! While Olympia, Washington, is beautiful, I was so excited to return home to Richmond.

As for the OP's comments, if you do nothing, someone along the way will probably report that CM. If you decide to write a letter, it will help Disney at the very least know that some additional training may be in order for the CMs in that park.

 

[TnTWalter]

Well I AM a Southerner have been all my life, and as a whole we are very prejudiced and vocal about it. I hate that it is true, but there you are!

 

[TnTWalter]

I'm from the Midwest....drive by a confederate flag all the time....drives me batty. So sadly it's everywhere.

And I have many casual friends and sadly some close friends/family members that when they tell a story have to include 'she/he is black or Asian, etc.' and I ALWAYS say 'why does that matter to the story?' drives me CRAZY.

 

[livndisney]

I totally agree with this. Being after the fact, it's a bit difficult to accomplish anything in this situation.

As to all the other comments, everyone has their own opinions and reasoning. As long as you are happy with your personal views, that's really all that counts.

 

[mr.bungle]

If you called from your room, you were not actually talking to the front desk. Those calls all go to a phone center, not really to the front desk. The only way to speak to someone at the front desk of the resort is to walk down and talk to them.

Weird... Good to know. Regardless, it was outrageously inappropriate.

 

[bristodr]

I moved from the West Coast to the South about three years ago and the one thing that I have noticed is that people down here are much more open about their racism/intolerance. I have met homophobes and racists of every color and creed down here and it still gets me very angry when somebody thinks it's okay to lay that kind of vile opinion on me. I'm betting the guy you two met was within that group of people.

EDIT: I do not mean ALL Southerners. Please use some common sense.

I'm from the East Coast, lived in your CA for a year, and have worked in most parts of the US & Internationally. There are intolrants everywhere.

 

[Tgtown]

I travel a good bit and being a person of mixed race, or to be politically correct multiethnic, I can say it's about the same everywhere.

I will say that it almost never fails that my wife gets to tease me during our trips because someone will ask me " What are you?" It never bothers me because it's never malicious, just funny to hear.

 

[pixiechick]

<<snip
My DH, however, was outside talking to a clean up CM and got an earful!!

This CM, whom I will not name here, had some derogatory remarks about females from a particular nationality and then even more hateful remarks about a certain religious group. My DH happens to be a member of that religious group but is a pretty laid back guy so he took it in stride. Then the CM said that he really hated Florida College football and THAT made DH mad cause he is a FSU grad...yes, he got more angry about the football comment than the religious one but what can I say, the man loves his Seminoles!! >>

for those of you talking about North and South, I'm not sure how this is relevant here. We don't know which group was targeted.

OP, we once met a custodial CM in the World Showcase (in Norway to be exact) who said some inappropriate things. He was clearly of limited ability and we made some lame comments about not liking to talk that way about people. We hoped that would help him get the point, while not getting him in trouble.

 

[OllieDannyandMe]

for those of you talking about North and South, I'm not sure how this is relevant here. We don't know which group was targeted.

It's only relevant because one poster said that people in the South are homophobes and racists. She came back to say that she didn't mean all Southerners, though. I just wanted to go on the record as saying I am a Southerner, and I embrace diversity. That's all.

 

[srutko1226]

Whatever any of us believe...this is not about racism. It's about whether or not to hang a CM out to dry after the fact.

The OP said that they were not all that concerned until the parties started to talk sports.

So unless we want to debate one team's merits over another, it comes down to ...should we write a letter about the CM?

And what do we really wish to get from this...free nights???

 

[DizzDoll]

In my own humble opinion, here it is, 2011, and we really need a crash course in diversity tolerance. We haven't progressed at all as a nation supposedly welcoming of other peoples, religions, cultures, etc. And not all peoples, religions, cultures, etc. think we're so hot, either. But at Disney, I would think CMs should be required to keep their prejudicial opinions to themselves, because Disney is a magnet for cultural divergence. I probably would have told the CM to plug his pie-hole.

 

[srutko1226]

In my own humble opinion, here it is, 2011, and we really need a crash course in diversity tolerance. We haven't progressed at all as a nation supposedly welcoming of other peoples, religions, cultures, etc. And not all peoples, religions, cultures, etc. think we're so hot, either. But at Disney, I would think CMs should be required to keep their prejudicial opinions to themselves, because Disney is a magnet for cultural divergence. I probably would have told the CM to plug his pie-hole.

My point exactly....(see my original post) ...tell him to plug it. Not expect anyone else to do it for us.

 

[phyllis1966]

I'm from the Midwest....drive by a confederate flag all the time....drives me batty. So sadly it's everywhere.

And I have many casual friends and sadly some close friends/family members that when they tell a story have to include 'she/he is black or Asian, etc.' and I ALWAYS say 'why does that matter to the story?' drives me CRAZY.

(Bolding is mine...)

I say the same thing all the time - it has gotten to the point when someone tells a story and sticks that phrase in there, they'll stop, look at me and say, "I know, I know - what does that have to do with the story?" They think it's funny, but I really don't. People often don't realize that the things they say casually are racist.