The Sean incident on the show today.

[Krios16!]

This is completely disgusting and shocking! What if this would have happened to a regular park guest like myself or my family?!? This was their Christmas Tradition at Disney and the first year without their dad/ husband! Sean and his family have history with Disney, his brother is cast member for crying out loud, this isn't their first rodeo and I think the security guard was possibly on a power trip. In any company you are always taught "the customer is always right" even the Karen's out there. This went way to far for way to long, this incident should have been handled promptly and professionally that night! I would be so scared if I had anyone from disney demand me to unlock my phone and hand it over to them! I really would like to know if his brother is still employed and if there was any disciplinary action done with the security guard or management. We have a Hoop-Dee-Doo reservation on our first night in May and this is really making me want to cancel.

 

[disneydoll87]

I couldn't even believe what I was hearing! The way that situation escalated seemed absolutely horrifying to me. I feel terrible that that happened to Sean and his family. While thinking about this I couldn't help thinking about how distressed the security and management teams were over "online defamation". If they were acting respectfully and were doing their job the right way, they should have absolutely no problem having their pictures put on the internet. It reminds me of the saying "act like your grandma/mom is watching". If security maintained a reasonable level of respect throughout this situation, 1. this would not have happened, and 2. there would be nothing to "defame" on the internet!

 

[disneyseniors]

Does Sean's brother still have his job? Such a crazy experience that I had to listen to it twice. I can't believe he told Sean that Sean could take his beer with him, then called his supervisor for that exact thing. Also, if this guard has had multiple complaints (as Pete said), why has he not been redistributed?

This! I wondered why he hadn't been reassigned or let go if he had had several complaints for the same type of thing? I would think that Disney's management would want to stop this kind of behavior, not do what those 2 supervisors obviously did!
I also want to know if Sean's brother had any more repercussion from this event? I hope they follow up with this.

 

[jbehr12]

This is completely disgusting and shocking! What if this would have happened to a regular park guest like myself or my family?!? This was their Christmas Tradition at Disney and the first year without their dad/ husband! Sean and his family have history with Disney, his brother is cast member for crying out loud, this isn't their first rodeo and I think the security guard was possibly on a power trip. In any company you are always taught "the customer is always right" even the Karen's out there. This went way to far for way to long, this incident should have been handled promptly and professionally that night! I would be so scared if I had anyone from disney demand me to unlock my phone and hand it over to them! I really would like to know if his brother is still employed and if there was any disciplinary action done with the security guard or management. We have a Hoop-Dee-Doo reservation on our first night in May and this is really making me want to cancel.

After hearing this I’m done with Hoop-Dee-Doo and probably FW in general if this is the managerial culture they’ve adopted. Never really was a huge fan in the first place but I always enjoyed the food.

 

[disneyworldsk]

I think the CM's there are poorly trained eventually blow up. It's like they are trained as perfect sister wives with zero training of real people's perspectives and a lack of empathy or understanding of the real world in their disney bubbles. they are trained in a very specific robotic manner and at some point they explode emotionally. I know this personally from a recent experience with a cm family member. They are in the bubble and do not know how to be 'normal' frankly emotionally at some point whether it be when they are outside the disney bubble or unfortunately dealing with real people. Their 'customer service' training I think is not matching with real society anymore and then they cannot handle themselves and cope with regular people. These are the results of that. and yes i am generalizing.....
also the world in general is becoming a very angry place. very angry.

 

[jbehr12]

I think the CM's there are poorly trained eventually blow up. It's like they are trained as perfect sister wives with zero training of real people's perspectives and a lack of empathy or understanding of the real world in their disney bubbles. they are trained in a very specific robotic manner and at some point they explode emotionally. I know this personally from a recent experience with a cm family member. They are in the bubble and do not know how to be 'normal' frankly emotionally at some point whether it be when they are outside the disney bubble or unfortunately dealing with real people. Their 'customer service' training I think is not matching with real society anymore and then they cannot handle themselves and cope with regular people. These are the results of that. and yes i am generalizing.....
also the world in general is becoming a very angry place. very angry.

So coming from someone who worked in the world of third party and contracted companies to tourist locations, I can place a pretty solid guess on who all these cast member managers were that were called to deal with Sean. For starters I would imagine the security guard is from an outside company, hence his lack of any person of customer service skills. It’s not that he doesn’t have them, it’s that he doesn’t feel he needs to have them because he’s not employed directly by Disney. The security guards immediate female supervisor was also probably third party.

Then I would assume the two other higher level managers were in guest/public relations and facilities, both being direct Disney employees. The woman sounds like she was the one trying to smooth everything over with the guests, even though she clearly wasn’t good at it by the obvious lying. Common PR practice.

The other manager who asked for Sean’s phone I’m guessing is the facilities manager. When there’s a third party company typically someone from the home company (Disney in this case) is responsible for liaisons between the third party and their own company. Usually a facilities manager. Usually they’re terrible with people and feel they have a lot more authority than they actually do, hence trying to take Sean’s phone even though they had no right to do so.

Point of all this babble: I don’t see this as a customer service training issue, I see this as deep seeded mediocre management of a third party security company. I don’t doubt front line Guest Service training methods for Disney employees because of this, but I will echo my last post and say that it looks like a much more deep rooted problem at FW and because of it I am probably going to avoid.

 

[Ross Kratter]

So coming from someone who worked in the world of third party and contracted companies to tourist locations, I can place a pretty solid guess on who all these cast member managers were that were called to deal with Sean. For starters I would imagine the security guard is from an outside company, hence his lack of any person of customer service skills. It’s not that he doesn’t have them, it’s that he doesn’t feel he needs to have them because he’s not employed directly by Disney. The security guards immediate female supervisor was also probably third party.

Then I would assume the two other higher level managers were in customer relations and facilities, both being direct Disney employees. The woman sounds like she was the one trying to smooth everything over with the guests, even though she clearly wasn’t good at it by the obvious lying. Common PR practice.

The other manager who asked for Sean’s phone I’m guessing is the facilities manager. When there’s a third party company typically someone from the home company (Disney in this case) is responsible for liaisons between the third party and their own company. Usually a facilities manager. Usually they’re terrible with people and feel they have a lot more authority than they actually do, hence trying to take Sean’s phone even though they had no right to do so.

Point of all this babble: I don’t see this as a customer service training issue, I see this as deep seeded mediocre management of a third party security company. I don’t doubt front line Guest Service training methods for Disney employees because of this, but I will echo my last post and say that it looks like a much more deep rooted problem at FW and because of it I am probably going to avoid.

I don't believe that Disney uses a third party or contracted company for security.

 

[SeanWM48]

He also helped escalate the issue. No clean hands in this situation.

ohhh please. guy had his family with him. i don't blame him one bit for standing up for himself and his party.

most of my thoughts have been posted already. guards are a 50/50 group of professionals vs total losers on power trips. it's like that everywhere; airports, parks, malls, you name it. the story did not shock me because it just happens, and the managers/supervisors' first instinct is always to protect the guard so that part didn't surprise me either.

if i were him, and assuming his brother didn't get in any actual trouble, i would drop it and move on. don't bother following up. nobody got hurt, guard probably got in trouble for it, leave it at that vs risking further aggravation

 

[jbehr12]

I don't believe that Disney uses a third party or contracted company for security.

I’d be very surprised if they didn’t, especially at resorts.

 

[disneyboundteacher]

Yeah that was terrible. I think we all agree it was horrific treatment and ridiculous escalation so to be brief I won’t reiterate that.

I did want to say

1. It seems like someone in management had given him the assignment to clear the restaurant (which he horribly, horribly executed), he didn’t just fall out of the sky and take it upon himself?? I want to know more about what Disney cost cutting policy even brought him to that assignment.

2. I did dislike Pete broad statements saying some working security are just wannabe police officers who weren’t good enough. That felt like misplaced fault. They are undertrained and underpaid, but the scope of their job is enormous. Overall security CMs must be doing a pretty good job for as few incidents as occur for an area of this size, multiple transportation systems and a constantly changing and diverse population.

I feel Pete's statement was perfectly fine. It was a true statement and he said some, not all. I appreciate that he does not tip toe around truth in fear of someone's feelings being hurt. In addition, as Pete mentioned, how many incidents are not known. This could happen everyday and we would never know if that person does not have a platform in social media to report it.

I feel Sean was responded very well. If the situation became escalated because he spoke up and refused to be bullied, then great. I will add that SOME security guards are just high school bullies that are now adults.

 

[Krios16!]

ohhh please. guy had his family with him. i don't blame him one bit for standing up for himself and his party.

most of my thoughts have been posted already. guards are a 50/50 group of professionals vs total losers on power trips. it's like that everywhere; airports, parks, malls, you name it. the story did not shock me because it just happens, and the managers/supervisors' first instinct is always to protect the guard so that part didn't surprise me either.

if i were him, and assuming his brother didn't get in any actual trouble, i would drop it and move on. don't bother following up. nobody got hurt, guard probably got in trouble for it, leave it at that vs risking further aggravation

My first instinct would be to drop it as well because I don't like confrontation it makes me nervous and uneasy. But at the same time I would follow up to make sure a course of action took place, weather that be further training or disciplinary. Only reason why is because what if this happens again? Apparently this same individual has had other incidents.

 

[sweetpeama]

I saw a lot of this "power trip with a badge" when I used to work for a law enforcement agency, who also employed uniformed security guards. Heck - I saw it from other civilians I worked with who weren't security guards, but worked for the PD (and made sure they made a point of that, much to my chagrin and dismay!!) It's also sometimes quite evident at shopping malls in NE NJ, where there have been uniformed security guards for years (has become more prevalent in other areas of the country over the years). People over the years I used to go to the malls with from other area of the country who didn't have uniformed guards used to frequently be amazed there were "cops" working at the malls - I would say - they're NOT "cops",they're adopt-a-cops". Sorry - not a great term, but I'll be honest in what I said, and not try to sugarcoat it. I'l also say the ones I was referring to ACTED like that, but not ALL of them did (before I get flamed). I mean no harm, or disparagement against GOOD security guards anywhere, who don't have a "God with a badge" complex. They are needed, appreciated, do great jobs, and I count many among former, and current, friends.

And yes - at malls around the country, and anywhere else they have security guards - uniformed or not - including Disney - you get a MIX - of active./retired law enforcement PROFESSIONALS (will use that word again in a minute - remember it, please!) and "regular civilians'. And nothing at all wrong with "regular civilians" - they can do just as good a job at this type of job, IMHO. The KEY - to me - is being a PROFESSIONAL (there's that word again!) in your job - whether you are trained law enforcement or not. If you don't act like a PROFESSIONAL in your job, and prefer to act like a power hungry jerk, you are just that - a power hungry jerk. And yes - three ARE arrogant, power hungry jerks who are trained law enforcement too (I've worked with some - believe me!!!!) - just USUALLY a lot less - since they are USUALLY weeded out in the recruitment/training process. Seems like Disney might want to./need to "up their game" in this area, and in ongoing assessment/training like trained law enforcement agencies are constantly doing. Truth is - in any job - you have HUMAN BEINGS working for you - and will get MANY different personality types, and human beings can also change over time. But - with better recruitment and ongoing training - you can hopefully curtail any "potential problem" hires, and also deal with any problems that do occur on a fluid, ongoing, as-needed basis. Both pieces are critical, IMHO.

I will also admit to LOL, and TOTALLY agreeing - with Pete's "if you were from Joisey" comments during this portion of the show.

We called Security Gurards hired by a certain security place in my area Rent A Cops when I was growing up. A quick search to see if the company is even still in business that these security guards were through shows me that they are but it looks like they have been regulated to guarding warehouses at night when closed and they are using plain vehicles instead of ones marked with Name Security due to businesses where people are frequentling regularly such as resturants getting tired of hearing I would love to come eat at your establishment but I had people from the company that does your outside security harass me when I was in high school coming in to eat with a few friends, or my kid was harassed by your security company the other other night just coming in with a few friends so as long as you are using that company I am going to go elsewhere calls. Not hiring them anymore. If anything happens at one of these warehouses the actual security is handled by the local law enforcement for the location becuase the workers at the security place are not only unarmed but only have a magnaphone to project this is private property and is closed please leave now, and a company phone to call the real LEOs with. If they happend to catch someone all they can do is physically hold them with their bodies. Because of this most places are going with a security company that uses remote monitoring and automatically calls the appropriate law enforecement agency when an alarm goes off.
The discription of the power trip security guard Sean and his family had to deal with was a lot like some of the Rent A Cops patroling business parking lots ( the places were open) at night and harassing groups of youth (If you showed up as a person and their date and were just conversing quietly they normally left alone but if you had 2 friends get together and say lets take our dates here as an old fashioned double date and they arrived in the same vehicle unless it was a limo it was open season to harasss) especially those who were not accompanied by at least one adult old enough to be a parent (didn't matter if the adult requested to sit at a seperate table-yes it got to the point where if a group of us wanted to go out for a meal at one place we got a parent to come with us and just request a certain table-usually my group of friends did this after high school music concerts that many of us were preformers in so were were all dressed to the nines in formalwear because my high school required that style dress for advanced level band, orchestra, advanced level (not underclass no tryout requierd) choirs and the no try out underclass choir and the lower level band(s)-some years they had 2 due to the numbers of students-had a semi formal dress code for performances. with some groups even having an all females wear this and all males were this exact same thing dress. Considering that everyone in town knew which school you went to when you were dressed like that no way were you going to think about acting in anyway that would draw negative attention and risk a call to the school.
Ring Ring
Hello Local High School front office how may I direct your call
Yes I wanted to report that I saw students dressed in discription of the clothing from your school at place last night after the music group concerts doing x that offended me (sometimes it was talking about and laughing over something that happened or somebody said earlier that night at the concert often in the classroom) and I just wanted you to know or if it was more serious I would like to speak to the instructor for that group.
Ok I will let the instructor know or I will have the instructor call you (being the late 80s early 90s there were not phones in every single room so only the offices, library, cafeteria office, and physical education offices had phones everyone else it was a note delivered by a student taking office aid that class period to the room) during their prep period, after school, or before school in the next few days what is a good number to reach you at. Thank you for calling local high school.
If enough general calls came in that were even the they were talking too loud for me (not even screaming or yelling) a talk would be given in the classes for the goups about how when we are dressed in concert attire we are representing the school and to please remember that and remind friends with us of that as well because after the next concert if there are any reports of x behavior there will be repcussions.
If the calls were more serious in nature and the instructor or administration felt it was appropriate you could get detenion, in school suspension, and even out of school suspension. Needless to say because there were those who had family members going to a different high school in town and because of some of the rivalries between schools who would call and say things like this group of students were smoking, drinking, doing drugs (hello if that had happened the actual law enforcement would have been called) most were smart enough to make sure there was a parent there and would go in a restuarant to get something to eat after the concert and just have time with friends to go hey we did a great job tonight didn't we and have the designated parent or parents sit at a diffeent table to avoid this. Then when it was class I got a call that some of you were ouside of place doing x illegal for your age activity or general illegal activity everyone could go yes or no were were there but we were with so and so s parent or parents and then go home or call our parent and have them call the school and say what actually occured. (The trick was choosing the parents of the kids who had well perceived reputations with the administration-no fighting, occasionally might get a detention due to being late for a class, good grades, turned work in on time, ect to go with us or the kid who had a parent not afaid to inform the school that they would be going up the chain if necessary all the way to the state office of public education if this was not dropped because their kid either was not there or they were with the parent or at least in view of the parent the entire time and would say the same for the entire group of friends).

 

[Ellie Webbs]

I kept saying to my husband 'it gets better!' And he kept saying 'how?!'
Then it kept getting better
Feeling great about our April res

 

[Ellie Webbs]

Does Sean's brother still have his job? Such a crazy experience that I had to listen to it twice. I can't believe he told Sean that Sean could take his beer with him, then called his supervisor for that exact thing. Also, if this guard has had multiple complaints (as Pete said), why has he not been redistributed?

'Redistributed' sounds like something from a 70s sci fi film which then turns out to be far more sinister lol

 

[bpadair32]

This is a problem with security guards everywhere. There are many of them that are great and do a wonderful job and love what they do. There are many others, that are terrible, power hungry, cop wannabes that couldn't hack it with the real police, and now act like jerks with worthless badges. I've dealt with these kinds of power tripping idiots before. They are not just limited to Disney.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I’m just going to say one of the best cast member interactions I’ve ever had was with a Disney security guard during a bag check. He took what is normally an annoying part of any Disney trip and made it fun and playful while also doing his job. What happened with Sean was completely unacceptable (if nothing else than like he said: just apologize and move on and talk about me later if that’s what it takes) and I kept getting angrier and angrier the more I listened to it, but I felt like I wasn’t doing right by the wonderful security guard I interacted with if I didn’t mention him in this discussion.

We must have had the same one. We had a security bag-check CM at EPCOT that just made our day...AT BAG CHECK mind you! He talked to each person as he checked their bags and seemed to have at least passing knowledge of every home town that was named. Really excellent work!

 

[Toolulu22]

This incident settles it- HDD crossed off my list. Sean sounds more level headed than me.

 

[SeanWM48]

This incident settles it- HDD crossed off my list. Sean sounds more level headed than me.

to be fair..........it's a great show and a huge dinner. it's worth the money. if i were booking a trip i'd probably do this even though i've seen the show before. this could've happened to anybody at any restaurant on property

 

[Toolulu22]

to be fair..........it's a great show and a huge dinner. it's worth the money. if i were booking a trip i'd probably do this even though i've seen the show before. this could've happened to anybody at any restaurant on property

I’ll be interested to hear a follow up, or any more anecdotal guest experiences there or at other places on property. From the sound of it, this isn’t an isolated incident at HDD. I guess that I’m at that tipping point with Disney right about now. I want to still love them, but for the high cost I expect exceptional customer service. I don’t want to hear about stories like this- so, I hope its the exception and not more common (but unspoken).

 

[BritneyBelle]

We must have had the same one. We had a security bag-check CM at EPCOT that just made our day...AT BAG CHECK mind you! He talked to each person as he checked their bags and seemed to have at least passing knowledge of every home town that was named. Really excellent work!

Mine was at EPCOT bag check too! Wonder if it was the same guy, I didn’t get his name but he was a middle aged African American gentleman. He was slender and about my height (I’m 5’11”)