To be or not to be......a part of custodial?

[Andre3000]

Hi, i'm new to the boards and did not want to post until i got my letter. I have been accepted for spring 2009. I've been given the custodial role. I'm happy that i got in but was not happy that I received custodial. I called to see if i could get it changed but all that is left is house keeping. What i was wondering is if its worth accepting even if it does not pertain to my major(for those who have done custodial in the past, how was it)? Or if someone else was accepted in another role that i wanted but decided to decline it could I see if could take their role?

 

[CelebrationNM]

Hi, i'm new to the boards and did not want to post until i got my letter. I have been accepted for spring 2009. I've been given the custodial role. I'm happy that i got in but was not happy that I received custodial. I called to see if i could get it changed but all that is left is house keeping. What i was wondering is if its worth accepting even if it does not pertain to my major(for those who have done custodial in the past, how was it)? Or if someone else was accepted in another role that i wanted but decided to decline it could I see if could take their role?

Congratulations on your acceptance!

There was a discussion about custodial within the past few days, in case you're interested in reading through that: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2023785

 

[mousehappy]

my DD got her letter last week for custodial and she also had mixed feelings. But after sitting on it shortly, she decided to give it a try. Many people on these boards speak of the silver lining in the role. I would like to tell you of an experience that my family had with custodial:
About 10 years ago, my wife and I went to WDW with our 2 children and their grandparents and their aunt and uncle and cousin. It was a very whirl wind type trip and we constantly rushed from 1 meeting place to the next. We had planned an early breakfast one of the mornings at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and gang. The night before the breakfast the rest of the family backed out because they wanted to rest. They agreed to meet us at 11:00 am in EPCOT at the Land Pavillion (this is also pre-cellphone days). So my wife and I took our children ages 3 and 8 (who is now the DD going)to the breakfast and had a wonderful time. Following breakfast we left the Magic Kingdom and hopped the monorail to EPCOT. The travel time was unexpectedly long and we had to rush off the monorail and I was dragging the 8year old and my wife was carrying the 3 year old as we sprinted toward the destination. At the point that we were under Spaceship Earth, our 3 year old began to projectile vomit his entire Crystal Palace Breakfast all over himself and my wife's chest, hair, and blouse. It was a major mess It was horrifying to be late, puked on and not knowing what to do. My wife ducked into the ladies room nearby to clean the little one off and somehow "freshen up". While my wife was there, a custodian came to her aide. The custodian helped my wife get cleaned up with fresh towels, she ran next door to the gift shop, brought my wife a clean shirt, took the dirty shirt, had it cleaned and sent to our resort!
It has truly been a long time since I have thought of that moment. When others on the boards started talking about golden opportunities that the Custodians have with guests, the memory sparked. For us,it was actually the "moment"of our trip.
Now, that was us but just think of the many other ways custodians rule in the area of guest relations! Lost purse, camera, spouse , and all other types of troubles happen on trips. When a guest needs help, who do they ask it from? In my experiences, it has been custodians who I have asked and joyfully recieved my answers.

 

[lauraebeth]

That's a really touching story!

 

[zulemara]

That's a really touching story!

and very true! Custodians have a lot of guest contact and since it's more of a self-starter job, you have lots of leeway to get your stuff done, but help people when needed.

As far as the major, hardly any of the roles will directly relate to your major, but being a custodian is a GREAT example of excellent customer service and high guest contact. You'd be surprised how many times it comes up in an interview that has nothing to do with customer service.

I honestly think everytime I have gotten a question about a "difficult situation" or "working in a team" I've used a situation from my college program. It holds a lot of weight!

 

[Climber656]

Hi, i'm new to the boards and did not want to post until i got my letter. I have been accepted for spring 2009. I've been given the custodial role. I'm happy that i got in but was not happy that I received custodial. I called to see if i could get it changed but all that is left is house keeping. What i was wondering is if its worth accepting even if it does not pertain to my major(for those who have done custodial in the past, how was it)? Or if someone else was accepted in another role that i wanted but decided to decline it could I see if could take their role?

You know, no matter what you role is, I think you can still benifit from the program. The experiance is still like non-other...

 

[KGH]

here is the thing with custodial... even if you aren't given the role of custodial, you end up doing alot of custodial things anyway. I always told myself I wouldnt go if I got custodial. I ended up getting Quick Service Food and Beverage. I can't tell you how much trash I pushed around that park... and ya know what? it wasnt half bad... the jobs you get as a cp won't be glamerous, very few of them are. It's the experience and the people you meet that makes it worthwhile. So, I say, go for it! Go and give it our all, with an open mind... if it's terrible and you can't stand it, atleast you can say you've tried. Better to give it a go and find out it isn't that great, than to miss out on what many people, myself included, have said was the greatest experience of their lives, just because you aren't thrilled with the custodial thing. Just my .02...

 

[kikiq]

Congrats! Let me chime in here to add to mousehappy's comment.
Last summer during our 33rd anniversary trip, we were walking to the DHS entrance. A young woman sweeping noticed our anniversary buttons and wished us a "magical day". We being the chatty couple we are, stopped to talk with her. We still talk about her to our Disney friends who are CMs. She WAS the Disney magic. She made our trip for so many reasons and all because she noticed our anniversary buttons.

Our DD will be applying for the Fall 09 program. She will be happy no matter where she ends up just to be accepted. We know several longtime Disney CMs who started out sweeping Main Street. You never know what door will open for you or what magic you bring that will touch someone's life.

Have a great experience!

 

[YouJustBideYourTime!]

Now, that was us but just think of the many other ways custodians rule in the area of guest relations! Lost purse, camera, spouse , and all other types of troubles happen on trips. When a guest needs help, who do they ask it from? In my experiences, it has been custodians who I have asked and joyfully recieved my answers.

That sounds good to me!

Also, My thoughts:

The jobs you get on the CP almost never have anything to do with your major, or they sort of are related in some weird way (like how in another recent post a theater major was offered Innoventions) but not really that directly beneficial to your career.

the reason to do the CP, then, is the experience and this is very valuable.

Also about custodial, I actually really wanted to be custodial for a while but I'm not good with dealing with protein spills so I decided I couldn't-not to bring that up to make you feel less confident in it(sorry)-but the fact that I had an opportunity to stay in attractions or transfer to any other role and Custodial is what I initially wanted should indicate, hopefully, how good of a role it is otherwise.

I would like to be in Custodial because you get to walk around a lot, you aren't stuck in one position. You get a lot of guest interaction and the opportunity to get more of it if you'd like to! You might even get to go between lands sometimes for an assignment which is really nice because the rest of us can't (costumes!) or you may be able to help a guest who can't find something by actually walking them there (not wandering all around the park but short distances, sure) whereas I had a lot of times in FLand costume that I really wanted to help someone who could have used me walking a few more feet or a few minutes with them and couldn't!!! So you get some freedom basically.

And I'm not positive but i think you'd be able to pick up Extra Hours Hotline shifts in different areas and parks because the training would be the same everywhere, so it's a good opportunity to be able to work in different areas if you like(which I think is pretty cool), or to get extra hours if you want more. But can someone confirm/deny this? I am not positive.

I think Custodial would be lots of fun and have some close friends that did it and they both loved it