Ways to thank Cast Members- can they accept small gifts?

[FastPasser]

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[TexasKiwiPrincess]

Thank you all for the great feedback and suggestions. It's been fun reading how others have thanked CMs, and the comments regarding guidelines and policies for CM gifts are especially helpful. We have changed our plans a bit. We won't offer any "junk" or trinkets to CMs. Instead we will modify our little "Thank you" cards to include a Disney related joke or riddle and hand those directly to CMs. Hopefully a little joke and a Thank You will give a little Magic back to them. When we encounter a CM that stands out to us, doesn't have to be an "above and beyond" situation, but just someone that amplifies the Magic in some way, we will snap a picture and email guest services. We set a goal of at least 5 GS emails per day of our trip. Honestly, that seems low because we always encounter amazing people at WDW, but 5 sounded like a good starting point.

Thanks again! I really appreciate knowing how guest feedback is acknowledged and that CMs do receive recognition for their efforts.

 

[wilkeliza]

Were you a costumed CM? When were you there? I'm glad it had some effect in your case.

Over the 20 plus years as a CM, and having held many high visibility positions with lots of one on one guest interaction in all of them, including the current position, I was never told that I got any of the positions due to the dozens and dozens of acknowledgments on my record card. I would have gotten them regardless based on other factors. That's not to say that it never happens.

I think that's a good thing because there are thousands of excellent and qualified behind the scenes CMs who aren't able to receive guest letters. If they're being considered for a position along with someone like me, who has had the opportunity to get countless guest letters, I don't think it's fair that I have an advantage. I wouldn't like it if things were reversed.

I know on stage CMs who were specifically told they were going to get to keep their jobs even though they had 9 points on attendance because guests absolutely loved them and so management would give some wiggle on those points (especially because it was due to sick kids at home) on the reverse someone was in a similar situation but never got a 4 keys and management said sorry nothing we can do. Maybe that was just my management team but they definitely used the guest feed back. They also get used to weigh the legitimacy of a guest complaint. It you have a history of being a good cm, 4 keys cards help establish that history, a manager may be less likely to take that 1 guest complaint to heart and give you the point for bad show. On the reverse if you have a stack of complaints and no 4 keys then you'll be out the door shortly.

 

[Mickeymouseisking]

This thread is so interesting! I've really enjoyed reading it. For us, the CMs are really what makes Disney stand out from everywhere else. One of the things that absolutely amazes us is when CMs remember us! We live far away and only make it out to WDW every few years. Every trip there are cast members we run into who remember us and give us big hugs!! Despite not seeing us for years and despite seeing millions and millions of people! It's truly magical. We always make sure to go to GS and fill out cards to compliment the wonderful CMs who made our day.

We did, however, have one not so great experience with a gift, which is why this thread was so interesting to me.
There was (or is...haven't been in 2 years ) a wonderful CM who was a host of our favorite restaurant. He always remembered us and pixie dusted us like crazy and we just loved him. We knew from talking to him that he loves cooking, so for our last trip DH and I decided to bring him an apron on which we printed "we ~Mickey head cymbal~ CM's name". We packed it and brought it with us and on the first day we went to the park and to that restaurant we brought it with us and were really excited. He did remember us and was happy to see us, but when we took out the gift he just completely changed...he seemed weirded out. He said he wasn't allowed to take gifts, and he wouldn't even look at it...there was a waitress next to us who was all smiles and excited for him and said "you can take it! At least look at it!" But he wouldn't. And then he was kind of cold and weird and stopped talking to us. We thought we'd done something terribly wrong. We were so embarrassed...we felt so stupid and tried to think if it was some huge cultural difference or something...we felt like idiots and ended up throwing out the gift without him even looking at it. It took us a few hours to stop feeling stupid...

Anyways, won't be doing that again we'll stick to verbal acknowledgement and GS.

 

[writerguyfl]

Were you a costumed CM?

Not costumed, but definitely hourly. But, my permanent location was the Disney Reservations Center. No one there was costumed, as we were not seen by guests.