Service IS getting worse in this company (although I feel that WDW has pretty good service), and there are two things to blame: corporate greed for profits and American society that has spoiled children and made them all believe that they are special, wonderful, etc.
I have been a retail manager for 17 years (I am 37) and have worked at many of the major retailers in this country. I currently am a manager at a nationwide department store that is in every mall in America. My store has a staff of 380-400 at every given time, and we struggle with customer service. My husband works part-time for a national store, too and we both came back from Christmas meetings hearing the EXACT SAME MESSAGES: "Make an emotional connection with the customer" and "Control payroll". American retailers, all of them, are pushing this latest corporate catch-phrase, but they fail to realise that "making an emotional connection" with a customer means many different things, and they do not want to invest the money into training associates how to do it. Sure, they will pay CEO's to dollar and million dollar bonuses, but they will not invest a dime to make sure the average person coming to work at the Gap or WDW or Walgreen's knows how to service people.
My DH and I have both won awards for customer service and I taught classes at a large community college. I once waited on Oprah Winfrey and had her tell me it was among the best service she ever received. Why? Because my DH and I are former actors. People LOVE the service I give them because I can, after acting training, "read" a person and then I mirror them. This is a skill that can be taught, but who wants to invest the time. EVERY single day I have customers tell me "that was the best service I ever had"...it is all about reading people! Woody Allen had a movie "Zelig" where he'd chameleon-like transform into the person he was with, this is what people want. Not just "Hi, how are you?" or "Thanks" (which, sadly, most companies don't even offer THAT).
The other point is...teenagers are awful hires. They are bad associates because they have had everything handed to them on a silver platter, so their little p/t retail job means NOTHING to them, plus they were taught "you're special!" by everyone from their parents to teachers, but everyone along the way forgot to teach them basic manners and respect.
(of course I don't mean ALL teenagers, among my 200 teen employees, I have about 15 who are top-notch) Their parents even encourage them to slack off...I had a teenager say to me "I don't have to listen to you, my dad says you're a loser who makes $27,000 a year!". (This cracked me up because I actually make $72,000 plus 15% bonuses and this kid's dad was a teacher and I looked up his salary on the internet and it was $48,500...so whatever! Our store manager makes over $180k a year! So please don't assume that people in retail all make minimum wage.) So it is a battle, believe me.
WDW has to answer to stockholders who want their stock at a good price. I know the tickets and all prices seem HIGH, but it costs a TON to run the place, believe me. I had associates freak out when I showed them the $17,000 monthly electric bill for our store and our $22,000 gas bill. My store does over $50 million in business and our actual clear profit is about $8 million after expenses. Our payroll alone is over $3 million a year...so just think about that, too. Plus, what is wrong with WDW attempting to make profit? I know it is "magical" and "Happy", but it is still a business.
Final thing before I get off my soapbox...
I have long found that being the "bigger" person first (nice smile, etc) goes a long way in getting great service.....
. But for the kind of $$ outlay, you do have expectations of service that weren't there, IMHO, on this last trip. And while I do agree with bicker that service generally is getting worse in this country, this was our third stay Poly/Premium, and it was very noticable.
