Will I be terminated?

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mkt

Disney's Favorite Scumbag™
Premium Member
Disney doesn't own everything. All they own is ABC and even then it's kinda a brother sister relationship.

Disney's media control isn't limited to what they own - the are also influential in other networks. Disney is a 600 lb gorilla.

According to what he has written here, they had not made a final decision at the time of this meeting - he was still scheduled to work. They contacted him for a follow-up meeting, which he did not attend because he was "too stressed" and wanted to reschedule it. But was unable (in his words) to contact them to do so - so in effect, he blew them off. That's when he was fired. They had tossed him a lifeline, and he ignored it.

Actually, to me it seems more like they wanted him to sign termination papers, return company property, and remove any personal property. no lifeline.

When I was fired, I was asked to come in, and no reason was given. I clocked in, arrived at the manager's office and waited. She arrived, and the exact words that she told to me is "you've been accused of a terminable offense, and as such, you are being terminated. I need you to turn in your ID, sign these documents, and clear out your locker." I was not given an opportunity to say a word in my defense, or request a shop steward, and no investigation was performed.

CM's are nothing more than a line item on Disneys budgets.
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Disney's media control isn't limited to what they own - the are also influential in other networks. Disney is a 600 lb gorilla.



Actually, to me it seems more like they wanted him to sign termination papers, return company property, and remove any personal property. no lifeline.

When I was fired, I was asked to come in, and no reason was given. I clocked in, arrived at the manager's office and waited. She arrived, and the exact words that she told to me is "you've been accused of a terminable offense, and as such, you are being terminated. I need you to turn in your ID, sign these documents, and clear out your locker." I was not given an opportunity to say a word in my defense, or request a shop steward, and no investigation was performed.

CM's are nothing more than a line item on Disneys budgets.
Front line are far more than line items, I beg to differ.

That said, they are interchangeable, but hiring and training is a process in and of itself, and a hassle...

So, no we don't agree.

That said, terminations need to be done a certain way, as we live in a litigious society where EEOC and other claims are common, and cost a LOT of money to defend.

To be frank, the only reason why it's so hard to get a job is because it's so hard to terminate one, and companies have reacted.
 

mkt

Disney's Favorite Scumbag™
Premium Member
Front line are far more than line items, I beg to differ.

That said, they are interchangeable, but hiring and training is a process in and of itself, and a hassle...

So, no we don't agree.

That said, terminations need to be done a certain way, as we live in a litigious society where EEOC and other claims are common, and cost a LOT of money to defend.

To be frank, the only reason why it's so hard to get a job is because it's so hard to terminate one, and companies have reacted.

My time and experiences with the mouse - both as a CM and as a consultant - make me politely disagree with you. Especially with the difficulty/ease of termination. At Disney it's extremely easy to terminate CM's since A- Disney documents every minor thing, and B- their DMV inspired points policy.
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
My time and experiences with the mouse - both as a CM and as a consultant - make me politely disagree with you. Especially with the difficulty/ease of termination. At Disney it's extremely easy to terminate CM's since A- Disney documents every minor thing, and B- their DMV inspired points policy.
And, that doesn't disqualify my points. Read them again, there is a reason why Disney (and many employers) do that.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
My first job was at 12 years old, and I still went to school. That was a bit young for my peers (late Gen-X) but it was not unheard of for someone to get a job at 15 (even at a major chain) and work that through high school.
Yeah I started working at McDonald's on my 16th birthday (the youngest that was legal in my state). I worked that job through high school (including full time and overtime during the summers) and again in the summers after my first two years of college. I had an additional two jobs out at school. Accounting wasn't the sexiest thing to study but it got me a job after I graduated that let me pay off my $25K in student loans in less than two years. At 25 I've already moved to Florida, bought a house, sold that house, moved out of Florida, bought a different house, and now I'm closer to family with a wife and a baby at home. I have zero peers from high school or college with similar experiences.

"Generation Y" = "Generation WHY"...meaning, "Why should I do this?"

Sometimes you just should do things because you are told to.
In a hierarchical environment, I agree. But in the professional environment there's value to challenging the status quo. So yes, do what you're told, but do it and ask "why". Maybe there's a better way.
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
In a hierarchical environment, I agree. But in the professional environment there's value to challenging the status quo. So yes, do what you're told, but do it and ask "why". Maybe there's a better way.
Asking "why" is different than thinking "why".

And, entry level positions such as this are hierarchical environments.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Thank you. For the love of Pete, Disney has an entire segment of the company referred to as Media Networks. It includes ESPN, ABC (and ALL affiliates) and many smaller media entities. It's not a brother-sister relationship - it's an ownership. And ESPN is a stubborn stepchild.
The stubborn stepchild that makes all the money.

Just wanted to throw two cents in here - when Disney was hiring me, they wanted to ask Caterpillar all sorts of questions they couldn't answer. Disney knew that, and asked anyway. Why? Because someone will slip up and Disney will get more information than they bargained for, maybe preventing them from hiring incorrectly. That said, most companies will not answer anything beyond, "Yes. They were employed here from x to x."
Note that there's a big difference between what "the company" can say and what your manager can or will say. The Disney HR employment verification people will only confirm dates of employment. But if you list your manager "Bob Jones, Finance Manager" as a reference with his direct phone number, there's a very real and likely chance that he evaluates you honestly.

McDonald's was never owned by Disney. They had a royalty agreement at one point. I really suggest you take the time to understand the segments of the business you work for.
Several agreements, actually. Theme park presence and happy meal toys chief among them.
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Oh I agree. I was speaking with respect to the millennial way of thinking in general, not just this specific case.
I don't think millennials are all the different than any other generation.

The only issue is that they are far more vocal, more likely to self-diagnose conditions to feel "included", and more likely to take legal action, than previous ones.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
I don't think millennials are all the different than any other generation.

The only issue is that they are far more vocal, more likely to self-diagnose conditions to feel "included", and more likely to take legal action, than previous ones.
I disagree. I'm a millennial and millennials are the worst. It's all based on entitlement. You may have seen this before but I think you'll get a kick out of it:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/generation-y-unhappy_b_3930620.html

Some highlights:

2013-09-15-Geny14.jpg


2013-09-15-Geny15.jpg


2013-09-15-Geny16.jpg
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...

englanddg

One Little Spark...
I never wanted to work for CEC for a living. It wasn't my life goal. I had years upon years (including being a manager) with them...

But, when I started my own company and it went bust, guess who I went back to, which turned into a rather profitable job? Yeah....CEC.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
None of that is new.
The social media component is new. Many of my peers are slaves to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Those arenas allow people to portray a perfected, curated image of themselves. If all of your friends have hollow, empty lives but present themselves as fabulous and glamorous on social media, you're more likely to feel envy and self-loathing for what you know to be your own hollow life. (None of this is an excuse. People need to turn off their phones and do some work.)
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
The social media component is new. Many of my peers are slaves to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Those arenas allow people to portray a perfected, curated image of themselves. If all of your friends have hollow, empty lives but present themselves as fabulous and glamorous on social media, you're more likely to feel envy and self-loathing for what you know to be your own hollow life. (None of this is an excuse. People need to turn off their phones and do some work.)
I agree.
 

The Mom

Moderator
Premium Member
Disney's media control isn't limited to what they own - the are also influential in other networks. Disney is a 600 lb gorilla.



Actually, to me it seems more like they wanted him to sign termination papers, return company property, and remove any personal property. no lifeline.

When I was fired, I was asked to come in, and no reason was given. I clocked in, arrived at the manager's office and waited. She arrived, and the exact words that she told to me is "you've been accused of a terminable offense, and as such, you are being terminated. I need you to turn in your ID, sign these documents, and clear out your locker." I was not given an opportunity to say a word in my defense, or request a shop steward, and no investigation was performed.

CM's are nothing more than a line item on Disneys budgets.

Since he didn't show up, we'll never know. ;)
 

mousehockey37

Well-Known Member
Note that there's a big difference between what "the company" can say and what your manager can or will say. The Disney HR employment verification people will only confirm dates of employment. But if you list your manager "Bob Jones, Finance Manager" as a reference with his direct phone number, there's a very real and likely chance that he evaluates you honestly.

This ^^^^^^. Most applications ask for former employers, whether or not they can be contacted, a phone number to reach them, and who was your most recent supervisor. With online applications, I personally stick with anything that has a * next to it and move along.

Do they still ask for references? Both professional and personal? Do companies take the time to call those people? I know when I was teaching they did....
 

Domosuke

Member
Original Poster
I'm not going to post quotes, but just to clear up some points.

I never said I'm looking for mickey mouse when this incident happened in reality. When I explained my retelling in the first post, I did type that yes.

I made that up because I had a feeling that disney would read these forums, thinking that I was defaming their company. When they brought that up in a follow up meeting I attended in person backstage to go over my statement, shortly after I had made that post, that gave me reassurance that they did read this forum.

They shouldn't assume that I was the same person that made that post. I never gave work locations, names, or anything that would pin point me as this person. So they just automatically assumed that was me and changed the story to that of what was mentioned in this thread, which for all intensive purposes I could be making up, but I'm not.

That's the next thing, aside from the mickey mouse comment, everything I mentioned is the truth and exactly happened. Yes it's correct that I wanted to reschedule the "we need you to turn your things in" (which let's not kid ourselves, was a meeting to tell me they were letting me go) meeting which was about a week after my first meeting. When I tried to do that, I was just given voice mail prompts and I left messages which were never returned.

I got a letter in the mail last week informing me that I was terminated, so I soon tried to contact my union. After speaking with a union member for my department, we agreed on a date which was the following day I spoke with them on the phone. I fell ill, so I was unable to attend. I personally left voice mails on this persons phone which were not returned.

But now thinking about it, I could just walk into the union office myself and explain the situation to them, and get represented at a later date. But as some of you said, I was under probation so all of this could be irelevant.

I did speak with one of my managers on a whim I think early last week, and they basically stood by their decision and felt my termination was justified and that I would need to speak with HR which I am contemplating doing now.

I also got another letter today telling me I have ten days to return my costumes and other company property, or else it would affect my rehire status which I thought was already restricted.

I find it sad that they have an FAQ section on the letter, and it says "If you are not able to return the costumes yourself, you can get a friend or family member who works for disney to return them." Smh.

Another last thing, I still don't see what I did wrong. If I messed up I would be the first person to own up to it. It's only natural to defend yourself against something in which you did nothing wrong.

I was in college but I kinda dropped out. I don't know what I really want to do, except pipe dreams of me doing something in the entertainment industry.

Oh and people kept mentioning how I want to get even with the company. Not at all, revenge is a dish best served cold. I'm going to worry about myself and try to live my life for myself.
 
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