Aggressive Cast Members.

[JLW11Hi]

I think the most "agressive" Cms might be the crowd control. Sometimes I really kinda understand why they get angry at people standing where they aren't supposed to be, like when the guests crowd up Main Street for the parade. I can just imagine that every night/day before every parade they have to go up and down the street over and over again before a parade starts. Once you clear the way of some guests, more come in and crowd it up. Then about half, if not more of them start complaining "what's wrong with my spot? Why do I have to move? This is stupid" blah blah blah.

But that still doesn't excuse CMs for being rude. They have to learn to stay calm under pressure, which I agree can be a hard thing to do.

 

[Merlin]

I'm blown away by the excuses people on this thread are making for rude CMs! What happened to standards???

I've never worked for the parks, but I did work for the Disney Stores for 3 years (first as a part-time CM, then as a Manager, then as a Trainer at corporate). The two Stores in which I was a CM were both extremely high volume locations (to put it into perspective, picture the Main Street Emporium at closing time during peak season. The two Stores I worked in were like that ALL the time and that is no exaggeration). I guarantee that we dealt with difficult, irate, and sometimes braindead guests often. Backstage, we would vent to our fellow CMs about the occasional "Guest from Hell". But once we were onstage, we were professional and did the job we were hired (and being paid) to do. I can honestly say that I never once was rude to a guest and I'll bet I encountered some of the most difficult ones there were. But I always remembered what we were told during our interviews and during our 3-day training class, which was that this was hard work and that Disney recognized it was not for everyone. We were reminded that life was too short to be doing something you don't enjoy, and the company would understand if any of us decided the job wasn't for us, and that they would prefer that to having us continue working there and end up taking it out on a guest...Even a rude or difficult one.

I guess my point is that I think maybe this message needs to be delivered to the CMs currently working at the parks, resorts and stores. Because there is absolutely no excuse for the type of behavior exhibited by (luckily) a small minority of CMs. This may sound harsh, but I personally think those are the people Disney should be weeding out when they have layoffs.

There is a customer service training video called "The Fish" by Charthouse Learning. I think every Disney employee should be shown that video. It is the best video I've seen on the topics of customer service and bringing a positive attitude to work. Too bad Disney is no longer the trendsetter for great customer service.

 

[Merlin]

Originally posted by sandjhooker
Good answers from all. Now, let me give an example. I want to ride RnR with my 10 year old who is skeptical of roller coasters. We are at point in the queue where we are directed to either the front seat of the ride or the back seat. Knowing she will not do well in either of those locations, would a CM allow me to move to the center of the ride in order to help appease my daughter's fears, with me asking in a polite and proper way? I think I've been to Six Flags before when they would not accommodate like that.

sandjhooker, I think you are mistaken about Six Flags. They don't assign guests to rows on the rides at any of their parks. You just choose whichever row you want. So there wouldn't be anyone for you to make your request to and it wouldn't be necessary to even request it.

 

[lynnkatherine]

In all of our many visits to DW, we have never encountered anything but the most helpful and friendliest of CMs. However, on our one trip to Universal we were walking behind two CMs that were actually swearing about something. We were really taken aback and commented that this would never happen at DW. If I ran into a rude CM at Disney, I'm sure I would certainly get their name and report them immediately. I would certainly want to know if one of our employees was behaving in a an innappropriate manner. You would be doing everyone a favor by doing this.

 

[cymbaldiva]

Originally posted by Merlin


sandjhooker, I think you are mistaken about Six Flags. They don't assign guests to rows on the rides at any of their parks. You just choose whichever row you want. So there wouldn't be anyone for you to make your request to and it wouldn't be necessary to even request it.

Actually, that's not true...at least not at the Scream Machine at 6 Flags over Georgia. On that particular coaster they fuss constantly for you to keep moving to the end - Of course, it's been awhile since I've been to 6 Flags, so hopefully they've redesigned that que!

 

[Merlin]

Originally posted by cymbaldiva


Actually, that's not true...at least not at the Scream Machine at 6 Flags over Georgia. On that particular coaster they fuss constantly for you to keep moving to the end - Of course, it's been awhile since I've been to 6 Flags, so hopefully they've redesigned that que!

I was just there in August and rode the Scream Machine. They weren't doing that. They were letting people sit wherever they wanted, just like they do at every Six Flags I've ever been to. Not to get us off topic but just wanted you to know I've done my own personal "market research" (LOL) on this. I bought a Six Flags season pass at the beginning of the summer and since I travel a LOT for my job, I've been able to visit quite a few Six Flags parks over the last few months (definitely got my money's worth on that one).

 

[cymbaldiva]

Originally posted by Merlin


I was just there in August and rode the Scream Machine. They weren't doing that. They were letting people sit wherever they wanted, just like they do at every Six Flags I've ever been to. Not to get us off topic but just wanted you to know I've done my own personal "market research" (LOL) on this. I bought a Six Flags season pass at the beginning of the summer and since I travel a LOT for my job, I've been able to visit quite a few Six Flags parks over the last few months (definitely got my money's worth on that one).

Glad it worked out for you! Like I said, it's been quite awhile since I bothered w/ 6 Flags!