Great guests....
After reading the posts in this thread so far, a couple of things come to mind.
First of all, there are some CMs that should in no way be a CM. I've ran across a few that are very anti-people people. I always wonder if they don't like people, what the heck are they doing working at Disney World. Why not get a job in a cubicle somewhere where you never have to deal with the outside public. ???? And in alot of cases, you don't even have to go out of your way very far in order to make a difference to a guest. Just a few extra seconds of your time and you can make their day. Sometimes it's as simple as handing a Mickey sticker to a crying child who then stops crying and whose parents are eternally grateful.
And I've had some guests that I swear would complain about something even if they were walking on the streets of gold in heaven. After so many of these kinds a day, I am SOOOOOO appreciative of the great guest. These are the guests who remind me that that's why I am here working at Disney in the first place.
One of my best memories just happened a couple of weeks ago. I had a family from Indiana that I started talking to one day when working at Once Upon A Toy. The boys had just started pin trading and were in search of the whole Rescuers mini pin set. I traded with them giving them 1 or 2 of them. My manager that night also gave them one of the 101 Dalmation lanyard pins.
The next day, I was working at the World of Disney when I heard my name being called. I turned around to find the same boys running up to tell me that they had gotten all of the pins in the set. They were so excited!!! They then said they were working on the 101 Dalmation lanyard set. I told them I would keep my eye out for them that evening. They found me before they left the store later that night to see if I had found the last one they were needing. I told them I hadn't, but I would keep looking that night. I told them I was working at "Toy" again the next night and if I couldn't find them the pin, I would bring mine from my own set at home for them.
The next night at Toy, I mentioned the family and another CM found the one they needed backstage and gave it to me to give them. I made up little Magic Moment certificates with "Pin Trader of the Day" for them and waited to see if they would show up.
I had only been at work about a 1/2 hour when they walked in looking for me!! I put their names on the certificates and gave them the pin without asking for a trade for it. They were so excited!!
You would have thought I had handed them a million dollars!! They wanted my email address to keep in touch when they got home and I got hugs from not only the kids, but the parent as well. They were so thrilled that CMs would be so nice to them as perfect strangers that it made their whole trip to Disney a true "magic moment" (it was their first trip to WDW).
And all it took was maybe 10 minutes tops out of my day to sign a couple of certificates and keep a look out for a pin. But as CMs, we have to stay focused on the fact that guests are really what we are here for........