Bloomberg - No Disney Fun for Orlando Workers as Poverty Nears 20%

[BigTxEars]

I still don't hear an exact solution. Should I leave the company entirely? I mean I could. But then again, if I could, would I have already? Are you implying I haven't, or the 60000 other employees, haven't thought have that already?

I still don't grasp what you are saying. First you said it is easy to advance if you work hard, now you are backtracking in saying if things are so bad I could go elsewhere. Which is it? If it is easy to advance, I wouldn't have to look elsewhere?

I think thats the issue, your looking for a solution from somebody else when it's your responsibility to provide one for yourself. Your the only one who's knows what your desire and capabilities are, you need to find a way to use those to better your situation. If your waiting for someone else to better your situation you will be waiting for a long time.

I would also shy away from advice from some of the people on here expressing their unity with you and how you should get more pay from Disney, how Disney is paying slave wages etc. They of post this as they continue to go to Disney and support the company they say is treating you so badly in regards to pay. Just hollow words from them IMO to make themselves sound passionate.

The cold hard truth is no one including Disney owes you any more than you agreed to work for nor are they going to give you more than the market wages for any given job. That is just how the world works fair or not. It's up to you to decide if it's time to move on from Disney or not. No one on here knows that but you.



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[ford91exploder]

All I can say is this:

Do you work for this company?

I do, and I will tell you what I see.

The most experienced employees are not promoted, because they "are too set in the old ways (of quality)"

A select few employees volunteer for unpaid work, listen and nod in agreement to management for unpaid meetings, and thus are promoted without regard to mid level employees input ( who have have worked for ten years or more).

It has nothing to do with work ethic, and everything to do with kissing the butt of management. Disney is not alone, but do not for a second think the "hard working merit based system" is real. NO!

It is not WHAT you know, it is WHO you know.

Welcome to reality kid.

 

[AEfx]

This is the company whose president moved "employee food service" from within the company to his wife's company "Armark" because it would save money.

Disney outsourced the employee cafeterias to Aramark? Seriously? Wow...

Though, depending on the food package they bought - they do make decent food, probably better than a good number of Fast Food places at WDW, LOL.

 

[katiekinzakat]

They actually just changed from Aramark to Sodexo. Nothing like spending an hour's worth of pay on lunch.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

“We don’t want people living on the streets. If that happens, we consider that we as a society have failed.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/b...-served-in-denmark-fast-food-restaurants.html

 

[BuddyThomas]

Federal law requires that tipped positions make at least minimum wage after all is said and done. However, and this is a big however, sometimes they don't. This is especially true of certain third party restaurants at Downtown Disney. A person I know used to work at this DTD restaurant and there were days that, once you take into account gas and tolls, she basically paid them to work that day. This restaurant has a tip pool that requires the servers to tip a portion of THEIR SALES, not their tips -- their sales, to the bartender, the sommelier and the bus boys. Regardless of whether they used any of those services. There were days that she paid out more from the tip pool than she got in tips. Not because she was a bad server, but because some people just DON'T TIP. Not only that, but at point they were tipping out to a bus boy that wasn't even working! The bus boy was on sick leave and the managers decided to pay the bus boy from the tip pool rather than on wages. I tried to get her to go to corporate or to state law enforcement, but she wouldn't because she needed the job to make ends meet and on most days she did make more than minimum.

Sorry for the rant, but there are huge problems with tipped position in the US in general and it irritates me to no end!

This was my exact experience when I worked at a major themed chain restaurant just after college. Yes, that college degree that I am still paying for over a dozen years later got me a great job waiting tables at a place that rhymes with Janet Bollywood, slinging chicken fingers to foreign tourists and being stiffed for the honor of doing so, because international guests don't understand tipping, or at least they pretend they don't.

I went home several times having to PAY out of my own pocket for having worked a shift, rather than earning any money, because waiters were forced to tip the bus staff, the bar staff, and the food runner based on SALES, not how much you earned.

One time I worked a lunch shift and my only table was a party of like 40 foreign tourists. They racked up a bill of over $500 and then they stiffed me. We were not allowed to add on a tip, although these days, some places allow it for large parties.

Anyway, I made ZERO tips that lunch shift, but if that wasn't bad enough, I had to tip out 10% of the sales to the bartender, 10% to the bus boy, and 5% to the food runner. Plus round trip subway fare home.

Anyway, unless they punch you in the face, pour soup on your head and throw your child out a window, please just tip your freaking service staff, and stop bragging about it if you don't.

 

[ford91exploder]

This was my exact experience when I worked at a major themed chain restaurant just after college. Yes, that college degree that I am still paying for over a dozen years later got me a great job waiting tables at a place that rhymes with Janet Bollywood, slinging chicken fingers to foreign tourists and being stiffed for the honor of doing so, because international guests don't understand tipping, or at least they pretend they don't.

I went home several times having to PAY out of my own pocket for having worked a shift, rather than earning any money, because waiters were forced to tip the bus staff, the bar staff, and the food runner based on SALES, not how much you earned.

One time I worked a lunch shift and my only table was a party of like 40 foreign tourists. They racked up a bill of over $500 and then they stiffed me. We were not allowed to add on a tip, although these days, some places allow it for large parties.

Anyway, I made ZERO tips that lunch shift, but if that wasn't bad enough, I had to tip out 10% of the sales to the bartender, 10% to the bus boy, and 5% to the food runner. Plus round trip subway fare home.

Anyway, unless they punch you in the face, pour soup on your head and throw your child out a window, please just tip your freaking service staff, and stop bragging about it if you don't.

I do tip and generally north of 20% and this is at my local chinese lunch joint as well as WDW, However I do occasionally make a point while tipping if the server is more interested in their phone than waiting tables (A problem which seems to be endemic at Darden and Levy operated restaurants).

 

[ford91exploder]

Disney outsourced the employee cafeterias to Aramark? Seriously? Wow...

Though, depending on the food package they bought - they do make decent food, probably better than a good number of Fast Food places at WDW, LOL.

It's not like Disney does not have a food and beverage service department...

 

[PhotoDave219]

Disney outsourced the employee cafeterias to Aramark? Seriously? Wow...

Though, depending on the food package they bought - they do make decent food, probably better than a good number of Fast Food places at WDW, LOL.

It was that way 10 years ago.

 

[BigTxEars]

“We don’t want people living on the streets. If that happens, we consider that we as a society have failed.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/b...-served-in-denmark-fast-food-restaurants.html

This link requires I join the NYT website to read it, no thanks to that. But I would be interested in seeing what it says, can you link it a different way?

 

[CDavid]

This link requires I join the NYT website to read it, no thanks to that. But I would be interested in seeing what it says, can you link it a different way?

I read it just fine without a subscription, just by clicking the link. In any case, @the.dreamfinder has provided the complete text.

 

[ford91exploder]

“We don’t want people living on the streets. If that happens, we consider that we as a society have failed.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/b...-served-in-denmark-fast-food-restaurants.html

The problem in the US stems from Big Business and it's wholly owned subsidiary Big Government as opposed to local business. Before STAPLES invaded my town there was a local stationary store which STOCKED EVERYTHING yes the prices were a bit higher than Staples charges now and your choice in folder colors was beige, But they paid their staff a living wage and sponsored local events.

Now Staples has 'associates' who live 4 to an apartment and they can barely make the rent. But in large part we encourage this by SHOPPING THERE. The local Staples has some token support of local events but its in the hundreds of dollars - this is because BY DESIGN Staples is designed to suck money out of the local economy.

Personally I don't buy something from Amazon if I can source it locally from a small vendor, Amazon is not going to stay open late if I need something NOW but a local shop will for a good customer.

 

[BigTxEars]

I read it just fine without a subscription, just by clicking the link. In any case, @the.dreamfinder has provided the complete text.

Still won't let me read it without becoming a NYT member. No big deal. It being the NYT I most likely would not agree with it anyway

 

[BigTxEars]

CDavid sent the text (thanks again) to me and I have to agree with the person in the story that a socialist country like Denmark and a non socialist country like the U.S. are not apt comparisons.

I would be interested to read how for example promotions are handled in Denmark, is it based on seniority or capability? What is the path for the person in the article to advance from his fast food job if he wants to? Is the $20 per hour wage an deterent to him wanting to? In 20 years if he is still in a entry level position making it with a little to spare as indicated in the story is that a good ending for him or would the lower pay and thus incentive in the U.S. to advance have turned out better for him longterm. How are entry level jobs effected by the fact that with the higher pay many stay in them long term? Is there room for the new folks looking for entry level jobs? The article is a bit one sided IMO and leaves questions unanswered.

A quick check shows unemployment in Denmark at 4% and in the U.S. at 5.9%. The Danish economy seems to be entering a slump (as are a number of countries in Europe, many already have reached crisis point) while the U.S.is rebounding from it's own slump. Not sure how the unemployment figures are effect by that, but we all know the U.S. is shrinking currently form where it was. Not sure if the Danish one will grow or stay where it is.

Overall I am no fan nor supporter of socialism as I think it is a soul sucking form of government. I think it robs human dignity in the form of it's cradle to grave parenting of people. I much prefer a form of government where the people have the ability to rise or fall based on their own abilities and efforts.

See....the NYT and I disagree once again!

 

[photomatt]

I am looking at the FL elections website, and it shows the voter turnout percentage for this election. Seminole County had 55% turnout. Orange County had 43% and Osceola County had 40%. Apparently, the ones that did not vote are perfectly happy with the way things are. *sarcasm*

FYI, the three counties I am mentioning are ones in which many WDW CM's reside. Polk County and Lake County also have a large number of WDW CM's, and their turnout percentage is in line with Seminole's.

In Orange County, they had early voting for TWO WEEKS! I voted back in October. There is no reason that the remaining 57 percent of the registered voters in Orange County couldn't get off their *** and vote. They had plenty of time. They could have even requested mail-in ballots.

We could change the fact that theme park wages are poverty wages. The problem is that the majority is too lazy to do anything about it.

This does not include the approximately 2 million Floridians who are not even registered, but who would be eligible if they chose to do so.

One last note - FL turnout statewide is about 50 percent. Pathetic. No, it's nothing new, but it's still pathetic.

 

[ford91exploder]

I am looking at the FL elections website, and it shows the voter turnout percentage for this election. Seminole County had 55% turnout. Orange County had 43% and Osceola County had 40%. Apparently, the ones that did not vote are perfectly happy with the way things are. *sarcasm*

FYI, the three counties I am mentioning are ones in which many WDW CM's reside. Polk County and Lake County also have a large number of WDW CM's, and their turnout percentage is in line with Seminole's.

In Orange County, they had early voting for TWO WEEKS! I voted back in October. There is no reason that the remaining 57 percent of the registered voters in Orange County couldn't get off their *** and vote. They had plenty of time. They could have even requested mail-in ballots.

We could change the fact that theme park wages are poverty wages. The problem is that the majority is too lazy to do anything about it.

This does not include the approximately 2 million Floridians who are not even registered, but who would be eligible if they chose to do so.

One last note - FL turnout statewide is about 50 percent. Pathetic. No, it's nothing new, but it's still pathetic.

Yes it is but I blame the news media for this, They push the line individuals can't make a difference and so many believe this and act accordingly by not voting.