They ask if you have been in the past for a couple of reasons. Your info may already be in the system, new places have opened that they have to recommend, for tracking info.
In defense of the CMs at Dining....there are two locations for Central reservations, Orlando and Tampa. Not sure if it is still done, but at peak times, calls are also routed to other call centers.
Back to the Tampa and Orlando CMs...the call centers are off Disney property and even though they are decorated Disney, they are not in the middle of the magic. It is different walking around Adventureland for a couple of hours than being tied to a phone for 8 hours in a big room with a thousand other CMs.
Calls constantly come in. As soon as a guest hangs up, a new guest is there on the line, there is no down time to regroup.
The dining line is also connected with the room and travel company lines. The CMs get bonusus for making reservations, they are probably quick to get off a dining call to get a more lucrative hotel call.
Telling countless people that Cinderellas Royal Table is full and having upset guests can really take its toll.
Not all guests that call are cheerful either, when I was on the phones at CRO, it was not uncommon to get blamed that there were no rooms, no flights, no discounts, no car rental, the bus hadn't gotten there, there was construction on I-4, it rained, the flight was cancelled because of the snow in Philladelphia, their travel agent booked the wrong dates/hotel etc etc etc.
Agents may miss out on their kids games, plays, birthdays, holidays etc because scheduling is very structured.
The pay is horrible for what the average call center CM has to deal with.
There are more, but that is all I will get into, don't want to make Disney sounds like a bad place to work. Over all, I enjoyed the 4 years I worked for the company.