Grouchy CMs low quality standards and other things from our trip...

[ConstanceIrene]

So we just got back today from ou r week long trip to the world after a 2 1/2 year absence and noticed a few things. First boy were they busy!!! at capacity a few of the days. even though AK and HS were dead on the 31st and 1sts.

My complaint is mostly with the CM's ... alot of them were just grouchy.. like they were so miserable to be there. it was a first to see and interact with so many unpleasent CM"S. mostly just them sounding/looking miserable, a couple strange things. like when we went to check in at prioity seating they said well your reservation is 5:00 you need to come back at 4:45(very rudly like I was so dumb or something... I walked away and told my husband and he looked at the clock it was 4:44 so then I had to walk right back and wait in line (which was now super long...) Some Cm's getting annoyed especially when we wanted to do a baby swap!
anyone else notice this??



Another thing is that we were there with our 10 month old baby and alot of the cm's were interacting with him which is fine but several felt the need to touch his face etc... I was kind of upset and felt they should keep there hands to themselves!

Also there seemed to be lots of uncoordination and chaos... when we went to dinner at the TREX resturant we were told to go to 3 different places to wait for our seat and nobody new where they wanted us. also when we were at the magic kingdom and were going in line for the speedway we asked the CM how baby swap for that ride works.. he said that we take the baby w/us they'll handle it when we get there... we get there and he said baby swap tghey should take care of it at the front and rudley told my hubby (who had the sleerping baby) go sit in the grandstsand.....

The other thing I noticed was the quality of some things. like our hotel at the pop century when we got there. there was a roach in our bathroom. my hubby killed it and i figured isolated incident.. well the next day when I went to get an item out of the drawer we put our babys stuff in tehre were two more in there!!! I also felt a few of the resturants like chef mickey's dinner buffet have dropped the quality of food they used to have. The parks seemed very messy (but could have been because of how busy they were)

now all in all had a blast and cant wait for our next trip 6/2011!!!!

From the way your post is written, I could tell that you're a young woman. Mellow out a little bit and focus on the positive. You had a great time. Many of the CMs were overworked college program kids. From the stories my daughter told me during the holiday season, the guests can be quite rude and grouchy themselves.
Not so long ago, you were same age as many of the CPs you encountered. While there is no excuse for downright rudeness, they may not have been at top form because they worked long, hard hours while away from their families at Christmas for the first time. It may have stated on their applications that they'd be working on Christmas, but it sunk in when all the families showed up and the CP's families were hundreds of miles away.

Cut them some slack. You had a blast and will have another great vacation in June.

 

[wdwaddict71]

Was this at gunpoint or at knife point?


Give me a break, I've worked every holiday there is before, including a few double shifts over night on New Year's while my wife(pregnant with our son) and our newborn daughter were at home. Upon completion of an application you should already know that Disney is open year round, so there's no blaming the work schedule.

You beat me to it..I was going to post the same thing. There are plenty of jobs where you have to work holidays..firefighters, police and healthcare to name a few. I work every Christmas Eve and New Years Eve and I don't take this out on my patients.

"Forced" to work?...I don't think so.

 

[raven]

Did the CM's happen to be CP's? :lol:

 

[Rinx]

This is a message to everyone on these boards:

If you haven't gone to T-REX, save yourself the time and money. It is not a Disney restaurant and the employees are not hired by Disney. They are very unorganized when it is crowded and they have no system at all. The food is very expensive for such poor quality and it is just a terribly noisy and obnoxious atmosphere.

 

[SMRT-1]

T-REX - where dinosaurs exist and quality service does not. you will have a better experience going to wendy's. amazing looking place though.

 

[TheMagicMaker]

Before this CP argument begins let me just say something... Being a Cast Member in the World can take its toll, but for the most part it is a rewarding experience. When I worked there, I was one of the most energetic Cast Members around, always providing the 110%, providing that Magical Disney Experience that the Guests expect and going Above and Beyond on all counts. I was a CP, and I hate to say it but a majority of the times, CPs do a better job then the FTs. CPs take their job more seroiusly because its a great time to show the company that you want to work for them long term, I'm sure other CPs agree in this matter.

Did you ever ask to speak to a manager or go to Guest Relations? I can say from personal experience that all comments from Guest Relations are taken seriously. Everything told to Guest Relations is told to a Manager who then can talk to the CM, but the Managers don't know unless someone tells them.

During my tenure at Disney World, I was screamed at, cursed at, yelled at, and threatened by Guests for the most ridiculous things, some Guests don't even treat us as humans. Then right after any negative incident you have to bring back on that smile, and sometimes that's a bit hard to do when you were just yelled at by a Guest for wait times being too long, or strollers not being allowed in a certain area.

I always provided those Magical Moments, and there is no excuse for low quality CMs because we are held to a high standard, but sometimes we do deserve some slack, we are human, and stress does take it's toll. But the easiest way to ensure great Guest Service is to just acknowledge us and talk to us. You have no idea how nice it is to NOT be ignored by Guest when we are interacting with them. It is the small things in the World that we CMs enjoy. We enjoy interaction, and we enjoy being listened too.

Have A Magical Day!!

 

[Dwarful]

On your next visit, if you encounter any problems let them know at the resort immediately! There is no excuse for roaches in a room. I am a bit of a 'freak' when it comes to bugs so I always do a room search...pull down the blankets, sheets, pillows, etc., search drawers etc. Our last stay at Movies the room had wet carpet and mold along one wall. I called the front desk, they sent someone to the room to check things, we were moved to a different room.

My main thing is touching the baby! yuuuuuckkkk! Our oldest daughter, who is now a healthy 13 yr old, spent the first month of her life at St. Louis Children's Hospital with RSV, came home on oxygen and an apnea monitor...someone at the hospital where she was born was sick and she 'got it'...and we ended up going right from one hospital to the other. I never wanted strangers to touch my kids..esp. their hands because babies tend to put their hand into their mouth. But honestly most people don't think beyond the cuteness of babies.

 

[kimmychad]

Would you be in a good mood if you were forced to work 12 hours on Christmas Day? I think not...:shrug:

No one was FORCED to work 12 hours on christmas day. If they don't like the job there are others.

 

[Rabflmom]

From the way your post is written, I could tell that you're a young woman. Mellow out a little bit and focus on the positive. You had a great time. Many of the CMs were overworked college program kids. From the stories my daughter told me during the holiday season, the guests can be quite rude and grouchy themselves.
Not so long ago, you were same age as many of the CPs you encountered. While there is no excuse for downright rudeness, they may not have been at top form because they worked long, hard hours while away from their families at Christmas for the first time. It may have stated on their applications that they'd be working on Christmas, but it sunk in when all the families showed up and the CP's families were hundreds of miles away.

Cut them some slack. You had a blast and will have another great vacation in June.

As a mom of a regular employee of Disney, I get to hear those stories, too. I hear of the threats made by guests to cms who are generally just following the rules of the parks. I hear about the drunk parents who lose their kids and don't even try to find them for hours because they left them somewhere while they ride a ride their kids can't go on. Has your child ever had a car touch their leg because they were telling the rude guest the parking lot was closed and the driver figured if they continued moving forward the CM would let them in anyway? Many guests walk through the gates with attitude and throw it at the cms as if they were second class citizens. For every rude CM comment on here there are probably as many rude guest comments being made after hours by the CMS just talking about a normal day at work. Of course you also hear about the wonderful guests who the CMs interact with, the cool parents , and even the celebrities that treat them with kindness.

As for conflicting advice from cms etc. Many were doing jobs this week they had never done before. They had lifeguards from the waterparks office workers, and anyone on the payroll working in the major parks any hours and times they could work trying to keep enough cms there for the crowds. Even though my son has worked for Disney for almost 10 years this was the first time he ever worked at EPCOT or the MK . So for the baby swap mentioned(etc), the CMS probably weren't trained for that
event in the few minutes they were briefed to stand at the line acting as line monitor etc.. The CMs brought in to help probably did not know all the proper things to say and do in each position they filled. They gave up their time to be with their families on their hours or days off to help make the guests stay in the world the best they could.

 

[captainkidd]

Would you be in a good mood if you were forced to work 12 hours on Christmas Day? I think not...:shrug:

If that's my job, yes. If I can't do my job, then I'd quit and find another one.

 

[captainkidd]

During my tenure at Disney World, I was screamed at, cursed at, yelled at, and threatened by Guests for the most ridiculous things, some Guests don't even treat us as humans. Then right after any negative incident you have to bring back on that smile, and sometimes that's a bit hard to do when you were just yelled at by a Guest for wait times being too long, or strollers not being allowed in a certain area.

That's not right, and I wouldn't blame someone for not having a smile on their face if treated ike that.

I've generally always had decent experiences with CM's. I will say, the nicest seem to be at World Showcase. It is a bit annoying when you know you're being polite yourself and the CM's aren't doing the same. The problem is, Disney has this reputation to live up to, and when they fall short, people are very disappointed.

Like that guy on WDW Behind The Scenes on Travel Channel said - "People's expectations at Disney are probably higher than when they do anything else in their lives." And like someone else on that show said "Disney is held to a higher standard because Disney started holding itself to a higher standard."

 

[raven]

Before this CP argument begins let me just say something... Being a Cast Member in the World can take its toll, but for the most part it is a rewarding experience. When I worked there, I was one of the most energetic Cast Members around, always providing the 110%, providing that Magical Disney Experience that the Guests expect and going Above and Beyond on all counts. I was a CP, and I hate to say it but a majority of the times, CPs do a better job then the FTs. CPs take their job more seroiusly because its a great time to show the company that you want to work for them long term, I'm sure other CPs agree in this matter.

Let me just enlighten you on a little story. Last week I worked with a trainer for Soarin' on a 3rd shift detail. He explained to me that they've had so much trouble with Soarin' CP's over the past year because they refuse to work past 7:30PM. Why? Because they want to be able to go to parties back at their dorms. So the CP's all grouped together, went to their representitive and Disney had to take them off the schedule after 7:30PM and told managers to schedule regular CM's to close the park.

Now, tell me why CP's have a bad rap? I'm sure this doesn't happen everywhere but it only takes a few to spoil their reputation. Disney goes out of it's way to accomodate CP's throwing parties for them, giving them special entries on events and tons of recognition. You don't get that when you are a regular CM. You are just one of the masses.

 

[RiversideBunny]

In reading trip reports I always consider when the person went.
The week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day is one of the most crowded and hectic weeks of the entire year.

Same consideration for weekends involving other holidays such as Easter and for most of the month of July.

 

[Figment632]

The main thing that bugged me on my trip was the amount of CM's that could barelt speak English. They should't hire people that have a hard time understanding English (Not inclusing the WS). It took a CM from Korea 5 minutes to understand Where is the First Aid :fork:

 

[bgraham34]

The main thing that bugged me on my trip was the amount of CM's that could barelt speak English. They should't hire people that have a hard time understanding English (Not inclusing the WS). It took a CM from Korea 5 minutes to understand Where is the First Aid :fork:

That happens everywhere here in NJ, so that is nothing new to me when i am down there. It is extremely frustrating to say the least.

 

[wm49rs]

In reading trip reports I always consider when the person went.
The week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day is one of the most crowded and hectic weeks of the entire year.

Same consideration for weekends involving other holidays such as Easter and for most of the month of July.

The middle of June through the middle of August needs as much consideration as the holidays, imo. Not only do you have insane crowds, but toss in the oppressive heat and humidity of summer in Orlando. Maybe that doesn't completely excuse rude CM behavior, but I can certainly understand it.

 

[TheBeatles]

Let me just enlighten you on a little story. Last week I worked with a trainer for Soarin' on a 3rd shift detail. He explained to me that they've had so much trouble with Soarin' CP's over the past year because they refuse to work past 7:30PM. Why? Because they want to be able to go to parties back at their dorms. So the CP's all grouped together, went to their representitive and Disney had to take them off the schedule after 7:30PM and told managers to schedule regular CM's to close the park.
/QUOTE]

As a former CP, I'm surprised this actually happened. Both of the locations I worked at did a great job of making me respect not only the people I worked with, but the amount of hours I received.

And as a former host/seater at Disney, when the restaurant is busy and people are hungry.... oh man....

 

[Buried20KLeague]

So we just got back today from ou r week long trip to the world after a 2 1/2 year absence and noticed a few things. First boy were they busy!!! at capacity a few of the days. even though AK and HS were dead on the 31st and 1sts.

My complaint is mostly with the CM's ... alot of them were just grouchy.. like they were so miserable to be there. it was a first to see and interact with so many unpleasent CM"S. mostly just them sounding/looking miserable, a couple strange things. like when we went to check in at prioity seating they said well your reservation is 5:00 you need to come back at 4:45(very rudly like I was so dumb or something... I walked away and told my husband and he looked at the clock it was 4:44 so then I had to walk right back and wait in line (which was now super long...) Some Cm's getting annoyed especially when we wanted to do a baby swap!
anyone else notice this??



Another thing is that we were there with our 10 month old baby and alot of the cm's were interacting with him which is fine but several felt the need to touch his face etc... I was kind of upset and felt they should keep there hands to themselves!

Also there seemed to be lots of uncoordination and chaos... when we went to dinner at the TREX resturant we were told to go to 3 different places to wait for our seat and nobody new where they wanted us. also when we were at the magic kingdom and were going in line for the speedway we asked the CM how baby swap for that ride works.. he said that we take the baby w/us they'll handle it when we get there... we get there and he said baby swap tghey should take care of it at the front and rudley told my hubby (who had the sleerping baby) go sit in the grandstsand.....

The other thing I noticed was the quality of some things. like our hotel at the pop century when we got there. there was a roach in our bathroom. my hubby killed it and i figured isolated incident.. well the next day when I went to get an item out of the drawer we put our babys stuff in tehre were two more in there!!! I also felt a few of the resturants like chef mickey's dinner buffet have dropped the quality of food they used to have. The parks seemed very messy (but could have been because of how busy they were)

now all in all had a blast and cant wait for our next trip 6/2011!!!!

We were at WDW from the 9th to the 19th... And I would have to agree with the bolded statement above.

It was almost weird... I felt MANY times like the CM thought I was maybe trying to dodge waiting in line or something, when we had our little one right there at the time. Plus, most times the information on how to "correctly" handle the baby swap situation was confusing, and always rushed.

I don't want to mislead... A good number of times when we asked about baby swap, it was fine, and the CM did a great job. But at least 50% of the time, it was as I just described.

And the crowds were VERY manageable when we were there too, btw.

I really think the baby swap thing should be made more standard... Like at Uni. There, it's easy to understand, and you pretty much do the same thing at each attraction. At WDW, it's different all over the place, and never very clear.

One thing I WOULD like to say that's positive about the baby swap at WDW... The person doing the baby swap can bring two others on the ride with them. I think that's great for a few reasons:

1. It kept either me or my wife from always having to ride alone.

2. It gave our older kids more rides, which really helped offset the much slower pace we had to take because of the baby. Almost like it was a reward for them for sacrificing our normal park style.

But anyway... Yeah. I felt the EXACT same thing you did, way too many times during the trip.

 

[benzgraveyard]

Would you be in a good mood if you were forced to work 12 hours on Christmas Day? I think not...:shrug:

I know it must suck to work on Christmas day, however, you know when you apply to work at Disney that they are open 365 days a year and there is a posibility that you might be working on Christmas day. So you cannot be mad that you are "forced" to work 12 hours on Christmas day. I worked 15 hours at a completely dead restaurant that should have been closed on Christmas but we weren't...so suck it up.

 

[Disney05]

As many times as I've heard about cranky CM's, I've never come across that. Maybe it was holiday stress.