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:
Although I can certainly understand the frustration, as someone whose first language (or even second language, for that matter) is not English, I have to give props to the non-English speaking ICPs and IPs for even coming to WDW to work. Of course, it would be nice if they had some more understanding of English before working, but many of them come to Florida specifically to improve their understanding of a language that is certainly considered one of the more difficult ones to learn. Many of them, such as my French friend who sold tickets at Ciruque du Soleil for six months, do significantly expand their ability to comprehend and communicate in English in the several months to a year that they are there. Being surrounded by the language in a native environment for an extended period of time really is the best way to gain an understanding of a language. Before my family moved to the US, my parents took me to English classes, but my English skills really only took off after we moved, as I was then surrounded by English everywhere outside of home. My parents and my younger brother, who had not taken English classes at all, also became fluent in English by the necessity of using it every day. It is only in this way that many terms and expressions, such as "first aid," are learned, since they are not taught in the classroom. Even though I studied French for seven years and still keep up with it (through work and by talking with my French friend, among other ways), there are many things, such as "first aid," that I still do not know how to say in the language.
As for CMs touching your baby, do keep in mind that this may, in part, be attributed to cultural differences. When I worked at Newark airport in NJ, some of my coworkers, who were from Latin America, would tickle a baby's feet or otherwise gently touch a baby. Other coworkers would not do so. It may not even be very obvious that a person is from another culture. For example, until it is mentioned or unless people figure it out based on my last name, most people assume that I am natural-born American as I don't have a noticeable accent due to my age at the time that my family moved here. However, there are still plenty of things that I do based on my Ukrainian customs that Americans may not understand.
Finally, on the topic of supposedly rude CMs, I support those who remind others that CMs are people, too. As a former CM, I can safely say that there are many things that can make it seem as if a CM is being rude without it being the case. Again, this is no excuse for actual outright rudeness, but more of an explanation of cases where a CM may simply
appear to be rude without actually intending to or being so. For example, a time when it is very difficult to be at 100%, even with Disney's training, is when one is sick, as sometimes happens in a place with so many people and so many germs. Due to a sense of duty or just not wanting attendance points (which can lead to discipline and also affect the ability to transfer between roles or receive a promotion), many CMs will try to stick out their shift for as long as humanly possible. On certain days, such as when I was working a 19.5 hour shift (a new record for me that was set by combining my regular shift with an Extra Hours Hotline overtime shift) at Monorails, it was possible to move me to a spot that had little Guest contact. I had started the day off without problems, but in the last 6 hours or so, I started to feel quite ill. As I started to feel somewhat better after about an hour or so, I decided to stick it out until the end of the day. Since I was working at the MK station, I was simply placed in the middle unload platform so that I would not have to move around as quickly or as much and would not have to interact with Guests as much. This was made even easier by the fact that it was close to when the Express line stopped dropping off at MK, so I only had to assist Guests coming off the Resort trains. At other times, though, this isn't an option, as when I was working a 20.25 hour shift (which was just a few days after getting sick during the 19.5 hour one, was made up of the same combination, and would be surpassed by a 20.5 hour one a few days later in the same way) at Monorails. I was still getting over whatever I had during my long shift a few days before, but, overall, I knew that I would survive the day. I worked the whole first part of my shift at the Epcot side of the TTC, then I moved over to the Polynesian to finish my day. Towards the evening, I started losing my voice and also feeling the effects of my being sick. As a result, I ended up opening the gates on the platform as soon as the train stopped in the station, which had the effect of creating somewhat of a traffic jam as both entering and exiting Guests were on the platform at the same time. Unfortunately, as I could not make myself heard far away and I was moving somewhat less quickly than normal, this was the only way that I could make sure that Guests got on and off the train quickly and that, at the same time, I was able to load and unload Guests needing assistance. One Guest complained to me about my way of doing things and seemed miffed when I stood quietly and didn't respond. To him, I probably seemed incompetent and rude. In reality, I was doing what I could on my part to keep the trains moving through my station without affecting the operation and I couldn't respond as the Guest would not have heard me from more than about two or three feet away. Any Guest who actually talked to me close up knew that I had simply lost my voice and that I was still quite happy to be of help to the extent that I could be. A day or two later, after I got over whatever I had, I was able to be back to 100% and could even work a 20.5 hour shift, a hectic Christmas Eve (where several pilots committed MAPO violations, thus scaring several of the other pilots, which stressed out everyone as the slowpoke driving caused an Amber MBS to appear in some odd places all night), a busy Christmas Day, and a packed New Year's Eve of Illuminations crowd control at Epcot. I just wanted to illustrate through those examples how perception may be different from the reality with regards to CMs (or anyone else in customer service jobs). Also, some people (no one from this thread, as far as I have noticed) seem to think that anyone who gives them an answer they do not like is being rude to them. This occurred several times when I worked at the airport and had to deny passengers travel due to them not having the proper travel documents to transit the United Kingdom or to enter their destination. Although I would always break the news to all passengers in the exact same calm and polite way, some decided to argue with me, thinking that it would change my answer. After they realized that I would not budge and would simply calmly repeat the facts of the matter and that my supervisors and managers would not override me (In fact, they always supported my decision and even referred other agents to me regarding travel documentation as they knew that I was very knowledgeable on the topic and had managed to save the airline from immigration fines by stopping passengers from traveling many times.), they would resort to calling me rude and/or racist and even threatening to sue my employer for my actions (which is funny as passengers not having the correct documents to travel are specifically exempt from all passenger rights laws regarding being bumped from a flight).
On the very last note, all of the other complaints that the OP and other posters have mentioned need to be told to the Mouse directly, preferably when they occur. While it's quite likely that Disney does read these forums, it is still much better to air your concerns directly as Mickey can't resolve them if he doesn't know about them.
PS: Just to alleviate any safety concerns regarding my long Monorail shifts (especially in light of the events during the summer), there was a rule at the time (It is probably still in place, but I haven't driven since April 2008, so I am not totally sure.) that after reaching 14 hours in a shift, a pilot would usually be grounded for the rest of the day. This wasn't just 14 hours of driving, but 14 total hours of working. Also, if a CM was feeling ill or tired and did not think that they would be able to safely drive a train, they could ask to be grounded, which means that they would be placed in a spot where they would not have to drive and would just work the platform.
