Add to that the fact that Disney CMs are not allowed to physically defend themselves. Although I do not advocate violence, I do believe that violence in the case of self-defense isn't wrong, as long as only the amount of force necessary to defend oneself is used. (Beating someone senseless because they slap you, for example, would not be considered reasonable.) If, however, you were to do such a thing at Disney to protect yourself or another CM or Guest, you would be instantly terminated. Even though I was lucky enough to not experience Guests who went to that extreme, the dilemma did cross my mind on more than one occasion when Guests would spout off threats and the natural worry of threats turning to action seeped in. (In one case, after a Guest threatened a CM near me at the MK Monorail station, I even called Security and then held the train in the station until they arrived to deal with the Guest.)
In case you are wondering what I would do in such a case (since I did present the quandary), I would take the termination. As much as I love Disney, there is no job there (or anywhere else, for that matter) that is worth getting beaten into a bloody pulp for while just taking it. In fact, even the monorail situation could have gotten me in trouble as Disney cares much more about everything being pixie-dust-happy than their CMs working in an environment free of abuse. One night at another monorail station, one of the CMs also held a train after calling Security on an abusive Guest who went so far as to threaten to put out his cigarette in the CM's eye after the CM asked him to put it out. In that case, when the manager heard over the radio why the train was being held, he scolded the CM for doing that and canceled the security call. Then, he personally went over to that station and told the CM that he would be reprimanded if he ever did that again. In my case, I had a much more understanding manager (one of the few who balances the needs of both Guests and CMs in a way that is fair to both) that night and I was only required to leave MK about 20 minutes early in order to fill out a witness statement about the incident. (For the record, I would still do the same thing even with the other manager on duty because while I care for Disney, I don't care to be in a potentially unsafe work environment. Then, I would have filed a grievance.)
I have worked in customer service jobs for most of the last 7 years, but Disney is the only employer that does not take abuse of its employees seriously. As another poster mentioned, employees at other businesses can go in the back and destress for a few moments after such a situation, while, at Disney, this is almost never allowed. Thus, it all just builds up, rather than being released while it is still at a more healthy level. When I would be getting yelled at by passengers for refusing them travel because of their travel documents (an issue I often dealt with, even when another agent was checking-in the passenger, due to my expertise in the matter), it would sometimes frazzle me a bit. However, once that was finished with (and it wasn't usually too long as I never changed my mind after assessing a passenger's documents), I could just go in the back for a few minutes. Then, I could come back out and continue to provide the premium service that was expected of me. Also, other companies are much more proactive when it comes to making sure that customers know the consequences if they continue to misbehave. One evening, when I was working at Air Canada, a man from Quebec went into a rage in French after I told him that his flight to Montreal was canceled. (One look out the window would explain why most short flights were not operating on any airline in or out of Newark that day.) My French is pretty good, but not at the level of arguing, so a native French-speaking agent offered to help. We still didn't get anywhere with the passenger and he just got louder and more aggressive, so the lead came over and told us in English that, if the passenger kept up his behavior, the airport police would be called straight away. Apparently, the passenger's level of English was good enough to understand what that meant, and, while still quite upset with the situation, he backed down very quickly. If a coordinator even thought of doing that at WDW, he would probably not be a coordinator by the next shift. Even at the ski resort where I am working for the season, one of the leaders of a school group lost her free chaperone ticket privileges, in part, after she threatened to "reach over the counter and strangle" the staff at the group check-in area because her tickets weren't printed straight away. At Disney, she would probably have received a sprinkling of pixie dust and a cookie for that outburst.
I really think that businesses in the US need to put up the same signs that I see all over the UK that say that the employees there have a right to work without physical or verbal abuse and that such abuse will not be tolerated. It is a mystery to me why I don't see that in more places here, especially since Americans aren't exactly known to be the most even-tempered group on the planet. Even British Airways, which I worked at for more than two years, doesn't have those signs in their US airports, though I did notice them at London Heathrow for the first time when I went through in 2008. Heck, I'd even be for seeing that printed at the bottom of Disney park maps. It may not be magical, but safety and courtesy both come before show, anyway.
I am not saying this as an excuse for actual rude behavior, such as snide comments or insults, towards a Guest or customer. This is more about what some people on this board label rude when it really isn't, such as a CM who doesn't have a smile pasted on their face 24/7. And, as a side note, while people in America get all worked up when someone has the audacity to not smile at them, smiling at strangers in many other countries would cause others to think that the person is not normal. Since many CMs are from other countries (even if, like in my case, it may not be obvious), there could be some of that in play, too. I actually had that problem back when I lived in Russia (where I was born) because I have always been a happy, smiley person. As a result, there were indeed people there who thought that not everything was quite right with me.
I guess the bottom line of all this is that everyone should remember that the person loading them on a ride, giving them their pizza, making sure that Guests stay in designated areas to prevent getting run over by parade floats, or having any other customer or Guest interaction is just that... A PERSON! Thus, it is best to treat them as such. People have feelings and will always end up letting some of the stressful ones slip out. (I don't care if you say that you're at 100% all the time because you are not. It's just not possible unless you are a god or some breed of superhuman.) On the flipside, though, most people also respond to positive things, such as a simple "thank you." Sometimes, the customer might even get recognized for being considerate. A few years back, Delta Air Lines had a "Good goes around" campaign that gave out SkyMiles or other rewards to customers for simple things, like holding a door for someone. When I worked at British Airways, on days when customers were needed for upgrades to World Traveller Plus (premium economy) or Club World (business class with flat beds and all that cool stuff), we were always told to look for people who were really nice (and appropriately dressed, in the case of Club World). Thus, if a customer was really nice to the check-in agent, the agent entered a comment into the system that flagged the customer as suitable for an upgrade, if needed. Likewise, if the person was a total jerk, they would likely get a not suitable for upgrade comment entered against their record. In a more Disney-related example, WDW gave out special pins a few years back to Guests for doing something courteous. The Guest would keep one of the pins and then hand out the other one to another Guest whom they spotted doing something courteous.
