I work at the disney store and it's not all magic and pixie dust

[EEY0RE]

My manager is a huge cruella deville. She has been tormenting me and some of my fellow cast members for almost 2 years now. I love working for the disney company and all its perks. I do not want to leave the best job next to a job at disneyland. 2 weeks ago she told me I was a pain in the ______ and putting the blame on me because we weren't making enough money. I don't know what to do I am now scared to work with her and it has come to a point where I just want to give her my 2 weeks and leave. I know there is this anonymous phone number that we cast members can call if we had any questions. Would me calling them about my boss be a valid reason? Please if any one can help I would be most greatful.


I do not goof off at work. I Work very hard and which is the reason I get so much hours at a part time job. I am not stupid I know if I goofed off and didn't do what I supposed to do then I would know that I deserve it and leave it at that. But I do not do any of those things the woman seems bi polar one minute shes getting angry at me for not getting something the first time and slamming staplers then the next minute she's congratuating me for selling 4 reusable bags. The only time when shes the sweetest person is when our district manager is there giving us a review. She calls me sweetheart and pats my back for doing "Such an awesome job!" and when all the other managers are around she a little less nicer but not a cruella. I do my work she just gets me flustered because of the way she is. She makes me nervous when I work.

 

[jlmct52]

Make the call. Obviously, your manager knows nothing about human relations or how to handle motivate and appreciate personnel.

 

[Hakunamatata]

I would ask her to provide some direction on what you need to do to meet her expectations. If you don't have written performance goals you need to ask for them. It's better to try to resolve the issues with her rather than go to her superiors.

And to the comment that she obviously doesn't know anything about human relations, blah, blah, blah, is so irresponsible given that we only have one side of the story.

 

[harveyt0206]

Who is in charge of your Human Resources? Before taking your concerns to a "higher power", perhaps you could attempt a discussion of the matter. Let her know that you enjoy your job and that you are open to additional training if she has constructive guidance to offer. Since she is your manager, it is best to try and be cooperative. I would make an attempt to document your conversation and if circumstances don't improve, then a phone call to Human Resources may be necessary.

 

[Snoballego]

Start with looking in the mirror.

You can only escalate the issue, if you are absolutely positive that you are taking care of all the little details. As nice as you love for Mickey and Friends is, it's much more important that you are overall a great retail employee - regardless of the name in front of the store.

Would a Manager be calling you out for these details if you worked at Store X, Store Y, or Store Z?

 

[tizzo]

My manager is a huge cruella deville. She has been tormenting me and some of my fellow cast members for almost 2 years now. I love working for the disney company and all its perks. I do not want to leave the best job next to a job at disneyland. 2 weeks ago she told me I was a pain in the ______ and putting the blame on me because we weren't making enough money. I don't know what to do I am now scared to work with her and it has come to a point where I just want to give her my 2 weeks and leave. I know there is this anonymous phone number that we cast members can call if we had any questions. Would me calling them about my boss be a valid reason? Please if any one can help I would be most greatful.

The behavior you're describing is called bullying, and most companies have policies explicitly forbidding it. My personal opinion is that it's always best to deal directly with such a person, at least initially, than to go over their head or behind their back. If you address the problem with your manager directly, there's at least a chance that the relationship can be saved. If she finds out her behavior is bothering you through a reprimand from her superiors - well, you may as well just quit.

But it really depends on the situation. It's easy advice for me to give because the combination of my position and the culture at my company is such that I would not fear for my job if I applied the direct approach and the other party decided to attempt retaliation. You're situation may not offer you the same confidence. Also, I don't know how it is at Disney, but sometimes in retail local management positions are short-term gigs. If you wait it out she may simply go away.

So what I would therefore suggest is that, after considering the above, you call the number, remaining anonymous, and see what their advice is. Find out what the policy is and how it's enforced. Explain that you don't want to rat her out, you feel she deserves the opportunity to address the problem directly with you before involving HR, but that she intimidates you and you'd like to be protected in case it goes badly, and see what they tell you to do.

When you do talk to her, ask her to schedule a meeting in her office (or somewhere private). Be calm and professional. Look her in the eye. Explain that you love working for Disney and are as dedicated to the company's success as she is; that you want to please her, but that so far you seem unable to do so, and the manner in which she's providing feedback is clearly not helping. Be as clear as possible on the point that you are absolutely willing to make changes if your performance is not what it should be, but that you need additional guidance from her as to how to change. Bring paper and pencil and write down whatever advice she offers you.

Don't let her off the hook though. Tell her that the way she treats you sometimes makes you uncomfortable, probably violates company policy, and is neither appropriate nor effective in any case. Cite examples - more than one if possible, and be specific, but don't list every little thing she's done.

Try to structure the conversation so as to get some positive stuff in up front. She can't possibly object to an employee asking her honest advice on how to improve his or her performance. If at any point the conversation begins to deteriorate to the point that you don't think you can continue, simply end it by thanking her and leaving. If things remain unresolved, you can always go back to HR.

Here's a list of don'ts:

• Don't raise your voice.
• Don't call her "Cruella Deville"
• Don't get together with your coworkers and gang up on her.
• Don't lecture her.
• Don't be anything but respectful.
• Don't lose sight of the line between supervisor and subordinate. You are not her equal - don't do anything at all to convey the impression that you think you are, or deserve to be treated as such.
• Don't rely on your memory to come up with what you want to say on the fly. Plan and write down what you want to say, and what examples you want to cite.
• Unless you absolutely have to, don't bring your notes into the meeting and read them off. Commit them to memory before you go in.
• In case it's not obvious, don't say any of the above if it's not true. I'm assuming it is based on the tone of your post, but the fact of the matter is that if she's justifiably angry at you because you're goofing off with your friends, or whatever reason, then you may just have to suck it up no matter how inappropriate her manner of conveying that anger is. You'll have to use your own judgment here - if she's told you repeatedly to stop goofing off and you continue to do it, then sitting down and earnestly asking her what you can do to please her is going to sound like you think she's an idiot.

 

[SOLISIMO]

I would love to hear the other side of this story:lookaroun

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I worked at the Disney store for a number of years when I was in school (03-08) and was there for Disney and Hoop. Due to all the changes I went through a number of managers and each one was very different. While Disney is an awesome experience as a guest, one has to remember that it is a job. Your manager sounds like the first General Manager I had when I started. She wasn't nice, was a numbers freak, and played favorites terribly. However, she was good at making her numbers and that was what they cared about the most. At the heart of it, Disney is a business and every operating segment relies on the money they make. Your issues aren't exclusive to Disney, and it just seems worse because of the magical feeling Disney is supposed to give you (a feeling you don't get walking into the GAP or something along those lines). Unfortunately every company has managers, but not many of them are leaders. Leaders make people want to come to work and still get the job done at its best quality. You need to decide what works best for you in this sistuation, but if you're manager does their job well and just isn't that nice you won't get far by escalating the issue.

 

[wizards8507]

I worked at the Disney store for a number of years when I was in school (03-08) and was there for Disney and Hoop. Due to all the changes I went through a number of managers and each one was very different. While Disney is an awesome experience as a guest, one has to remember that it is a job. Your manager sounds like the first General Manager I had when I started. She wasn't nice, was a numbers freak, and played favorites terribly. However, she was good at making her numbers and that was what they cared about the most. At the heart of it, Disney is a business and every operating segment relies on the money they make. Your issues aren't exclusive to Disney, and it just seems worse because of the magical feeling Disney is supposed to give you (a feeling you don't get walking into the GAP or something along those lines). Unfortunately every company has managers, but not many of them are leaders. Leaders make people want to come to work and still get the job done at its best quality. You need to decide what works best for you in this sistuation, but if you're manager does their job well and just isn't that nice you won't get far by escalating the issue.

Yeah, God forbid a retail manager focus on sales and improving profitablity.

Corporate leaches.

I'm so glad that 99.8% of you will never own your own businesses.

 

[EEY0RE]

Yeah, God forbid a retail manager focus on sales and improving profitablity.

Corporate leaches.

I'm so glad that 99.8% of you will never own your own businesses.

Leave DisneyInsider alone. You will probably be in that probably inaccurate percentage you just gave us.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Yeah, God forbid a retail manager focus on sales and improving profitablity.

Corporate leaches.

I'm so glad that 99.8% of you will never own your own businesses.

You really have found a way to push buttons around here, and for someone who knows NOTHING about me you should consider stepping back your attack. For your information I was a manager at that store as well towards the end of my time and I know what the importance of the numbers are. However, there is a certain way of doing everything and the way my original GM went about it was not the correct way. If you treat your people with respect and lead by example, then they are going to want to work for you and do a good job. Somehow I excelled at making numbers for the short time I was a manager (college was coming to an end and I the real work world started for me) and yet still had people enjoying their time working with me. I find it to be a problem when people look at the schedule and groan when they see a certain manager is on their shift.

But what would I know...I'm not nearly as smart as you.

 

[wizards8507]

I see that nobody around here believes anything I say unless I provide research to back it up. Well, here we go:

From the Internation Journal of Operations and Production Management:

Dispeling the modern myth: Employee satisfaction and loyalty drive service profitability

Abstract: This paper reports some empirical findings which appear to challenge the received wisdom prevailing in the operations management, service management, TQM and HRM literatures, namely, that employee satisfaction and loyalty are key drivers of productivity, efficiency and profit. An empirical study of one of the UK’s four large supermarket chains reveals an inverse correlation between employee satisfaction and the measures of productivity, efficiency and profitability, the most profitable stores being those in which employees are least satisfied.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I see that nobody around here believes anything I say unless I provide research to back it up. Well, here we go:

From the Internation Journal of Operations and Production Management:

Dispeling the modern myth: Employee satisfaction and loyalty drive service profitability

Abstract: This paper reports some empirical findings which appear to challenge the received wisdom prevailing in the operations management, service management, TQM and HRM literatures, namely, that employee satisfaction and loyalty are key drivers of productivity, efficiency and profit. An empirical study of one of the UK’s four large supermarket chains reveals an inverse correlation between employee satisfaction and the measures of productivity, efficiency and profitability, the most profitable stores being those in which employees are least satisfied.

Wonderful...should I now go find plenty of articles, books, journals, etc that would argue your point. You can research anything nowadays with the internet and find an answer you are looking for. If you are looking for a point of view, there will be someone who wrote an article somewhere that will agree with you. I speak from experience, and especially at the Disney Store, with how morale affected bottom line. I don't really care what article you throw in my face to prove your point. You aren't dealing with someone who isn't educated here; I have been through every business course you have been through, worked for different companies, and hold my own very well in an investment bank on a daily basis, and run a first aid squad in my spare time. I think it's time you start understanding that people might have different views than you and you don't have to insult people because you disagree with them. But if you insist on walking around with your aura of superiority I will be interested to see where it gets you.

 

[wizards8507]

Wonderful...should I now go find plenty of articles, books, journals, etc that would argue your point. You can research anything nowadays with the internet and find an answer you are looking for. If you are looking for a point of view, there will be someone who wrote an article somewhere that will agree with you. I speak from experience, and especially at the Disney Store, with how morale affected bottom line. I don't really care what article you throw in my face to prove your point. You aren't dealing with someone who isn't educated here; I have been through every business course you have been through, worked for different companies, and hold my own very well in an investment bank on a daily basis, and run a first aid squad in my spare time. I think it's time you start understanding that people might have different views than you and you don't have to insult people because you disagree with them. But if you insist on walking around with your aura of superiority I will be interested to see where it gets you.

I don't see any reason to get angry. You've made some valid points but it's a challenge to aknowledge them when your tone is so hostile. I realize that there is support for your position as well as mine, and I value your experience as a Disney store manager, but individuals in this thread and others (in which you seem to take offense at my postings) have made their points by spouting nonsense. If you want to have a disucssion based on evidence and facts, I'm more than willing to play nice, but, as I said, unsubstantiated jibber-jabber is to be met with the appropriate tone.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

I don't see any reason to get angry. You've made some valid points but it's a challenge to aknowledge them when your tone is so hostile. I realize that there is support for your position as well as mine, and I value your experience as a Disney store manager, but individuals in this thread and others (in which you seem to take offense at my postings) have made their points by spouting nonsense. If you want to have a disucssion based on evidence and facts, I'm more than willing to play nice, but, as I said, unsubstantiated jibber-jabber is to be met with the appropriate tone.

I don't often get angry here (as a mod it is something I try my hardest to stay away from). But when you take 3 points of my post and then say that I cannot run a business, I take offense.

 

[wizards8507]

Acutally I loved your first post and agreed with just about every word. My orginal, admitedly snarky, comments were directed at those PPs such as:

Obviously, your manager knows nothing about human relations or how to handle motivate and appreciate personnel.

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Acutally I loved your first post and agreed with just about every word. My orginal, admitedly snarky, comments were directed at those PPs such as:

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Then be sure to quote appropriately and clearly make your points in the future, so these things are avoided. Based on how it looks it was a direct comment on me. Whatever it was, it's cleared up now.

 

[Kobe!!]

What kind of perks do you get for working at the disney store?

 

[EEY0RE]

What kind of perks do you get for working at the disney store?

I get 20% discount until I am with the company for 3 years than I get 35% and you get 2 disney park hopper tickets every 6 months to any disneyland park except hong kong I believe.

 

[khelinski]

I see that nobody around here believes anything I say unless I provide research to back it up. Well, here we go:

From the Internation Journal of Operations and Production Management:

Dispeling the modern myth: Employee satisfaction and loyalty drive service profitability

Abstract: This paper reports some empirical findings which appear to challenge the received wisdom prevailing in the operations management, service management, TQM and HRM literatures, namely, that employee satisfaction and loyalty are key drivers of productivity, efficiency and profit. An empirical study of one of the UK’s four large supermarket chains reveals an inverse correlation between employee satisfaction and the measures of productivity, efficiency and profitability, the most profitable stores being those in which employees are least satisfied.

Far from the 'Disney ways' of operation. I am curious if the stores has the same policies the theme parks do. At the parks, ALL cast members are supposed to treat each other with respect. Managers make cast member happy, cast member makes guest happy. But I know for some, that's a hard concept.

As for 'hearing the other side'. any manager that says 'you are a pain in the ______ and it's your fault we aren't making money' is very unprofessional by ANY standard (let alone, Disney). I would say something in the lines of, 'well, we could use better direction'.