Janitors on Call with iPhones

[ford91exploder]

No argument that efficiency is good. What we don't know is whether they are cutting fat or muscle lately.

Fat and Muscle are long done - now they are working on bone.

 

[drizgirl]

It's easy to understand the P&R division has to show increasing profit EACH quarter even as attendance grows the easy way to do that is to cut staff.

No doubt.

 

[ford91exploder]

I agree with you Disney does need to increase efficiency. However, if Disney announced they were increasing custodial staffing and implementing a "trash" phone line and sensors, I wouldn't think there was a problem. but it seems like Disney is implementing the sensor tech in lieu of having enough CM's to keep the parks clean.

Recently, I have only seen the street sweepers after a parade. They no longer just use a broom and dustpan, instead they use Zamboni type sweepers that are as noisy as leaf blowers. I know they are more efficient, but it plays havoc with the ability to suspend reality while you're enjoying the parks.

We have a winner here - you are absolutely correct that in the quest for dollars Disney is trying to reduce staff

 

[ford91exploder]

The cleanliness of Disney's parks and the efforts to keep them so clean were a subject of note for decades. That could not be if your assertion were true.

That was true until the Pirate of Wall St took up residence in the executive suite, Now if it's cleaner than a gas station bathroom it's all good.

 

[ford91exploder]

No it isn't.

But it's not always better either.

And frequently its worse

 

[Bandini]

MK is run differently than the other 3 parks. A good way to describe it would be micro managed. It's also the only park at the moment to have a parade which throws everything into chaos every time there is one which is multiple times a day.

So I don't understand. If the Mk is micro-managed why do I see janitorial problems and why are CM's able to snooze during their shifts? Also, parades have been part of the MK since it opened, you'd think they'd be more efficient about dealing with them. No?

 

[Goofyernmost]

The significant efforts that Fisney had to undertake to keep Disneyland and Walt Disney World clean are documented. There would be no need for such efforts if people were so much better behaved. The conception of and "fight against" littering, including such famous inages as the Crying Indian and "Don't Mess with Texas," would have been pointless nor would they have been deemed effective. There are plenty of places that remain clean in the present, including cities that were once infamous for their blight in years past.

Ever heard the expression... an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure? When you are building a reputation you make an extra effort to ensure success. You are talking specific instances not general attitude dealing with nice things that are specifically owned by someone else. I have never said that slobs didn't exist, but, the effort the Disney put in it was to keep the slobs at bay. Today it's like peeing into the ocean and waiting to see the level rise. Those ads and images were to deter the few. It was not a situation of a majority of entitled actions. I lived it... it was way different whether you want to believe it or not.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I provide the pics, you all can draw your own conclusions! =D

I remember all those CM's walking around with broom and a dinglehopperthingywhateveryoucallit. Always on the lookout for all those smoking guests, who all simply threw their cigarette buds on the ground wherever they happened to walk.

I should know, I left WDW a million of those.... :lookarou

So, I guess we could say that we should thank the smokers for the cleanliness of the parks. And you thought that we only had to thank the Phoenicians. BTW, I'm not being sarcastic, because to a large degree that is my theory as well. If people were slobs, and in the case of smoking, I was one. They required a lot more people out there to pick up after us. The positive side effect of that was that they picked up everything not just cigarettes. In our defense of that era, everyone smoked back then, it was socially acceptable and not considered a criminal offense. Let's not get into the evils of cigarettes, just the realities that it existed. Now the mess comes without the cigarettes contributing to it.

 

[drizgirl]

So, I guess we could say that we should thank the smokers for the cleanliness of the parks. And you thought that we only had to thank the Phoenicians. BTW, I'm not being sarcastic, because to a large degree that is my theory as well. If people were slobs, and in the case of smoking, I was one. They required a lot more people out there to pick up after us. The positive side effect of that was that they picked up everything not just cigarettes. In our defense of that era, everyone smoked back then, it was socially acceptable and not considered a criminal offense. Let's not get into the evils of cigarettes, just the realities that it existed. Now the mess comes without the cigarettes contributing to it.

So Disney wasn't OK with butts on the ground and would deploy people to sweep them, but is OK with trash on the ground and now has no reason to deploy someone to sweep it up?

Oddly enough I just spoke with a friend who is at Disney for the first time in 3 years. We have never discussed the cleanliness of the parks then out of the blue she said she just couldn't believe how much trash she has seen around the park.

 

[Goofyernmost]

So Disney wasn't OK with butts on the ground and would deploy people to sweep them, but is OK with trash on the ground and now has no reason to deploy someone to sweep it up?

Oddly enough I just spoke with a friend who is at Disney for the first time in 3 years. We have never discussed the cleanliness of the parks then out of the blue she said she just couldn't believe how much trash she has seen around the park.

Two things... Of course not, but, cigarettes were possibly still burning and presented a much larger priority urgency then trash. They didn't need as many because there weren't anywhere near as many people throwing trash around as cigarettes. The fact that the staff did pick up was a peripheral bonus. You couldn't safely throw cigarettes in a trash can, the ground was the safest place, however, you can easily and safely throw trash in a trash can. It is easy to make this into a drama tread, but, I only posted that because it had a relevance to the past. Today, not at all. Throwing them to the ground, no matter how upsetting that is to todays overly sensitive sensibilities, was the way of the world at the time. We don't want to go back there, but, lets at least understand that it existed. Why is this always a topic where the real responsibility doesn't fall back on the public that are messing the place up instead of those people that are working their butts off to keep up with the slobs.

Did your friend also notice how many more people that there is that as well. Messes do not create themselves. WE do that, WE alone can stop it completely. But, WE don't.

 

[drizgirl]

Two things... Of course not, but, cigarettes were possibly still burning and presented a much larger priority urgency then trash. They didn't need as many because there weren't anywhere near as many people throwing trash around as cigarettes. The fact that the staff did pick up was a peripheral bonus. You couldn't safely throw cigarettes in a trash can, the ground was the safest place, however, you can easily and safely throw trash in a trash can. It is easy to make this into a drama tread, but, I only posted that because it had a relevance to the past. Today, not at all. Throwing them to the ground, no matter how upsetting that is to todays overly sensitive sensibilities, was the way of the world at the time. We don't want to go back there, but, lets at least understand that it existed. Why is this always a topic where the real responsibility doesn't fall back on the public that are messing the place up instead of those people that are working their butts off to keep up with the slobs.

Did your friend also notice how many more people that there is that as well. Messes do not create themselves. WE do that, WE alone can stop it completely. But, WE don't.

That's ridiculous. If people would respect their surroundings better, that would fix the problem. But they don't. Disney knows there are more people in the park. They know from the growing balance in the bank from all those ticket sales. And they need to staff accordingly.

Why wouldn't staff increase right along with ticket sales? I still don't get that.

 

[Goofyernmost]

That's ridiculous. If people would respect their surroundings better, that would fix the problem. But they don't. Disney knows there are more people in the park. They know from the growing balance in the bank from all those ticket sales. And they need to staff accordingly.

Why wouldn't staff increase right along with ticket sales? I still don't get that.

These are questions that we do not have any answers too. It never fails to amaze me how much we transfer responsibility to someone else. Lord forbid that we pick up after ourselves or others because we want a clean park. It is up to Disney to maintain something that they shouldn't even have to be concerned about if people were responsible. But, it's all Disney's fault. The ticket prices are not directly connected to custodial duties, but, they do charge more for admission. But, what actually does that admission price cover. Nowhere near enough to cover expenses even if you don't include custodial. So, what do they spend it on? Maintenance or hiring a group of surrogate mothers to pick up after us? Yes, they probably could be better at it. I don't know, because I, like everyone else, do not have access to the numbers of people that are employed or how they are scheduled or even how they can be expected to be in exactly the same spot at the time that the trash (apparently falling from the sky) got to the end location. In a perfect world it would be possible to never have a problem in that area, but, until we all do our part that isn't going to happen and it is grossly unfair to decide that the responsibility is all on Disney.

 

[drizgirl]

These are questions that we do not have any answers too. It never fails to amaze me how much we transfer responsibility to someone else. Lord forbid that we pick up after ourselves or others because we want a clean park. It is up to Disney to maintain something that they shouldn't even have to be concerned about if people were responsible. But, it's all Disney's fault. The ticket prices are not directly connected to custodial duties, but, they do charge more for admission. But, what actually does that admission price cover. Nowhere near enough to cover expenses even if you don't include custodial. So, what do they spend it on? Maintenance or hiring a group of surrogate mothers to pick up after us? Yes, they probably could be better at it. I don't know, because I, like everyone else, do not have access to the numbers of people that are employed or how they are scheduled or even how they can be expected to be in exactly the same spot at the time that the trash (apparently falling from the sky) got to the end location. In a perfect world it would be possible to never have a problem in that area, but, until we all do our part that isn't going to happen and it is grossly unfair to decide that the responsibility is all on Disney.

Disney shouldn't have to concern themselves with it?

It isn't Disney's fault that people are pigs. But it is very much Disney's responsibility to clean up after their guests if they won't do it themselves.

 

[21stamps]

Disney shouldn't have to concern themselves with it?

It isn't Disney's fault that people are pigs. But it is very much Disney's responsibility to clean up after their guests if they won't do it themselves.

...which is why they are trying to implement a more efficient way to do it, and enhance guest satisfaction. Hence "Janitors with iPhones".

 

[Goofyernmost]

Disney shouldn't have to concern themselves with it?

It isn't Disney's fault that people are pigs. But it is very much Disney's responsibility to clean up after their guests if they won't do it themselves.

I agree, but, they also shouldn't have to take the degree of criticism that is dealt out because they cannot be everywhere at once and that the should spend thousands of extra dollars to "clean up" after their guest the moment that the mess occurs.

 

[raven]

"Unite Here Local 362, which represents the resort’s janitors, is fighting the move. It has raised issues about the custodians’ loss of seniority in choosing their assignments, potential discipline for employees who lose or damage the phones, and privacy.

“What is the purpose?” said Eric Clinton, the local Unite Here chapter’s president. “Are they trying to determine that a specific worker spends too much time in a certain area? Are they trying to determine that some workers walk faster than others? They haven’t told us. These things are very concerning.”

Eric Clinton and the whole Local 362 union is a joke anyway. $500/year for membership dues for people getting minimum wage and they won't send than a single letter to their members per year. I was stuck in that union for 4 years and they did nothing for their members except tell us to vote AGAINST a raise.

But there are much cheaper forms of communication other than buying a few thousand iPhones (like the radios they already have). I just suspect they want to keep tabs on where they are because many hide for their entire shift knowing that management doesn't check up on them.

 

[drizgirl]

...which is why they are trying to implement a more efficient way to do it, and enhance guest satisfaction. Hence "Janitors with iPhones".

That doesn't mean they can accomplish that at the staffing levels they now have.

And it doesn't mean they aren't using this as justification to cut back on staff even more.

 

[Andrew C]

That doesn't mean they can accomplish that at the staffing levels they now have.

that doesn't mean they can't either...

 

[drizgirl]

that doesn't mean they can't either...

It sure doesn't. But since we don't have details on what they are actually doing with the staffing levels, we'll just have to continue to discuss it with each of us assuming we're right.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Wow. This is still a thing. Go figure.