Magic...it seems to be slipping...

[Monty]

I have never encountered a rude CM. I've met a few who were obviously very frustrated/tired/hot and with a few carefully chosen words I manage to get a smile and occasionally a thank-you.

My personal opinion is people reap what they sow. If you're less than receptive and immediately react poorly when you meet someone who's having a rough day, they may very well become rude. If you're still pleasant with them and show some empathy, they invariably are appreciative and become less stressed.

I have no empirical data to back up my opinion, only my own experience. I'm nice to them, they are nice to me.

 

[Kamikaze]

On the point of 'acceptability' - to an extent, we are all telling Disney that these things are acceptable, but continue to give them our money and business. Will they continue to push the limits of what we will allow them to get away with? And what will happen when that limit is reached? Do they go back in the other direction and actively fix things? Or do they just do enough that the numbers go back up? I'd lean towards the later.

 

[Yodadudeman]

I have never encountered a rude CM. I've met a few who were obviously very frustrated/tired/hot and with a few carefully chosen words I manage to get a smile and occasionally a thank-you.

I'm gonna agree with this. I have definately met some exasperated CM's who have just had bad days. But I have never met a flat-out rude CM.

 

[wilkeliza]

I have never encountered a rude CM. I've met a few who were obviously very frustrated/tired/hot and with a few carefully chosen words I manage to get a smile and occasionally a thank-you.

My personal opinion is people reap what they sow. If you're less than receptive and immediately react poorly when you meet someone who's having a rough day, they may very well become rude. If you're still pleasant with them and show some empathy, they invariably are appreciative and become less stressed.

I have no empirical data to back up my opinion, only my own experience. I'm nice to them, they are nice to me.

I can guarantee that I have never been rude to a CM and have even on occasion apologized on behalf of the previous customer who was rude but still there still are CMs that are rude. I would say maybe 1 in 100 CMs are rude but that 1 can put you off for the entire day or at least until you get a Dole Whip.

 

[britdaw]

Wow - The country is going through a heat wave. It is very hot and if you add to the mix tens of thousands of irritable over heated people in a crowded park you are sure to get some bad attitudes. I know here in Georgia we have broken a record of 56 consecutive days over the 90 with most of those hitting around 96 before any heat indices are added. Guess what... it's not just WDW. People are hot and cranky everywhere. It's been a long hot summer and we are all ready for some relief.

I say cut CMs and everyone a little slack. I agree rudeness is just not acceptable... but I can understand how it might happen.

Hear hear. And everyone has a bad day now and then...

 

[wizards8507]

I have never encountered a rude CM. I've met a few who were obviously very frustrated/tired/hot and with a few carefully chosen words I manage to get a smile and occasionally a thank-you.

My personal opinion is people reap what they sow. If you're less than receptive and immediately react poorly when you meet someone who's having a rough day, they may very well become rude. If you're still pleasant with them and show some empathy, they invariably are appreciative and become less stressed.

I have no empirical data to back up my opinion, only my own experience. I'm nice to them, they are nice to me.

I agree. The one problem I have had with Cast Members is that some of the foreigners who are there to serve non-English speaking guests don't have strong enough English skills to help those of us who only speak English (if that makes sense). For example, there was a Chinese girl working at the customization desk at the Christmas store in DTD and she just didn't understand what I was trying to communicate. I'm sure she was perfectly intelligent and she was certainly nice enough, but here English just wasn't strong enough for me to communicate what we needed.

Regardless, every single cast member I encountered on our trip two weeks ago was fantastic. I know we got extra "perks" for being on our honeymoon, but the smiles and "Congratulations" we got from every single cast member came across as genuine and heartfelt.

 

[Kamikaze]

I have never encountered a rude CM. I've met a few who were obviously very frustrated/tired/hot and with a few carefully chosen words I manage to get a smile and occasionally a thank-you.

My personal opinion is people reap what they sow. If you're less than receptive and immediately react poorly when you meet someone who's having a rough day, they may very well become rude. If you're still pleasant with them and show some empathy, they invariably are appreciative and become less stressed.

I have no empirical data to back up my opinion, only my own experience. I'm nice to them, they are nice to me.

+1. I've always found that a simple thank you goes a long way towards a CM making sure you have great service. They do the same thing hundreds and thousands of times a day. You let them know you appreciate them, and they'll show you appreciation right back.

 

[Monty]

I can guarantee that I have never been rude to a CM and have even on occasion apologized on behalf of the previous customer who was rude but still there still are CMs that are rude. I would say maybe 1 in 100 CMs are rude but that 1 can put you off for the entire day or at least until you get a Dole Whip.

20+ trips, never a rude one for me. :king:

Not saying it couldn't happen, just hasn't for me. :shrug:

 

[wilkeliza]

20+ trips, never a rude one for me. :king:

Not saying it couldn't happen, just hasn't for me. :shrug:

I think my age and my boyfriend's age are the real reason we come across rude CMs. It isn't just Disney but when we go out to dinner waitstaff can be rude as well. We are 23 and 24 so I think there is this predisposition to think we are going to be rude, bad tippers, who are messy and don't care. We are the furthest away from that and tip above standard, are polite (both of us are good southern kids), and try to tidy up every day before heading out to the parks. Like I pointed out in my earlier post I think some CMs who are close to our age think they can chat with us about how awful their job is so while it isn't technically rude we don't really want to hear about it while we are paying for our stuff or in queue for a ride. I know if they came in to my Starbucks they would probably hate if I made their drink at the bar and complained the entire time just to have their drink come out wrong and do it all over again.

I guess really the only flat out rude people I have had are late night pizza delivery CMs and housekeeping. Outside of that there were few park CMs who were flat out rude.

 

[Monty]

I think my age and my boyfriend's age are the real reason we come across rude CMs. It isn't just Disney but when we go out to dinner waitstaff can be rude as well. We are 23 and 24 so I think there is this predisposition to think we are going to be rude, bad tippers, who are messy and don't care. We are the furthest away from that and tip above standard, are polite (both of us are good southern kids), and try to tidy up every day before heading out to the parks. Like I pointed out in my earlier post I think some CMs who are close to our age think they can chat with us about how awful their job is so while it isn't technically rude we don't really want to hear about it while we are paying for our stuff or in queue for a ride. I know if they came in to my Starbucks they would probably hate if I made their drink at the bar and complained the entire time just to have their drink come out wrong and do it all over again.

I guess really the only flat out rude people I have had are late night pizza delivery CMs and housekeeping. Outside of that there were few park CMs who were flat out rude.

LOLz! I guess since I'm an old dude, I don't get the "attitude" :lol:

Heck, I didn't start going to WDW until I was over 40!

 

[disneyrcks]

20+ trips, never a rude one for me. :king:

Not saying it couldn't happen, just hasn't for me. :shrug:

I agree, we have had many trips in the last 4 years and everyone was great. The only CM I ever encountered that was short (not rude, just short) was a young lady working the register at CS in AK. My husband and I just assumed she was either hot, tired or something but didn't bother us because she was far from rude.

On our honeymoon trip all CM's we encountered were wonderful. Check In at Poly the CM tried to upgrade us....there was nothing available (we already had an MK view). We thanked him so much for trying and he thanked us for being so nice about there not being a FREE upgrade available. We asked him if some people are upset because they cannot get a free upgrade and he said we would be surprised how displeased some guests could become due to that reason.
So I guess my point is I am sure they maybe some rude CM's out there but some guests may just have a distorted view of hospitality and what it entitles them to (to be clear I am not suggesting this about anyone who has posted here).

 

[Slugger]

+1. I've always found that a simple thank you goes a long way towards a CM making sure you have great service. They do the same thing hundreds and thousands of times a day. You let them know you appreciate them, and they'll show you appreciation right back.

A thank you goes a long way to many of us cast members. Just the other day I noticed a guest pick up a piece of paper and throw it away. She didn't have to pick it up, but she did. When she walked passed me, I stopped her and her friend and handed them to fast passes to go ride whatever ride they wanted to. Its the little stuff guests do that make me want to work for Disney so I can spread the magic.

I had a group of 21 come back and say thank you to me yesterday for giving them fastpasses from a few days ago. I didn't expect to see them again, let alone them remember me, but they walked passed me and stopped to say thank you.

What most guests need to realize is that we are human beings and everyone has a bad day every now and then. We cannot make magic for every single guest, especially if you ask for something. We can't make it magical and special if we do it for everyone, then it would just become routine and everyone could end up in a line with fastpasses still having to wait 70 minutes to ride.

As a cast member some of my best days can come when managers read the letters of thank you and appreciation that guests write after they get home. A guest had written about a cast member who was parking strollers. The guest talked to the CM about parking their stroller the opposite way of all the other strollers to keep the seat from directly facing the sun. When the guest came back, he expected it to be turned like all of the other strollers, but what that CM did was turn every other stroller to face out of the sun.

If you see a CM not having a good day, walk up to them and strike up a conversation for a minute or so and you might be able to get some good tips from them about the park and you can turn their bad day into a good day. It may not help every CM, but I know it would help me.

 

[cheezbat]

For those of you thinking I don't understand what a CM has to go through...well I DO. I used to be a CM and worked the majority of my time at the Magic Kingdom. Now, it's been almost six years since I worked there, and yes there were some rude ones I would encounter now and then, but yesterday just really suprised me how many seemed to be rude or on edge. The Magic Kingdom is the BUSIEST theme park in the world...and the flagship park in Orlando. I think their best should be stationed at this park. What I encountered yesterday was in many cases quite the opposite. There were some cast members that were awesome...two in particular...one at the Carousel of Progress, and one at Pirates of the Carribbean. I commend them for doing a great job!

In my current job I also deal with alot of stress and alot of crap from rude people who believe they're entitled to just about anything and everything, and yes there are times where I get very stressed, but you NEVER show that to the guests. You have to remain polite and understanding through it all. Now I don't know, maybe some of the CM's I encountered were just temp college programmers, but I still found their actions highly unacceptable by Disney standards.

I have ALWAYS been very polite and understanding to CM's. Thank you's and please's are customary for me. I know what it's like to be in their shoes...still...
Heck, both lunch and dinner I dealt with some not-so-pleasant CM's. At lunch the Cast member wouldn't even look at me, and rang up my order hunched over his register with his head on his arm...and in Cosmic Ray's for dinner, some male CM walked by and all of the women in the Bay I was at took their time to check him out and talk about him INSTEAD of help the guests in front of them. I waited an extra few minutes for my food because of their 'flirting' and talking about that guy...I could see other guests weren't too happy either.

As for the trash thing, yes...there are so many rude inconsiderate people coming to the parks. I caught people littering, and in the process I went and picked up their mess. I cannot stand litterbugs. Ruining things for so many of us, and giving people more work to do than they should need to. The saddest thing to me though was watching CM's see it happen and just walk by the trash on the ground.

Now I could go on about other things I saw yesterday that really suprised me...but I think most of you get my point.

 

[SCB502]

On our last couple of trips it has definitely been the people not the CMs or the parks that have left a bad taste with me, and it had specifically been mothers. I see a lot of mothers that act like this is their perfect family trip with their perfect families and it's all about them. When things don't go perfectly the mothers melt down worse than the kids at nap time. I've had mothers run my kids over to beat them into a line and seen them screaming at their families because the pictures won't turn out right. Guess what, its Disney, it's gonna be crowded, hot, expensive, etc.

 

[juniorthomas]

Going to a park for one day and having a couple of bad experiences isn't sufficient evidence of the parks being devoid of magic.

And obviously, since this is a board filled with opinions, it's incredibly subjective anyway.

 

[CaptainShortty]

On our last couple of trips it has definitely been the people not the CMs or the parks that have left a bad taste with me, and it had specifically been mothers. I see a lot of mothers that act like this is their perfect family trip with their perfect families and it's all about them. When things don't go perfectly the mothers melt down worse than the kids at nap time. I've had mothers run my kids over to beat them into a line and seen them screaming at their families because the pictures won't turn out right. Guess what, its Disney, it's gonna be crowded, hot, expensive, etc.

It always ceased to amaze me when you'd see children in the parks screaming and crying because they're so exhausted and they're being dragged by there parents who are yelling something along the lines of, "We came here to ride Dumbo and we're riding Dumbo now! I don't care how tired you are." Like, you're here for your kids right?? If they're exhausted I think it's probably time to take a break.

 

[ChristianG]

There have been so many guest complaints lately. It's a problem to me. I already hate people (not everyone) in the first place. The way our society acts makes me want to rip someone's head off. There are trash cans every 15 feet in the parks.. does it really take such hard work to throw things away? And you come to one of the best vacation destinations and expect short lines? It's those people that really make me mad. It's like the whole world revolves around them. Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of respectful people who visit the parks, but the other people don't even deserve to be in the parks. It's like letting someone into your home and they leave trash all over the place, expecting you to pick it up, they complain about how long dinner is taking, or how bored they are. It's just sad to see, especially since people didn't this way back when Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom opened. It really is sad... but there's really nothing we can do about it except for do what we're supposed to do and enjoy your day at the parks as much as you can.

 

[captainkidd]

Hiring a CM from a specific country to help out large parties touring the parks proves nothing but the fact that Disney wants to continue to be a destination resort for those tour groups. It says nothing about a problem with those groups. They are very large and they don't speak our language, so Disney tries to make their experience more enjoyable. That's it.

While on a roller coaster you don't want people clapping and yelling???
I had a 13 year old boy screaming like a little girl at the top of his lungs on Everest, started to cry before he got off, didn't ruin my experience. That's life at Disney, you take the good, you take the bad. Wow, sounds like a TV show I used to watch.

I can see CM's not enjoying the singing, clapping, and what not because they're trapped with it all day, you only have to deal with it for a few minutes, doubt that you were in a 30+ minute standby line if you go as often as you say.

I was there for 2 weeks. I dealt with it every day. Call it a pet peeve, or whatever. I find it annoying and disrespectful. I can't fathom going to a foreign country as a guest and shoving any of our customs down their throats.

Those CM's weren't brought in to simply help the groups out. They were brought in to keep them under some sort of control. Ask any CM or manager at Disney what the number 1 complaint they get in the summer is, and they'll all tell you - Brazilian Tour Groups.

 

[daveo43175]

Rudeness in Parks

While we haven't been in the parks nearly as much as many of you here, I haven't ever encountered or observed a rude CM. I have, however, witnessed far too many rude acts by guests. Some of these acts are directed at the CM's and how the CM was able to keep their cool in handling the situation was beyond what I could do.

The CM's have always bent over backwards to help or answer a question or simply smile and say hello.

I will be in the parks Sept 19th and 20th and will keep an eye out for such things, but I am not expecting anything but more of the same, rude people who feel entitled and the poor CM's who have to deal with it. This trip I will have a small note pad so I can get the names of the CM's I encounter and make sure they are appreciated properly.

 

[Crockett]

It's just sad to see, especially since people didn't this way back when Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom opened.

Back in those days, we weren't living in a narcissistic "Me" generation. When Walt himself was the entertainment icon of the day, and his programs were all the buzz of mainstream, a different morale was promoted and lived by...for the most part. The original Mickey Mouse club even had a section when the cast would read a different Proverb each week and sing about it. Spin & Marty respected their elders, honored parents, unlike today when most shows teach teenagers that adults/teachers are simply baffoons. And don't even get me started on the difference in what messages are taught in music lyrics between then & now. That in itself is an entire discussion.

So like others have mentioned, today's generation is, sadly, "all about me." It doesn't matter who was alongside the curb first...I want a good view for the parade or fireworks. The sign may say "No Flash Photography", but this is MY vacation...

I really do pity what CM's have to put up with on a daily basis. But I respect them all the more for doing it.