Wow! I spent a good chunk of today sitting here reading all of the messages and feel like another CM pov needs to come in. Too many of my teammates have spoken on the bad things that happen and the generalizations, but not all of us are like that.
First of all, I am an entertainment CM. I have worked for either Universal or Disney doing this for over 6 years. In that time I have been groped, punched, kicked, fondled, felt up, felt down, yelled at, cursed at and most recently had my breast grabbed and twisted. When the situation is too bad, I take myself off stage until I either calm down or the offensive guest has left the area. The last time anything happened was Saturday Evening at MNSSHP when a pre-teen boy thought it would be fun to kick me twice and then grab my breast and twist it. I was not in an area where I could leave and I could not get security to handle the situation, but I did remove myself from that guest.
Now, I was not rude to the next guest in line. I put a smile on my face (that they could not see) and performed my role to the next guest in line. Did I complain about that guest when I got backstage---yes. Do I judge all guests based on that one? NO! I don't know where he was from, where he was staying or anything else about him. He was one kid.
With me, the bad ones fade away. Yes I have been treated poorly by guests. Yes I will talk about them backstage with my co-workers for a few minutes. No I do not judge all guests by them or let them effect how I deal with others. Yes there are cast members who tend to focus on the negative instead of all the positive. I would rather remember the cute baby who sat on my lap, the awesome costumes I saw, the guests who said please and thank you on their own, than the random one who abused me.
Maybe I am an anomoly, but I have seen many people forget that part of their role is to create magic, which means being polite to everyone.......even if they have treated you like dirt.
*flame retardant suit is now on*