Miserable CMs?! - My Experiences

[Club Cooloholic]

We have experienced the usual irritable CM and I try to remember that I may have just met that CM but I may be the 500th person that CM has encountered that day. Not all of the other 499 were nice. CM's get tired of all the BS from guests and they definitely do not get paid enough to put up with some of the things I have hears guests say to a CM.

I think the most irritable CM I have met was a parking attendant at the TTC (MK) who did not see the Diamond Parking Pass I had for using AAA (Don't get me started on THAT experience...). I tried to go to the Diamond Parking Area and he actually stepped in front of my car and pointed hard to his right with a nasty look on his face. I rolled my window down and told him that I had the pass (which was taped to the inside of my window). He came around to my door and you could tell that he knew he messed up but he stuck to his guns and told me that it didn't matter and that I needed merge back in the flow of traffic heading to the left to park with everyone else. I asked if the lot was down, filled, or not in use and he rolled his eyes and started to walk back to his posted spot after saying "You heard me." Yeah, I rolled right past him and went to the Diamond Lot, parked, got out, and walked to the TTC entrance. I was expecting security but none came so we went in and had a magical day.

I feel like they always used to mess up diamond parking directions...

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Most CM's are great, a few are not. In my experience, the ones who are less than stellar often appear to be overwhelmed due to inexperience or when something unusual happening, meaning something like a temporary booth with no established routine.

I've also encountered less than stellar CM's when something goes wrong. On my most recent trip, my band didn't work properly. I made multiple polite attempts to get it fixed. The first time it didn't work was at a restaurant. I wouldn't say the server was especially rude, but well...she wasn't very nice either. I felt like I was being accused of trying to pull a scam. It didn't ruin the entire day, but it wasn't exactly magical either.

I spent a considerable amount of my vacation time attempting to get the problem fixed and that time had real costs: missing fireworks, missing the tail end of dinner hours, almost missing a fastpass (had to run+beg mercy for being late!)

Truly, nobody did much of anything to resolve the problem. Just every time I went to use it, I was mildly treated like I was either an idiot or trying to pull a scam of some sort.

By the third day or so, I just gave up.

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

I really didn't want to post on this thread, but the cold meds kicked in, and here I am

Whatever happened to "treat people well, they treat you well?" Its not hard. Just forgotten

Ive seen:
parents letting their kids kids throw rocks at ducks
kids stomping on a snake
parents taking vid of their kid stomping through flower bed and ripping flowers out, throwing them

and many more like this...

would YOU want to be that person to say..."sorry, little Billy can't throw rocks at ducks." ??

I mean, i get it....I know people get stressed on a Disney vacation (their loss), and feel stress is a qualifier to be nasty...well, nasty breeds nasty.

as you were.

Okay, but you'd probably also never tolerate a teacher losing their cool against a student either. If teachers can keep their cool, so can CM's.

Teachers and para-teachers are often paid about the same as CM's, especially preschool teachers.

What about (home) health aids? Now there's a super bad job. they have to put up with all kinds of rudeness all day, and nobody's going to say it is okay for them to be inconsiderate.

Working with the public isn't easy. The only way to get through it is to find a healthy outlet outside of work hours. (But I totally agree that kids and customers an be very rude.)

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Okay, but you'd probably also never tolerate a teacher losing their cool against a student either. If teachers can keep their cool, so can CM's.

Teachers and para-teachers are often paid about the same as CM's, especially preschool teachers.

What about (home) health aids? Now there's a super bad job. they have to put up with all kinds of rudeness all day, and nobody's going to say it is okay for them to be inconsiderate.

Working with the public isn't easy. The only way to get through it is to find a healthy outlet outside of work hours. (But I totally agree that kids and customers an be very rude.)

Are you serious? Do preschool teachers just smile all day and agree with the kids? Home health care workers the same? Sorry they are totally different

 

[tractor tipper]

Had friends just returned from first trip with their 3 kids (5-10). They said "What a great place, clean and an exceptional staff. Food and wine was icing on the cake".

 

[Po'Rich]

I remember my first visit to WDW (which was 2012, so I'm not talking about ancient history or the "glory days"). I had some issue (which I don't currently remember, but it seemed really important at the time). I marched down to the resort front desk, prepared to meet the sort of typical bureaucratic bs that one often faces when needing to make a special request. I was all prepared to argue my point and demand to see the manager (or higher) if need be. Tense and prepared for the impending battle, I was pleasantly surprised when instead of hearing about policies and procedures, I was greeted with a smile and a "no problem." This response really helped me relax and enjoy my vacation. This has been my experience time after time with Walt Disney World, and it is one of the reasons I keep coming back.

 

[HoneyBee1991]

I'm so torn on this subject! My job is in Customer Service. I'm a customer service and data entry manager for an RV manufacturing company. If you work in customer service and actually enjoy it, you have to like people and LOVE what you do.

So I get upset easily when people working in a customer service position are rude to customers for seemingly no reason. I leave my personal problems at home when I'm at work. But not everyone is like that and not everyone can call off if their personal lives are falling apart.

I try to take things with a grain of salt. But I also wouldn't tolerate someone talking to me the way the CM did to the original poster. I would have told the CM they didn't need to speak to me that way (politely), got her name from her name tag and walked right over to guest services to report it. Because if I start my day off with a CM screaming at me, I'm not going to have a good day. I'm not going to let one CM ruin my day nor would I let them get away with being disrespectful to me if I was being a polite guest.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I'm so torn on this subject! My job is in Customer Service. I'm a customer service and data entry manager for an RV manufacturing company. If you work in customer service and actually enjoy it, you have to like people and LOVE what you do.

So I get upset easily when people working in a customer service position are rude to customers for seemingly no reason. I leave my personal problems at home when I'm at work. But not everyone is like that and not everyone can call off if their personal lives are falling apart.

I try to take things with a grain of salt. But I also wouldn't tolerate someone talking to me the way the CM did to the original poster. I would have told the CM they didn't need to speak to me that way (politely), got her name from her name tag and walked right over to guest services to report it. Because if I start my day off with a CM screaming at me, I'm not going to have a good day. I'm not going to let one CM ruin my day nor would I let them get away with being disrespectful to me if I was being a polite guest.

Just a thought here, but, I sincerely doubt that this situation even happened. The word you used the most often in that was "IF". You know how they say it seems too good to be true, will the same applies to this story, it's too bad to be true. And I have spent the majority of my life in Customer Service. Been called every name in the book and been part of every paranoiac episode that can be imagined. This is just beyond my ability to accept as fact.

 

[HoneyBee1991]

Just a thought here, but, I sincerely doubt that this situation even happened. The word you used the most often in that was "IF". You know how they say it seems too good to be true, will the same applies to this story, it's too bad to be true. And I have spent the majority of my life in Customer Service. Been called every name in the book and been part of every paranoiac episode that can be imagined. This is just beyond my ability to accept as fact.

Do you make a habit out of stalking other people's posts? Or am I just your new favorite person? Hello again new bestie.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Do you make a habit out of stalking other people's posts? Or am I just your new favorite person? Hello again new bestie.

I'm not sure if you are being passive aggressive here or you really do mean it. I don't stalk anyone. I read posts and comment on them it what is said interests me at all. Most of the time I don't even know who posted anything. You'll have to explain to me what I said that made you say stalking because all I was trying to say is that your instincts were correct and it sounds outrageous because it is outrageous. If it is unbelievable and if it doesn't ring correctly it probably isn't correct. I hope you're not feeling that I am trying to undermine what you have said, but, I cannot start every post with the words "I agree".

 

[Bronson55]

Not sure everyone knows that many locations are managed by third parties. I had a really bad experience at Via Napoli recently. Not with the wait staff but with a manager. Long story that doesn't need to be retold . I spoke to customer relations a few days later and while they were appalled they told me Via Napoli is managed by a third party organization and they encouraged me to contact them directly. I said I paid Disney for my trip and fully expected Disney to handle the issue themselves or not...as they deem appropriate.
The cast members were wonderful and were doing their best . Not so with the management. The thug that posed as a manager kind of knew he screwed the pooch by trying to provoke a fight and tried fixing things after I left by calling my home phone number from a Tutto Italia phone leaving no message. My point is, not everyone you interact with is a direct Disney employee .

 

[G00fyDad]

Do you make a habit out of stalking other people's posts? Or am I just your new favorite person? Hello again new bestie.

He is pretty abrasive. Just add him to your ignore list. I did and things got A LOT less combative.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

I'm so torn on this subject! My job is in Customer Service. I'm a customer service and data entry manager for an RV manufacturing company. If you work in customer service and actually enjoy it, you have to like people and LOVE what you do.

So I get upset easily when people working in a customer service position are rude to customers for seemingly no reason. I leave my personal problems at home when I'm at work. But not everyone is like that and not everyone can call off if their personal lives are falling apart.

I try to take things with a grain of salt. But I also wouldn't tolerate someone talking to me the way the CM did to the original poster. I would have told the CM they didn't need to speak to me that way (politely), got her name from her name tag and walked right over to guest services to report it. Because if I start my day off with a CM screaming at me, I'm not going to have a good day. I'm not going to let one CM ruin my day nor would I let them get away with being disrespectful to me if I was being a polite guest.

Do you rep Starcraft? My rain guard above my door was installed wrong!

 

[Patcheslee]

I remember being at AK at night with DD7 then and DH. DD is notorious for getting distracted by her surroundings which while we were walking happened to be the fairy lights. DH said "Don't step on the fairy" hoping to get her attention back to looking for other people. Instead he suprised the begezzus out of a CM that happened to be pushing a cart by us and stopped her cart. She chuckled about it but hope she didn't think we were trying to mess with her.

 

[HoneyBee1991]

Do you rep Starcraft? My rain guard above my door was installed wrong!

Hey! We actually build one specific item that goes in RV units (an item I will never disclose lol). But I do sell to Starcraft They are okay to work with on my end, not sure about the consumer side.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

This is the key to something shifting from non-issue to issue. So long as you don't do any stupid that provides the cranky person with any ammo, you have a pretty good chance of leaving the issue behind you.

"have your back" is a bit misleading tho. They won't always have your back with the complainer. But, they will have your back reputation wise. Some organizations, it is policy to chuck front line staff under the bus. This does not however hurt your upward mobility at all.

This is so true. People will email a complaint, does not even have to be true, and management immediately believes them without even talking to the employee. I have seen this at many places.

I believe in the comment "management might not have your back with the complainer", meant management might "externally" side with the complainer. Further, the "have your back reputation wise", and " does not however hurt your upward mobility" suggests internally the cast member is not in jeopardy with/when feedback from cranky guest(s) is presented.

A good leader (so few around nowadays) will have trained the team to understand in the situations of negative feedback, the (management) response to the cranky guest is only the external portion of the situation, followed by a post mortem depending on the magnitude of the incident. The post mortem setting is where the cast member's reputation and upward mobility would be protected (or damaged).......and thorough feedback from the rest of team should be solicited. The solicitation of feedback empowers most members, and also illustrates complaints are going to happen and thus members would be better prepared when in front of guests.....

 

[Driver]

Being rude to a guest is never acceptable, however CM's are human too. In my daily experience of been there done that after a few guest giving you a hard time you can only suck up so much. Many guest will complain about how they paid good money to be there blah blah. The fact is everyone paid good money to be there! Some feel entitled to special treatment because they paid a lot of money, again everyone paid a lot of money. The issue I run into on a daily basis is safety! Some people get very angry because we won't allow their sleeping child to stay in the stroller on the bus. First it's a DOT regulation and every bus has a sign stating that. Second if I slam on the brakes and your child goes flying, your still going to blame me! It's a lose lose situation. I'm not trying to be mean I just don't care to risk my job or my CDL because your child is sleeping as your leaving the park at 12:30 am. Maybe getting them back to the room four hours ago would have been better for you. This scenario can play over and over many times in one evening, it gets old fast. It's not my rules or Disney's it's the law and my license is in play here, sorry. No one is willing to take responsibility for their own bad judgment they want to blame someone else for the outcome.
Ok...... I'm done!

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

Being rude to a guest is never acceptable, however CM's are human too. In my daily experience of been there done that after a few guest giving you a hard time you can only suck up so much. Many guest will complain about how they paid good money to be there blah blah. The fact is everyone paid good money to be there! Some feel entitled to special treatment because they paid a lot of money, again everyone paid a lot of money. The issue I run into on a daily basis is safety! Some people get very angry because we won't allow their sleeping child to stay in the stroller on the bus. First it's a DOT regulation and every bus has a sign stating that. Second if I slam on the brakes and your child goes flying, your still going to blame me! It's a lose lose situation. I'm not trying to be mean I just don't care to risk my job or my CDL because your child is sleeping as your leaving the park at 12:30 am. Maybe getting them back to the room four hours ago would have been better for you. This scenario can play over and over many times in one evening, it gets old fast. It's not my rules or Disney's it's the law and my license is in play here, sorry. No one is willing to take responsibility for their own bad judgment they want to blame someone else for the outcome.
Ok...... I'm done!

I hear you. I've seen too many rude guest to count, and encounter rude drivers every day - to say the least.

However, don't you think WDW's policies are a tiny bit to blame for their customer's anxiety? Even if we set aside the significant price hikes for a moment, and just consider the way WDW now pushes guests towards a rigid schedule, here's what we get:

In the past, if we missed a FP, it was no big deal. Once, the system was forgiving. If I (just) missed a bus from my resort, and we had to wait an extra half hour past our FP, it was no big deal. Even when we were (later) held more strictly to the printed FP time window, it was still not that big of a deal to miss one, because obtaining FP was easy. We hadn't invested much in getting one.

These days, FP are more high stakes. A FP is something I booked well before my vacation even started. The anticipation of using my fastpass has building for over a month! The kids have been dreaming and doing all their chores! If I miss my ADR, I'm charged $10 a head. For a party of 5 people, that's $50! Ouch!

So when I hear someone complain about how much their WDW "cost," I hear MORE than a comment about money. That family planned, and dreamt, and made sacrifices to be at WDW. I get a little Langston Hughes, "What happens to a dream deferred?"

 

[MickeyLuv'r]

"What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?"

"Harlem" by Langston Hughes

(Mind, I'm not any way equating WDW vacation mishaps to the hardships of 1951 life in Harlem, just sharing a few great lines of poetry.)

 

[geekza]

It's a common thing for people who've been in Customer Service for a while to become jaded and automatically expect the worst from customers. There are genuine garbage people out there who will lie, cheat, steal, and insult your parentage while they're at it. One of the most difficult things to do is to be able to treat each new interaction as if all of the past ones didn't happen. If you're going to succeed in Customer Service, though, you have to try. You won't always succeed. Sometimes you have a bad day where nothing seems to have gone right and you feel like you just can't take another rude, condescending, self-important person. On those days, you make it to your break, step away from wherever you're working, commiserate with a co-worker, take a deep breath and go back out. However, if you are able to train yourself to disconnect the personal from the professional and always start out an interaction with a pleasant and empathetic demeanor, most people will meet you half-way. If you can master that, you'll go far. If you can't, Customer Service is perhaps not your calling in life.