Spirited News & Observations II -- NGE/Baxter

[Tom]

If she will let me I am going to post the letter she recieved.....with her name blocked out of course. I will have to ask.

Do it! Sling as much mud as possible. This sort of action is pure BS, on Disney's part.

 

[asianway]

The thing is is that they say they are not laying her off....that she is being terminated. They are asking for her to return her her silver pass....something she is very proud of and shows anyone who will look. She was told that it was hers to keep....that because she retired from Disney but is in some limited work program for retirees. She feels like they are escorting her to the gate and throwing her out....really? Is this how they intend to cut cost?

Is her position unionized? Be sure to call the shop steward, lord knows enough bad CMs get away with murder, hopefully she can get it reversed

 

[The Empress Lilly]

If she will let me I am going to post the letter she recieved.....with her name blocked out of course. I will have to ask.

Make it an entire thread! I hate the big bully trampling on the small kid. If TWDC acts like that, then we should cause a stink. The company does live off a family friendly brand image.

 

[John]

Is her position unionized? Be sure to call the shop steward, lord knows enough bad CMs get away with murder, hopefully she can get it reversed

I dont know why I didnt think of this....excellent idea....

 

[John]

Make it an entire thread! I hate the big bully trampling on the small kid. If TWDC acts like that, then we should cause a stink. The company does live off a family friendly brand name.

I just ,ight do that. I have to give it sometime. Right now its an open wound. I havnt approached her about what I want to do yet. Its to raw for her right now. My mother is one of those Cms that always had a smile on her face. I am sure one or some of you have crossed her path. She believed in "The Disney way... God bless her she bought in to it. Where the customers satisfaction came first. She was commended by managment with contributing to Cast Member moral. She has had many many jobs during her 17 yr career. From conceirge to Food and Beverage. She even was training to be a bus driver at one point but couldnt park the bus. I dont want to devulge what her last job was because I dont want to cause any reprecussions. One of the nice things about working for Disney is that you could change your job every six months if you wanted to. She wanted to do as many different things as possible.....and she did. Her favorite jobs were interacting with the guest.

She went to bed very early this evening....emotionally exhausted. She is going to need a couple days to digest it and speak to someone from Disney. This sort of thing is happening all over the country. It is touching my family. The difference is that this person was devoted to a company that once was dvoted to thier employees and are treating her like yesterdays trash. Its broken her heart. Honestly, I am not sure even if they fixed it, it would mend the damage it has done. I remember when she recieved her gift commemorateing her 15th yr...She was given a very nice statue of the castle and a party. She was so proud...In her life....in her little world....it was something for her to be extremely proud of. At her age this job gave her purpose.....it gave her meaning. She had value. She cant just go somewhere else and work. This isnt a case where she can pick up the pieces and move on....put together a resume and go to job fairs. Right now...I fear for her. The days that she was scheduled to work...she had a bounce in her step. She was getting ready to be on stage. Disney you Rat Bastards.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I just ,ight do that. I have to give it sometime. Right now its an open wound. I havnt approached her about what I want to do yet. Its to raw for her right now. My mother is one of those Cms that always had a smile on her face. I am sure one or some of you have crossed her path. She believed in "The Disney way... God bless her she bought in to it. Where the customers satisfaction came first. She was commended by managment with contributing to Cast Member moral. She has had many many jobs during her 17 yr career. From conceirge to Food and Beverage. She even was training to be a bus driver at one point but couldnt park the bus. I dont want to devulge what her last job was because I dont want to cause any reprecussions. One of the nice things about working for Disney is that you could change your job every six months if you wanted to. She wanted to do as many different things as possible.....and she did. Her favorite jobs were interacting with the guest.

You should have her talk with Jason Garcia at the Sentinel. I can pass on his email addy if you dont have it.

 

[GSP Guy]

As you know my mother is a Cm.....17 yrs service. She just recieved a letter today saying she was going to be terminated for not being available although she has documentaion proving she went on the hub and putting in her time when she was available and when she wasnt. She put in a call to her supervisor and ofcourse its a recorded voic mail. Waiting for a return call as I type. The thing that she cant understand is that they are asking her to return her silver pass. She is semi retired and only works the winter months. She was of the thought that she was vested and was able to keep her maingate pass for life. She has been in tears since the mailman came.
Three hours now and she hasnt stopped crying. Disney if you are reading this like Spirit says you do.....I hope your proud of yourself. Is this what you do to Cast Members that helped make WDW what it is ( used to be).

Shame on you. She loved her job....she loved Disney and now this. Is this the way you handle your senior CMs. Wouldnt a phone call to her been the "right" thing to do. The letter says she is being terminated. This woman has been a perfect employee for 17 yrs. If she was a problem would she have lasted that long? Again....Disney if you are reading this....DO SOMETHING! If you let this go down like this I will spend the rest of my life your company.

Terminated through the mail? How cowardly have we become as a society? Sad....very, very, sad!

 

[Tom]

You should have her talk with Jason Garcia at the Sentinel. I can pass on his email addy if you dont have it.

I like this idea. He'll probably want to wait until it's officially official, in case there is a retraction. Hate to burn bridges....but if it does become official, I think Jason would be a great place for this story to land.

The sad part is that she probably doesn't (didn't) make much more than one of the hundreds of stupid kids who are literally just there "because it's a job and my mom made me," but yet they axe her because they found a convenient HR loophole. Cut two of those useless and magic-less kids and utilize every available hour she has.

If WDW were staffed primarily by people in their 30s and up, it would be so much more magical. I'm 32, and I'm just about at the trailing end of the last generation that gave a crap about anything (yes, there are many younger than that who do, but they're a minority).

Stories like this make me want to burn down Celebration.

Sigh.

 

[crispy]

I just ,ight do that. I have to give it sometime. Right now its an open wound. I havnt approached her about what I want to do yet. Its to raw for her right now. My mother is one of those Cms that always had a smile on her face. I am sure one or some of you have crossed her path. She believed in "The Disney way... God bless her she bought in to it. Where the customers satisfaction came first. She was commended by managment with contributing to Cast Member moral. She has had many many jobs during her 17 yr career. From conceirge to Food and Beverage. She even was training to be a bus driver at one point but couldnt park the bus. I dont want to devulge what her last job was because I dont want to cause any reprecussions. One of the nice things about working for Disney is that you could change your job every six months if you wanted to. She wanted to do as many different things as possible.....and she did. Her favorite jobs were interacting with the guest.

She went to bed very early this evening....emotionally exhausted. She is going to need a couple days to digest it and speak to someone from Disney. This sort of thing is happening all over the country. It is touching my family. The difference is that this person was devoted to a company that once was dvoted to thier employees and are treating her like yesterdays trash. Its broken her heart. Honestly, I am not sure even if they fixed it, it would mend the damage it has done. I remember when she recieved her gift commemorateing her 15th yr...She was given a very nice statue of the castle and a party. She was so proud...In her life....in her little world....it was something for her to be extremely proud of. At her age this job gave her purpose.....it gave her meaning. She had value. She cant just go somewhere else and work. This isnt a case where she can pick up the pieces and move on....put together a resume and go to job fairs. Right now...I fear for her. The days that she was scheduled to work...she had a bounce in her step. She was getting ready to be on stage. Disney you Rat Bastards.

I am so sorry to hear what happened to your mom especially since they didn't bother to talk to her face to face. It's just awful and reminds me of why I personally need to take from visiting WDW for a while.

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

I just ,ight do that. I have to give it sometime. Right now its an open wound. I havnt approached her about what I want to do yet. Its to raw for her right now. My mother is one of those Cms that always had a smile on her face. I am sure one or some of you have crossed her path. She believed in "The Disney way... God bless her she bought in to it. Where the customers satisfaction came first. She was commended by managment with contributing to Cast Member moral. She has had many many jobs during her 17 yr career. From conceirge to Food and Beverage. She even was training to be a bus driver at one point but couldnt park the bus. I dont want to devulge what her last job was because I dont want to cause any reprecussions. One of the nice things about working for Disney is that you could change your job every six months if you wanted to. She wanted to do as many different things as possible.....and she did. Her favorite jobs were interacting with the guest.

She went to bed very early this evening....emotionally exhausted. She is going to need a couple days to digest it and speak to someone from Disney. This sort of thing is happening all over the country. It is touching my family. The difference is that this person was devoted to a company that once was dvoted to thier employees and are treating her like yesterdays trash. Its broken her heart. Honestly, I am not sure even if they fixed it, it would mend the damage it has done. I remember when she recieved her gift commemorateing her 15th yr...She was given a very nice statue of the castle and a party. She was so proud...In her life....in her little world....it was something for her to be extremely proud of. At her age this job gave her purpose.....it gave her meaning. She had value. She cant just go somewhere else and work. This isnt a case where she can pick up the pieces and move on....put together a resume and go to job fairs. Right now...I fear for her. The days that she was scheduled to work...she had a bounce in her step. She was getting ready to be on stage. Disney you Rat Bastards.

I am really sorry that your Mom was treated so poorly! Before you post any letters from Disney, though, make sure the case is closed. You don't want Disney to use the fact that she "leaked" some sort of "confidential" information as a reason for their unwillingness to reconsider her termination.

Just urge her to take careful notes and document everything! Times, dates, names...

 

[Tom]

I am really sorry that your Mom was treated so poorly! Before you post any letters from Disney, though, make sure the case is closed. You don't want Disney to use the fact that she "leaked" some sort of "confidential" information as a reason for their unwillingness to reconsider her termination.

Just urge her to take careful notes and document everything! Times, dates, names...

Agreed. To early to burn bridges. If it becomes officially official, and irreversible, then cause a scene.

 

[luv]

I just ,ight do that. I have to give it sometime. Right now its an open wound. I havnt approached her about what I want to do yet. Its to raw for her right now. My mother is one of those Cms that always had a smile on her face. I am sure one or some of you have crossed her path. She believed in "The Disney way... God bless her she bought in to it. Where the customers satisfaction came first. She was commended by managment with contributing to Cast Member moral. She has had many many jobs during her 17 yr career. From conceirge to Food and Beverage. She even was training to be a bus driver at one point but couldnt park the bus. I dont want to devulge what her last job was because I dont want to cause any reprecussions. One of the nice things about working for Disney is that you could change your job every six months if you wanted to. She wanted to do as many different things as possible.....and she did. Her favorite jobs were interacting with the guest.

She went to bed very early this evening....emotionally exhausted. She is going to need a couple days to digest it and speak to someone from Disney. This sort of thing is happening all over the country. It is touching my family. The difference is that this person was devoted to a company that once was dvoted to thier employees and are treating her like yesterdays trash. Its broken her heart. Honestly, I am not sure even if they fixed it, it would mend the damage it has done. I remember when she recieved her gift commemorateing her 15th yr...She was given a very nice statue of the castle and a party. She was so proud...In her life....in her little world....it was something for her to be extremely proud of. At her age this job gave her purpose.....it gave her meaning. She had value. She cant just go somewhere else and work. This isnt a case where she can pick up the pieces and move on....put together a resume and go to job fairs. Right now...I fear for her. The days that she was scheduled to work...she had a bounce in her step. She was getting ready to be on stage. Disney you Rat Bastards.

This breaks my heart and es me off.

Please keep us updated.

 

[misterID]

It's never a good idea to make impulsive decisions based on raw emotion. Let it play out and cover your bases before you do anything.

Man, this is depressing. I'm going to go lurk on some UNI Orlando boards to make myself feel better.

 

[RSoxNo1]

As you know my mother is a Cm.....17 yrs service. She just recieved a letter today saying she was going to be terminated for not being available although she has documentaion proving she went on the hub and putting in her time when she was available and when she wasnt. She put in a call to her supervisor and ofcourse its a recorded voic mail. Waiting for a return call as I type. The thing that she cant understand is that they are asking her to return her silver pass. She is semi retired and only works the winter months. She was of the thought that she was vested and was able to keep her maingate pass for life. She has been in tears since the mailman came.
Three hours now and she hasnt stopped crying. Disney if you are reading this like Spirit says you do.....I hope your proud of yourself. Is this what you do to Cast Members that helped make WDW what it is ( used to be).

Shame on you. She loved her job....she loved Disney and now this. Is this the way you handle your senior CMs. Wouldnt a phone call to her been the "right" thing to do. The letter says she is being terminated. This woman has been a perfect employee for 17 yrs. If she was a problem would she have lasted that long? Again....Disney if you are reading this....DO SOMETHING! If you let this go down like this I will spend the rest of my life your company.

I don't think "liking" this is appropriate, but it needs to be acknowledged. Terminating an employee via letter, regardless of the circumstances is horrible protocol. I get it, businesses make cuts - they higher you are on the pay grade the more susceptible you are to these cuts. It sucks, but it's the reality of the situation. I don't know if she has any legal recourse here, but it may be worth investigating.

 

[asianway]

I don't think "liking" this is appropriate, but it needs to be acknowledged. Terminating an employee via letter, regardless of the circumstances is horrible protocol. I get it, businesses make cuts - they higher you are on the pay grade the more susceptible you are to these cuts. It sucks, but it's the reality of the situation. I don't know if she has any legal recourse here, but it may be worth investigating.

All of the CTs who didn't meet the new annual hours worked requirement were notified by letter

 

[maxairmike]

I smelled a rat (for lack of a better term) with the 150 hours requirement when it was implemented. Unfortunately it isn't entirely dependent on how available you are either. I have a friend who knows this first hand. First an injury resulting in two minor bone surgeries, keeping her away from her full time job for a little more than a month (might have been closer to 2), plus managers at Disney who flat out said to her face that they don't care about their CT Cast and refused to work with her on the medical issue or scheduling in general before the injury. I should have encouraged her to go father up the chain, but she didn't want to rock the boat in case somehow she found a way to transfer out of her area and got the rest of the 150 hours in. I understand they just made it a little tougher as well, by needing to maintain a total of 150 hours as each quarter rolls over (was originally just 150 during the fiscal year).

What happened to your mom, @Arewethereyet!, is certainly terrible. If she was CT, the letter is standard, but not being acknowledged when trying to reach someone on the phone is just despicable and what really puts it in the "business behaving badly" category. Hopefully you find some way to "fix" things, though the CT requirements are pretty tough, and I don't think anyone (Casting included) is able to adjust things once this machine has been put into action.

 

[Mouse Detective]

If you're a company that has a lot of "occasional" workers, wouldn't it be difficult to meet with all of them "face-to-face" to inform them of this information, in a timely manner, if those workers are hardly ever there?

 

[Goofyernmost]

If you're a company that has a lot of "occasional" workers, wouldn't it be difficult to meet with all of them "face-to-face" to inform them of this information, in a timely manner, if those workers are hardly ever there?

I do feel sorrow for this lady, but you are correct. People tend to lose sight concerning the 55000 other employees hanging around. There is probably an avenue for appeal already in place and listed in the employee (CM) handbook. I'd check there and see if there is one, I'm sure with unions in place, it is there. Follow those procedures and you have a chance. Harass the bosses, it will be a lot more difficult. Unfair, but the way of the world of business and when all is said and done, Disney is a business.

It could be an error and if what has been reported is true, then that is exactly what it is. Approach it with that possibility in mind and things might work out. Run in with fists flying and the likelihood gets a lot smaller. I'm pretty sure that Florida is an "at will" state so they don't even need a reason to terminate. Someone correct me if that is not the case in Florida.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

If you're a company that has a lot of "occasional" workers, wouldn't it be difficult to meet with all of them "face-to-face" to inform them of this information, in a timely manner, if those workers are hardly ever there?

To me, if you are a large company that has a lot of occassional workers, then you have less, not more, of an excuse for not having a professional human resource management.

Call me a socialist (which by now is what one calls the conservative of a generation ago), but somebody's job is not to be terminated by letter. But in person. Anything else is just a HR fail. A sign of disrespect. And companies that don't respect their employees, have a tendency to end up not respecting their customers, nor the community in which they function.

 

[Goofyernmost]

To me, if you are a large company that has a lot of occassional workers, then you have less, not more, of an excuse for not having a professional human resource management.

Call me a socialist (which by now is what one calls the conservative of a generation ago), but somebody's job is not to be terminated by letter. But in person. Anything else is just a HR fail. A sign of disrespect. And companies that don't respect their employees, have a tendency to end up not respecting their customers, nor the community in which they function.

Ideally that, of course, would be better, but, that as was a favorite mafia saying..."It's nothing personal, it's business". My guess is that 99.9% of the time we are hired by letter, or at least nothing is official until the "letter" is produced. If the offense is an offense of written procedure as opposed to direct, severe infractions, then it is historically handled via letter, with appeals process available. It is the quickest way to deal with it without having to word things, off the cuff, that can be interpreted in different ways. And the reason it is done this way is because they have a large active HR department. No one should kid themselves and think that an HR department works for the benefit of the employee. They are there to insure that all the T's are crossed and all the i's are dotted. Individuals are not so good at that and leave companies open to legal action more often.

I know, yet another reason to hate businesses, but that is the way it is now and personally I don't see that it is going to get any better, it might get worse though.