Woman Says Disney Fired Her After Taking Time To Grieve Husband's Death

[Pumbas Nakasak]

The axe is sharp tonight.

 

[JennyTablina]

When I worked at Six Flags, most of management had started out working those entry-level positions at the park (or another park). But those are usually the type of people who suck-up to management. If you read the book Mouse Tales, it's clear Disney operates in the same category. It's all about who you know and whether or not they like you.

I've read this book and while yes theres always those who suck up to management and get a higher position. This is pretty usual in any job ever (as Nakasak also said)

I work in a low level job over in England thats about the same sort of rate as working as a CM, in one of the bigger store chains. My managers are all self-centered and keep to their little exclusive club. Some of them get stuck in and others you wonder what they actually do for the company at all. The people that get promoted are the ones that get chummy with them but personally I dont care. I get paid well enough to get by as a student and I just do my job. No point complaining because well...its part of life really. No company ever does the right thing completely by everyone.

I'm also subject to a rather strict absense record. I'm allowed about 2 days a year sick leave part time. If I go over I have to have a meeting to discuss this issue and usually get a warning. Even my manager accepts this rule is somewhat harsh but its company policy. I know this is a different situation but still, companies have strict policies, however harsh they might be, they have to be followed usually.

That said I'm not saying Disney is right. I dont get why certain people in this thread are really getting their backs up so much. Most people are just saying "This happens in most companies and theres likely another side to this story". But then we have two extremes here, one who thinks Disneys likely at fault due to previous experience and those who think Disneys got every reason to do whatever it is they do

...whatever happened to a happy medium? D :

I mean, I love Disney, the brand and what the company did stand for in Walts day (despite how idealistic it might be). Disney the company? Not so much no. Part of me would love to work there but having followed the history of the animation units and considering working as a CM would be like working in my current job finantually. I'm more likely to go elsewhere.

That said no hate on the Disney dissenters. I Understand you guys just got burned pretty bad. That always makes people a little less likely to sympathise. But the reality is that any company can treat you bad to some degree. Though I guess if its a company that you might of had some respect for. The realisation that they were not as wonderful can leave quite a bitter aftertaste. I mean if I'm assuming too much, my appollogies and all.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Id just like to point out that I am a fantastic manager and have exceptional people skills. If you cant appreciate that make sure the door doesn't catch yer jaxi on the way out.

Some of us are just born leaders, admittedly I was more of a Fletcher Christian than a Captain Bligh.

 

[yankspy]

Id just like to point out that I am a fantastic manager and have exceptional people skills. If you cant appreciate that make sure the door doesn't catch yer jaxi on the way out.

Some of us are just born leaders, admittedly I was more of a Fletcher Christian than a Captain Bligh.

I would have never thought that.

 

[fosse76]

And this is different from every other career how?????:shrug:

Lol true. I should have gone on to say that with a workforce the size of Disney (as was to a lesser extent at Six Flags), the liklihood of promotion to such a position is very small.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Without wishing to drift the thread too much

When I was in the military I worked with a small group of technical specialists, they were all employed in the same site and all had to go through pre selection interviews and when successful specialist training. As an outsider it was possible to tell which NCO had been employed in this role when an individual had been recruited and trained, because all seemed to recruit clones of themselves. Loads of mini mes.

However being a boring tw*T must have been compulsory.

 

[danpam1024]

What lead to this situation is terrible, but frankly, some of the comments concerning Disney's possible lack of communication being the catalyst is alarmingly irresponsible. It's the employee's duty to keep the employer informed. Not the other way around.

Re-read the article (little information). Essentially, she apparently expended well over her accrued leave - Came back, didn't finish her shift, then took more time off. She eventually returned, ready to work, and was let go.

To me, it sounds like she she exploited the "take the time you need" comment, didn't keep in touch with her boss and he chalked it up to job abandonment. When she came back, they told her they were forced to fill her position, and she didn't have a job.

Interesting how she made sure the media and her union representative were informed so thoroughly of her situation. That initiative would have been better served on her boss.

I know my opinion sounds cold, but it's my experience that most people feel entitled to their jobs, and they have little regard that supervisors must run a business. A business each of us demand to operate at the highest level. In the end, she kept her job, got paid another week for time-not-worked. Not bad for anyone. Disney did more than most employers would have done.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

What lead to this situation is terrible, but frankly, some of the comments concerning Disney's possible lack of communication being the catalyst is alarmingly irresponsible. It's the employee's duty to keep the employer informed. Not the other way around.

You're right, it is the employee's duty, but what I take issue with is the (apparent) intransigence of management in this situation. This sounds like a unique situation where there might have been miscommunication, and how hard is it to pick up a phone before laying off a widow who probably can barely think straight (if indeed they didn't)?

Saying "it's not our responsibility" might be right in a technical sense, but it's not RIGHT in my mind. It sounds a lot like the "not my job" defense you might hear from a front-line worker who walks by a piece of trash on the ground without picking it up. He knows he can get away with it, so he doesn't bother.

If a company is going to ask its workers to go "above and beyond" and not just do the minimum (as Disney definitely does), then why should management be given a pass if they decided to do "just enough" and say "not my job" in a difficult situation like this?

Anyway, I suppose all's well that ends well.

 

[MousDad]

However being a boring tw*T must have been compulsory.

Is that why you were there? :wave:

 

[wedway71]

I will chime in here...

23 years or Management experience here.

Mid-Level Management for Coca-Cola and Target.

Recently Human Resources Manager.

Did Disney break any laws-No.

Was it bad P.R. Move-Yes.

Even though It was a bad P.R. move I dont bash Disney as some Huge Anti-Christ Monster.
Disney is a very good Corporate/Community Citizen.They give alot to charity all over the World.
Do Entry Level CMS make a bunch of money-No.
Does any Entry Level job make alot of money?-NO.

 

[danpam1024]

Anyway, I suppose all's well that ends well.

That's right. She still has her (and her husband's) job, Disney kept their experienced employee and everyone is wiser.

 

[wedway71]

That's right. She still has her (and her husband's) job, Disney kept their experienced employee and everyone is wiser.

Just noticed from Ft myers???

Just moved to Indy from Cape Coral/Ft myers:wave:

 

[danpam1024]

Yep. We've lived here for around 20 years.

 

[wedway71]

Yep. We've lived here for around 20 years.

Me too...Move there in 86 and just moved here to Indy from there.

 

[mkt]

It's okay to be lazy, just don't let it get so bad you can't work more than a few hours a day. If the Germans come for you again, you'll need to put up just a tiny bit of a fight until we can get over there and save you one more time. :wave:

I'm quite ashamed to share a passport with you

 

[Wilt Dasney]

I'm reminded of one of my favorite Simpsons quotes (from Lisa's wedding, at some point in the indeterminate future)

Moe: Oh, an English boy, huh? You know, we saved your @ss in World War II.
Hugh: Yeah, well, we saved your in World War III.
Moe: (conciliatory) That's true.

 

[WDW1974]

Wow now I see why so many people are tense and angry at Disney and why American company's are reporting such huge profits at the expense of workers. If this is the American dream I think I will stick to 4 weeks of visits every year. Someone else said they worked 70 hours a week! It seems people are being worked to death, where is the time to live?
I can now see why people like Fastpass, Dining Plans, and other such planning tools. After working so much people just can not relax and be carefree and fun and want to pack as much into a small time frame as possible instead of trying to just relax.
I feel so lazy with my 37 hour working week and 40 days off a year (Including national holidays that can be taken when I want). :lookaroun

You have to understand that the USA doesn't value its workers. Disney is just like any other large, souless corporation except it is one built on the illusion of family and family values.

People in this country like to kid themselves into believing that 1.) we are a compassionate nation (when any look into the way we treat the most needy would show otherwise; and 2.) that we live in a true democracy ( we don't ... we live in a capitalist society where big business is allowed to control the playing field.

There's a reason why WDW's workforce now is almost the polar opposite of what it was 20 years ago. It's simple: you don't have to pay a living wage to high schoolers, College Program kids, retirees and people working 1-3 shifts a week. Of course, you may pay them $7 an hour and luck out and get great workers because they don't need the money, but alas some workers do this as their job (or second or third) and do need it.

The only thing preventing WDW from having a liveable minimum wage (in Orlando it would have been $9-10 an hour before Bush got his dream of $4 a gallon gas) is simply the fact Wall Street's institutional investors would not allow it. Again, that's what happens when big business takes over a country ... and it may be a FREE market, but it assuredly isn't a democratic society.

 

[WDW1974]

One other thought that I've often used elsewhere when describing people who defend Disney management ... and I don't know if this is a result of the WalMarting/dumbing down of our nation (and WDW) or the cause ... but when did it become so popular to 'defend the man?'

Seriously, whether Disney was right or wrong in this particular case is of no moment to me ... but in general people seem so willing to defend every bad decision companies make ...

 

[Fluxuated]

Disney is a company first. Why can't people understand that? They are out to make a profit, just like any other company.

The company I work for, doesn't care about us as individuals, but I'm more than happy to take the $33/h+ off them, that I make, in order to support my family. I work for them, they pay me, what's the problem?

Would I go and work for Disney and take home $600 every 2 weeks, instead of the $2,200 I take home now? Heck NO. That's why I go there and visit, instead of working there.

You have to take what you have, and make the most out of it. Instead of sitting there, criticizing everyone else.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Is that why you were there? :wave:

Yes, I was the counter weight. :animwink: