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brad73
01-26-2004, 08:48 PM
I frequent theme parks in So Cal and Florida. It seems out of all the major theme parks Disney (especally at the Disneyland Resorts in So Cal) has the rudest cast members. The employees at Sea Wolrd, Universal parks, and Knott's are so much more friendly and pleasent. They actually smile at you and try to help you. The attitude at the Bakery on Main Street is always the WORST!! Crowd control, the front gates... The cast members act as they are doing you a favor and give the guest major attitude. Has anyone noticed this getting worse and worse? I realize it is not all cast members, but it is a good majority. Are they that stressed with the crowds, that unhappy behind the scenes? I am not anti-Disney but other theme parks make me feel much more welcomed.

DCAWhites
01-26-2004, 08:58 PM
The rude cast members need to realize that without the guests they'd be out of a job. Encountered the rudest cast member at the hungry bear resturant last weekend, she made it seem as if we were making her have to do more work than she had to taking our order, and she was very vocal about expressing this quite rudely. I am a cast member at the other park across the esplanade, where we have less actual work to do and more time to focus on guests so my opinion is that we are more kind. I understand that CMs can have bad days every once in awhile, but you have to draw the line somewhere... This hungry bear cast member was far across that line.

cstephens
01-26-2004, 09:30 PM
Originally posted by brad73
I frequent theme parks in So Cal and Florida. It seems out of all the major theme parks Disney (especally at the Disneyland Resorts in So Cal) has the rudest cast members. The employees at Sea Wolrd, Universal parks, and Knott's are so much more friendly and pleasent. They actually smile at you and try to help you. The attitude at the Bakery on Main Street is always the WORST!! Crowd control, the front gates... The cast members act as they are doing you a favor and give the guest major attitude. Has anyone noticed this getting worse and worse? I realize it is not all cast members, but it is a good majority. Are they that stressed with the crowds, that unhappy behind the scenes? I am not anti-Disney but other theme parks make me feel much more welcomed.

I'll have to disagree with you. While I do think that the emphasis on Cast Member attitude isn't quite what it might have been, I still think it's hands-down better than any of the other local theme parks in Southern California. I'm a regular visitor at most of them, with the exception of Universal. The CMs at Magic Mountain are atrocious for the most part, and the CMs at Knott's made no impression on me at all. The regular CMs at Sea World also make no real impression on me, though the CMs who actually deal with the animals are wonderful, but I would imagine that's to be expected. I find the occasional CM at the resort who isn't quite up to standards, but for the most part, they're pretty friendly. I think the rude CM is definitely much more the rare exception rather than a regular occurrence.

BJW
01-26-2004, 10:30 PM
Brad, I agree with you. I think part of the problem lies in the mentality of current management. They think that if they allow the CMs to just deal with the guest problems "by any means necessary" they will get rid of them quickly, without worrying about the overall experience of the guests. I'm noticing more and more unhappy people leaving the parks at the end of the day and I think that's the reason. Disneyland CMs have lost what it means to treat the guest with the proper ettiquette. PGA and BG (Nor Cal Parks) have been getting increasingly friendlier employees than Disneyland's. Of the two Six Flags parks I think Magic Mountain's are much better than Marine World's. Knott's have always been good. Universal's I have found to be much better than Disneyland's. I would have to say of ranking all of California's parks that I go to Disneyland's come in second to last, next to Six Flags Marine World's (the last). Let's hope things change quickly.

marron-cream
01-26-2004, 10:45 PM
No offense, but just in the object of fairness, think carefully of how you sound the next time you talk to CMs. You might be surprised at how you come off. If someone is short with me right off the bat, ignores my greeting, grunts in response to my asking about their day, and stomps out without saying thank you, I'm not going to be too thrilled at helping them. Remember, for as many nice guests out there (as I presume you are), there are just as many friendly cast members.

ToursbabeC3po
01-27-2004, 12:57 AM
Wow that is too bad you have had such horrible experiences at Disneyland. It really takes a lot for me to be rude to a guest. Usually bad language will cause me to change my attitude negatively. I think I am a very good cast member I really try to go beyond and above to help the guest. It is too bad not everyone else in the park is doing the same :-( If I had a bad experience at any park I would not just let it go I would let a manager know so that they can improve there guest service skills.

mousey_girl
01-27-2004, 06:02 AM
I can honetly say that I do not remember ever having a bad experience with a CM. There have been a few that could have been a little friendlier, but never rude.

I go out of my way to talk to the CMs. If I see a guest in front of me behaving badly I will often follow up with a smile and a remark about the guest's behavior (going back to my retail background and how I felt in the CMs place).

Everyone has the right to have an off day.

brad73
01-27-2004, 06:29 AM
I am always extremely courteous and greet people at the parks with a smile and a "Hello" or "How are You?". I always include a "Please" and "Thank You" when communicating with anyone weather it is at work, Starbucks, or Disneyland. Most cast members don't extend the same courtesy and have a bad attitude and a very unwelcoming look on their faces.. I am going there to have fun and I am spending my money. As a customer I would expect at minimum the same service and courtesy I would receive from my local mall, resturant, movie theater or Starbucks(sorry I go to Starbucks ALOT:). I do realize that customers can be hard to get along with and very demanding, but wherever you work, including Disneyland you choose to be employed there. On a side note I do agree with an earlier post that across the way at DCA the cast members are overall much more pleasant. I also agree that the Magic Mountian staff is not the best, but remember Disney should be the theme park leader in all aspects. I think we all like to hold Disney to a higher standard.

Bill Catherall
01-27-2004, 09:03 AM
Originally posted by BJW
I'm noticing more and more unhappy people leaving the parks at the end of the day and I think that's the reason. Or it could just be that they're tired. I know for me, I'm not always happy saying goodbye to one of my favorite places on earth. The more fun I have, the more unhappy I am to leave.

I've never had a bad experience with Disney CMs. In fact, most every encounter I've had has been a pleasant one. Many of them have gone out of their way to make our day extra special.

dude
01-27-2004, 09:19 AM
There was one CM I met who could have been nicer, but he was not rude. Another one I saw was absolutely out of line, she almost slapped the guest, but she was provoked into verbally sparring with the guest. (she was one of the upper-level CM's, she was in charge of running the Millionaire show at DCA)
Other than that, the CM's I know and talk to are all really nice.

At Knotts, the CM's are not nice at all. A lot of them go to my high school and they are rude. Others just don't care about their job because I have seen main gate CM's not even look at the photo on an AP. If its faded enough, you can get away with it. Sad, but true.

I don't go to Magic Mountain or Universal enough to say anything, but when you do go to Universal, ask for Babs :D !

SacTown Chronic
01-27-2004, 09:42 AM
Let me take this opportunity to applaud the CMs and the job they do. If I had to put up with rude, pushy people as often as I've seen CMs have to, I'd snap pretty quickly.

DonaldDuck14
01-27-2004, 10:51 AM
iam sorry that some of you have dealt with rude cast members in the past. however when it comes to guest control, guests don't seem to get the point of us trying to make the pathways efficient as possible. people won't listen to our directions like "stay to your right" and they get mad at us for having a traffic jam. I wouldn't blame a cast member that has a bit of a rough tone to get people to do what they need to do so they can exit and go where they wanna go. And guests can be rude too and impatient about things just as well. I don't know why people blame cast members for a long line at a resturant or some other food location. Hello, if you see a long line for food, expect a wait. It's not like they are purposely being slow. That goes for any other attractions. So you have to look at it both ways and not the eyes of a guest. However i do agree that if a cast member is just flat out rude to you for no good reason, that's just not the way to go.

innerSpaceman
01-27-2004, 11:44 AM
I have to post my favorite rude CM story. It's not an outburst or anything, just rudeness that wasn't called for.

It was late afternoon, a day last summer, under the Hungry Bear restaurant. The canoes had just closed for the day, even though it would quite a stretch to have called that hour "dusk." A sweet, elderly couple approached a canoes CM and asked, quite politely, where the canoes were. And the CM bruskly replied, "There are no canoes" and stomped off.

brad73
01-27-2004, 12:43 PM
Another frustrating situation at Disney is the lack of employee accountability. There is no real means of taking action towards a rude cast member, including management. You can only identify them by first name, and good luck trying to locate someone "in charge" or responsible. Disneyland is the only place I have ever seen where employees that deal with the public are not held accountable. If you have a complaint, concern or comment you will never get more than "send an e-mail to our website". Every other theme park will give you a specific name, a business card and/or direct department to send your comments to. Disney will not give you ANY information and if you do get a response back it is a generic cut and paste from a random person that will "take care of your concern". That is poor customer service!

Kevy Baby
01-27-2004, 01:19 PM
BTW, I am sorta surprised that no one has mentioned a very similar thread going on here (http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24521).


Originally posted by brad73
The attitude at the Bakery on Main Street is always the WORST!! I'm surprised that you reference the Blue Ribbon Bakery: that (as my waistline will attest) is a frequent stop (Apple Cinnamon Crumble Bun, warmed up and served with milk. MMmmmmm) for ol' Kevy Baby. And I have NEVER had bad service.

As a regular for the past eight years (ave. 25-30 times per year), I haven't noticed it getting any worse. I have noticed that if I am in a bad or grouchy mood, that so is everyone else (hmm... I wonder of there is a connection? :( ).

I don't frequent other parks (been wanting to get to Knott's - haven't been there in 15-20 years), but I have a hard time believing that their employee's attitudes are better than The Happiest Place On Earth.

Of course there is going to be a few bad apples, but they are, I believe, the exception, not the norm.

ToursbabeC3po
01-27-2004, 06:25 PM
Disneyland is the only place I have ever seen where employees that deal with the public are not held accountable. If you have a complaint, concern or comment you will never get more than "send an e-mail to our website".

Cast members are held very accountable for any guest concerns that come there way. They are talked to about it with there manager and the appropriate action is taken from there. Also if you have a complaint about a rude cast member you can ask that cast member you want to talk to there lead or manager right then and there in front of them so they know they are not getting away with anything. They will have to call someone higher up to come and talk to you. Also city hall (guest relations) is another place you can make ether a verbal complaint or a written complaint.
So I believe your statement above is wrong. Cast members ARE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for there actions!

Tigertail777
01-27-2004, 08:40 PM
I dont think I personally have ever seen a purposefully rude CM... I have seen a few that you could tell had a very bad day, and were struggling to keep a happy spin on things... but they always light up with a smile when you ask them " bad day huh?"

I don't get to go to the park much more than about every 5-10 years, but every trip most CM's were a joy to behold. Something I think a lot of people forget, is CM's need to see the guest's joy once in a while so they can reflect it back, or at the very least some empathy. I mean face it, working at Disneyland is a very high stress job I envy the close looks they get at the park, but I DONT envy half of the guests they have to put up with. I try to do my part when I am at the park to give a little joy to them in return that I receive from my visit.
I don't think I have ever complained at city hall, and have very rarely complained to a CM otherwise, its not fair to involve them into a problem on which they have no control (which is what I perceived a large majority of guests doing). The only time I can think of I involved a CM is during fantasmic, when someone was smoking right next to me in a clearly no smoking area... and only because I have fairly severe athsma and the smoke was making it very hard to breathe (my throat had already tightened greatly). I didnt want to involve the CM in something that I knew could turn ugly, but we had been sitting waiting for the show LONG before anyone else had sat around us, and there was no where left to sit when it started, let alone escape to. Luckily the guest smoking grudgingly put it out once asked by the CM, but I still didnt feel right asking the CM to get involved.

OK I have rambled, but I just have to say 97% of all CM's in every single area of the park make our trips a rare magical experience. I could go on and on about stories of how helpful and wonderfully friendly they all are. Despite half of the mean spirited dunder-head guests they interact with, they still carry on with the magic, and I cannot express enough how much I appreciate that.:D

ArthurBang
01-27-2004, 11:13 PM
I've worked in stores for over 3 years at DLR and have only had a handful of rude guests, but I can relate to what marron-cream mentioned before.

I think it's probably because people are in such a rush, but nothing gets me in a worse mood that when somebody completely ignores the things I'm trying to ask them. That's not to say I'm rude to them, I don't ever let the guest see my frustration. I've had several guest compliments, no complaints, nothing but 100% mystery guest scores. I bite my lip in other words, but you don't know how many conversations go like this:

<guest approaches register>

me: "Hi how are you doing today?"

guest: no response

me (rephrasing the question to see if I can get an answer): "Having a good time so far?"

guest: no response

I had a guest today looking at pins and I walked up and first said "Hey, looking at pins huh?" .. nothing .. "Do you collect those?" .. nothing.. "Having a good time today?" to which he grunted and ran off, never once looking my way.

Of course then the thought came to mind that he may have been deaf.. but it's conversations like this that always make me laugh when the response to my question "having a good day today?" is "Of course! Does anyone ever have a bad day here? It's the happiest place on earth!".. and then of course, i bite my lip again.

Polar33
01-27-2004, 11:52 PM
Sometimes people see a person as being rude when that is not the case. For example, if I'm talking to a guest and another guest comes up and interrupts the conversation I am faced with two options; ignore the guest that interrupted me until I am done with my sentence, or stop what I was doing to talk to the other guest. Either way I will come off as rudely ignoring one of the two guests. Additionally, there are times that guests have called me rude when I was politely trying to enforce company policies that somehow inconvenience them.

In defense of Guest Control, there is no way to politely tell a crowd of a few thousand people what to do. Many times Guest Control CMs have to be curt because they are the ones looking out for everyone's safety and they don't have the time to spend being courteous.

Yes, I understand that there are still plenty of instances where CMs have been rude to guests without any reason. I have even experienced a few as a guest myself. But sometimes those CMs are not trying to be rude; it's just in the way it was perceived.

BJW
01-28-2004, 06:50 PM
I just wanted to tell you a funny CM situation I saw in Millionaire last month. Before the show when people were sitting there waiting for it to start, a few people were snapping pictures of the stage. The CM very grumpily started yelling "No photography, please no photography." He did that a few times before about a hundred people pulled their cameras out and started taking his picture just to tick him off. I just thought it looked real funny the way it happened.

ToursbabeC3po
01-29-2004, 12:59 AM
I have to admit that is very funny :D

donatello3000
01-29-2004, 01:06 AM
I think the CMs do a great job at Disneyland. When I go to Disneyland, I feel a lot more welcome there than I do at Six FLags Magic Mountain or Knott’s Berry Farm. Disneyland has higher standards for their CMs.
Disneyland guests have higher standards for the CMs and lower standards for employees at other parks. I think that’s why people get more angry when a Disneyland CM is rude. It’s Disneyland. When I go to Six Flags Magic Mountain and an employee is rude, not acknowledging guests, or just using bad ettiquette, I brush it off. It’s only Six Flags. I have really low standards for a low standard park.

I thank the CMs and applaud them for what they do. They put up with a lot of annoying people. Heck, there are guests that are in such a bad mood that they’ll try to get a CM to annoy them just so they have more of a reason to be angry. I think everybody, guest or CM, should treat every person with respect and courtesy.

And now I have a rant about an incident on Jan. 3. But first let me lead into it. Call me stupid or ignorant, but I don’t know how to load 35mm film cameras. When I was little, my first camera was one of those 110 film cameras where you pop in the film. No having to pull the film out and wind it... Then when I got into my teens, I decided to spoil myself with an APS film camera so that I could just drop the film cartridge in with ease. And for the past couple years, I’ve gone digital. So all my life I’ve avoided having to use and load a 35mm film camera.
A friend of mine borrowed her mom’s 35mm camera to use on this particular trip, and she didn’t know how to load it either. So we went to the camera place at the end of Main Street and met a grumpy old CM guy...

Us: [standing in front of him as he does stuff:confused: behind the counter]
CM: [looks up at us... just looks at us for a few seconds and then raises his eyebrows]
Us: Hi.
CM: Hi.
Us: [long pause... we look at each other and back at the CM who obviously wasn’t interested in helping us out in the first place] We don’t know how to load the film into this camera. [we hand him the camera and a new roll of film]
CM: [takes the camera and film, looks at them, and back up at us] Ok...?
Us: Can you help us?
CM: You just need to put it in there.
Us: We don’t know how to do it.
CM: [pauses and looks at the film and camera again... looks back up at us with one eyebrow raised] So what is it that you need?
Us: We were wondering if you could please load it for us.
CM: [deep sigh as he loads the film into the camera. he doesn't even say anything to us after this point... he hands the camera to us]
Us: Thank you so much.
CM: [not even making eye contact... just looks around for the next guest to be helped]

I don’t know if this guy was just having a bad day or not, but that was really rude. We felt incredibly stupid about the fact that we had to ask somebody to load our film for us, and after we did, we felt even stupider. My friend is a bit sensitive, and her eyes got a bit teary because this guy actually frowned at us.
When I’m at work and somebody says to me, “I no speak English,” I don’t make them feel worse. I don’t say, “HA HA! You can’t?!? You’re dumb!” I understand that there are a lot of people who haven’t been exposed to many things. In the case of a few of my customers, it’s English. In my case, it’s loading film.

But now that I’m done venting... I guess some CMs can’t separate personal from professional. They let their feelings get in the way of their job. It’s the same with us. It happens to everybody. Fortunately, the incident I explained above is the first time I have ever been angered by a DLR CM. Hopefully it is the last.

And about crowd control... They have a tough job. People just don’t listen to them! This isn’t an excuse for them to be rude, but if you ever find them shouting, try to remember it’s not that they’re trying to be angry or rude. They just need to be heard.

A smile goes a long way. They just rub off on people. When I’m in a not-so-good mood at work, all it takes is a customer to smile at me when they thank me, and it makes me smile to know that I really helped him/her out and was able to make him/her smile.

Photographer
01-29-2004, 05:55 AM
I'd like to happily add that I've never encountered a rude Cast Member. Sure there are those who have had rough days and look like they'd like to take a break but they never said or acted rude.

LOL I even had a guy flirt with me in one of the stores. Of course I was too dumb to notice and my friends hit me when we left the store.

I try to play with the CMs. "How many in your party?" I turn around and look behind me "Everybody!" Sometimes they realize I'm just kidding. That's just me, always trying to lighten the mood and make people laugh. :D

My only bad experiences at amusement parks was Islands of Adventure only to be beaten by Six Flags at Darien Lake. Not friendly folk.

Merlin
01-29-2004, 09:48 AM
I think the important thing to remember is that CMs are people too. Sure we're trained to treat everyone as a VIP, smile constantly, and do everything short of burning the place down to make a Guest happy. But at the end of the day when the nametag comes off we take our costume pants off one leg at a time, just like everyone else. ;)

I'll admit that over the past three years I've had my share of "bad Guest service stories" - where a Guest has just pushed the wrong buttons with me or I'm not having the best day and I'm not able to put on the happiest of faces. But I can also recall hundreds of times that dispite everything else going on I was able to make a Guest smile.

We go out of our way to make magical experiences for Guests on a daily basis, but we're not superhumans or smiling robots. Just regular people like you.

merlin

EDIT:


Another frustrating situation at Disney is the lack of employee accountabilit....If you have a complaint, concern or comment you will never get more than "send an e-mail to our website"....Disney will not give you ANY information and if you do get a response back it is a generic cut and paste from a random person that will "take care of your concern". That is poor customer service!

This may have been discussed here before, but as a lead I can tell you that this may be the only thing you get on your side, but it's not all that happens. Whenever a complaint is filed with Guest Relations (even a verbal complaint where no paperwork is done by the Guest), it is faxed directly to that location's management team on a form that lists as many specific details about the incident as possible (date, time, location, sometimes even a description of the CM). Managers can simply check the schedules and even with a "first name" or no name at all, just a description, hold that person accountable. I've done it before and my managers have done it before. Rude or otherwise un-Disney CMs DO get verbally warned, written up, or even suspended or terminated baised on Guest complains.

Lidias
01-29-2004, 07:57 PM
Not held accountable???? Pleeze! Anyone with a problem or question only needs to stop at City Hall to voice their displeasure. After that the CM is guilty until proven innocent. I had a complaint once from a little high school boy who was trying to impress his girlfriend & his buddies. I was working the "bars" position on Space Mountain(late 1980's), when his rocket came down & stopped. I asked them to put their bars down, and when he didn't I walked by & casually pushed it all the way down. At that point he whined, "hey, watch out - you're gonna crush me!" So I answered, "Sorry, I didn't see anything there.". At that point his friends were howling with laughter & he was really embarrassed. So he went to City Hall to complain & I got a call from a supervisor trying hard not to laugh. I still can't believe that someone had the nerve to complain about someone pointing out his "shortcomings".