Rude CMs?

[Maddysdaddy]

Time to build a bridge and get over it.

After spending the last twenty years as an attorney, one universal truth is that there’s three sides to every story - yours, mine, and the truth - which ultimately falls somewhere in between.

We should all consider spending a little less time and energy obsessing and nitpicking over perceived slights and little discourtesies - I think we’d all be much happier as a result.

 

[BayouQueen]

Agreed. In fact, I believe I’ve reported more excellent CM experiences than unpleasant ones. Many of the CMs go out of their way to make the Disney experience a great one and it’s always appreciated.

So many do!
And thanks, WonkaKid, for sharing your experiences in the parks. I always enjoy reading your posts, because I don't visit myself as much as I used to. I have to come to the Dis for my DL "fix"!

 

[Indiana Scott]

I think it's just luck of the draw. We've had bad CM's in the past but the last couple of yearly visits were great. I dont think either scenario indicates an overall condition.

 

[sjmac42]

On my various visits to Disneyland over the years, as well as Hong Kong and Florida, I’m constantly amazed how good these people are at their jobs. Customer Service in general is a very tough gig and people expect much more of CM’s than they do of themselves. Very few CM’s have any opportunity for tips either so $10 to $15 an hour is it for them, probably half or a quarter of what many guests earn. I’ll always go out of my way to praise a CM, thank them for their efforts and make an effort myself to give positive feedback through the official channels. If someone is a little abrupt, unless they’re swearing at me and giving me the finger (that would absolutely never happen) I would never report them and risk them losing their job. I just think back to my days in customer service and hope something better is in their future they can move on to as is the case with myself.
All the best.

 

[WonkaKid]

I think it's just luck of the draw. We've had bad CM's in the past but the last couple of yearly visits were great. I dont think either scenario indicates an overall condition.

No question. Virtually every CM I’ve ever dealt with has been fantastic. Indeed, I have several that are friends. That’s one of the things that make substandard behavior stand out: because most of them set such a high bar of performance. It’s one of the many reasons that I love Disneyland .

 

[hootey]

We go to DL for five to seven days at a time and have for years. One of the reasons we keep going back to DL instead of other places to relax is the HIGH-Bar of Performance most of the CMs set for themselves. That is for the CMs in the Disney Hotels to the park CMs. Everyday of every visit, CMs go out of their way to make sure we are having a great time.
We work in places all over, the US, Canada, Mexico, and the Carribean, we vacation at DL. There is usually at least one bad experience with a CM every visit but, there are hundreds of interactions with them every day of every visit. Not bad. Not bad at ALL.

 

[Allison]

Time to build a bridge and get over it.

After spending the last twenty years as an attorney, one universal truth is that there’s three sides to every story - yours, mine, and the truth - which ultimately falls somewhere in between.

We should all consider spending a little less time and energy obsessing and nitpicking over perceived slights and little discourtesies - I think we’d all be much happier as a result.

Perfectly said.

 

[norcalguy2014]

I find it interesting that you devoted such a long post to two perceived slights from CM’s. Have you ever written at such length to commend the thousands of positive interactions that you’ve undoubtedly had while visiting the park? The fact that you admit that you and a friend were speculating about whether or not the Buzz CM was rude or simply shy behind his back strikes me as somewhat rude and disrespectful in and of itself. And it sounds as if you went back to the water station a second time in the hopes of sparking another confrontation with the CM. All I’m saying is that we can choose to either focus on the thousands of wonderful, dedicated CM’s who make a visit to DL so magical or on the handful of those who, in our opinion, don’t quite measure up to how we think a CM should behave. It all depends on our attitude.

 

[Allison]

I'm a guest. I don't have to tell CMs anything.

That's not really true.

I would have explained that "No, I don't have to do anything." I

That's not really true.

To be clear, I'm not saying that I can do as I please in the park.

It kind of sounds like you are. Perhaps that is not what you meant when you made the statements above.

 

[NannyBeBe]

I believe I am correct in saying that we are a group of folks who love DLR.
The OP did not criticize any member of this board. He simply was stating what he was feeling as a result of situations he had encountered in DLR.
And for that he gets criticized.
I thought this was a place where we could share our thoughts, positive and negative.

 

[EpcotGuy]

Some people need to remember that CM’s are people too. No one should be running to “mommy” to tattle over the smallest of perceived slights. I am an ex CM and I am standing up for all the hard working CM’s that are put in impossible situations every day

 

[gottalovepluto]

I didn’t encounter any rude CMs last week at all. First trip in a long time that has happened actually!

ETA: FWIW I have reported when a CM was rude to me in the past. Whatever their issues, they shouldn’t take them out on me. I also report CMs who go that extra mile for me. Twitter DM is my preferred method for this as it’s just really easy for me that way.

 

[norcalguy2014]

I believe I am correct in saying that we are a group of folks who love DLR.
The OP did not criticize any member of this board. He simply was stating what he was feeling as a result of situations he had encountered in DLR.
And for that he gets criticized.
I thought this was a place where we could share our thoughts, positive and negative.

And that’s exactly what we’re all doing

 

[BrianL]

Also consider that "telling Guest Services" sounds like a great idea but it's actually a very real and cruel threat. Disney hires and fires people on a whim and for some people this is all they have. He could easily be given a reprimand (which is very serious) or even terminated. People get termed for the dumbest of things -I know someone that her "last straw" was yawning on stage.

This is one reason I don't make a big deal out of it. One rude comment to me doesn't warrant getting someone fired. Now, if it was repeated behavior by the same CM, something particularly egregious, or even a safety issue, then I would report it for sure. I'm just not going to worry about a CM that was a bit rude with me though. I'll just move on.

 

[Mike_M]

I thankfully haven’t ran into any rude CMs, but I did notice on my last trip a rather relaxed attitude among many of them that did not really reflect the title of a ”Cast Member” in my opinion. CM’s BSing with each other while being a bit indifferent to the guests was something I was seeing a lot of. At one point, I noticed a ferry boat driver for TS island with a modern keychain with Star Wars logos on it hanging prominently from his southern 1800’s costume.

While I don’t expect queue handlers or churro sellers to be as animated as Mickey or Donald, they are still hired to fill a part of a very large, immersive performance experience. An interactive theater if you will. It’s not a job (or at least it wasn’t originally), it’s a character to play, that requires some ability to improv with guests and attention to detail in one’s appearance to prevent breaking character. They are playing the part of butlers and maids for a haunted mansion, or merchants in a fantasy land of old, or tour guides for ancient tombs or distant space stations.

The ones that really try, stick out the most to me and make me wish more CMs took the role as seriously. The HM and Jungle Cruise CMs seem to put in the most effort. I saw one particular ride operator for SWSA that I was very impressed by but didn’t get a chance to give kudos to at city hall.

This experience is what most of us are paying the big Disney bucks to have and is what sets it apart from 6 flags or other amusement parks.

 

[cadien]

Unrelated, it would be AWESOME if you could be measured once (or even once per ride) and call it good, because it got to be super annoying by like our 15th RSR ride, but oh well.

Some other parks will give you a color coded wrist band that indicates your height category. Huge convenience!

 

[ddwlms]

I find it interesting that you devoted such a long post to two perceived slights from CM’s. Have you ever written at such length to commend the thousands of positive interactions that you’ve undoubtedly had while visiting the park? The fact that you admit that you and a friend were speculating about whether or not the Buzz CM was rude or simply shy behind his back strikes me as somewhat rude and disrespectful in and of itself. And it sounds as if you went back to the water station a second time in the hopes of sparking another confrontation with the CM. All I’m saying is that we can choose to either focus on the thousands of wonderful, dedicated CM’s who make a visit to DL so magical or on the handful of those who, in our opinion, don’t quite measure up to how we think a CM should behave. It all depends on our attitude.

Actually, Wonka does give positive reports on the regular.

 

[monorailrabbit]

My BFF and I were talking about this on our last trip - especially around GOTG. We went last year and every CM was super fun and into their roles - we only had 1 CM who was funny and kind of "played along" with things, IE secure all loose articles otherwise Rocket may steal them for barter later, stuff like that. The rest seemed like they were either half asleep or just plain annoyed. We were especially taken aback when we were waiting to get assigned to a specific car queue and the 2 CMs were loudly complaining about one of their coworkers who was again taking PTO! It was just very out of place and we kind of just stood there and stared. It was our very first day, so we brushed it off and rode our favorite ride and were fine, but still odd. I will say, every CM we interacted with at Disneyland was FANTASTIC, but really very hit or miss at CA. We both said we should go to Guest Services on the way out and tell them they should hire us for GOTG because we are the biggest fans and wouldn't be fun suckers!

Edited to add - we did stop by Guest Services to give a kudos to the fun guy at GOTG, especially since he was the only one out of 14 rides that gave a fun little line during belt check. We didn't complain about the others, though

 

[ashley0139]

None of those experiences would even register on my radar as rude, much less make me feel like I need to come to the Dis to post a thread about it.

 

[jetskigrl]

Only 1 time in 18 years of being a passholder did I mention a CM's behavior to a lead/guest services. We were waiting in line at the Mint Julep Bar for beignets and the person before us just placed his order and left the window. I walked up to place my order with my son next to me (he was small, just the right size to have to stand on his tiptoes to see in the window). So he had his hands on the ledge to help pull himself up so that he could see. The CM working inside walked over to the window and slammed it shut in our faces. And I mean slammed it so hard we jumped back. My son's fingers were right next to the window so it scared both of us. He was so close to having his fingers slammed in the window.

I was livid. No, "someone will be with you soon" or "someone will help you at another window." Or even just gently closing the window. But this was loud, right in my face and almost took out my son's fingers. So yeah, I did report it, but only because it could have caused injury to my son (and my mama bear came out, LOL).

But mostly we have just stopped by Guest Services to leave compliment cards for all the awesome CMs we have encountered over the years.