4/5 Show, Pete calling out the wrong group

[disneyland_is_magic]

Just turned on yesterday's episode and Pete's sharing about the woman in Customer Service and his wanting others to be extra kind to cast members. I want to start a discussion because I feel Pete's stance was incredibly well meaning but was IMO misdirected to the wrong audience.

1. It's not my responsibility to overcompensate for inappropriate or dangerous guests. And even if I tried, my extra thank you or extra $20 tip doesn't compensate for hate speech. That's like putting a band-aid or a bow on a very serious issue, and allowing the real culprit (the racist guest) to get away with it and the enabler (Disney) to not step up and stop it.
The use of the n-word, is not excusable, ever IMO. It's not Disney's fault, but they are the ones that need to step up, not me or the rest of the Dis by throwing money and thank yous at the problem. Disney needs a clearly stated and enforced policy, that racial and homophobic slurs at our cast members will not be tolerated. Spitting or laying hands on cast members will result in expulsion, future bans and criminal charges. Period. If Pete would like me to communicate to Disney that they should stand up for their cast members, I would be happy to do so. Tell me an email address. If Pete wants to start a petition, I will sign it. Let's actually address the core issue.

2. I am getting tired of Pete implying that telling his audience might "spread the word." There was a rant he did a while back about a guest in a beret behaving poorly. I found it exhausting he assumed ranting at us would fix it. The people in this community are profoundly generous and I have good faith the generosity translates to the way they treat cast members and other guests. I know we aren't perfect but I bet most here already go the extra mile. I am keenly aware that many, many Patrons can not afford to travel as much but donate generously so the content is available to all to lift their day. I notice very kind posters who over and over again answer the most basic questions. I notice the very generous moderators who have invested numerous hours to these boards.

Anyways, yes Pete it is awful what happened. But please call out Disney to address it, this is an easy one. A phone agent should have an escalation/security team available once it passes a threshold. The CM puts the call on hold with a "let me get a manager for you", the security team listens to the call recording immediately. If they hear racial slurs or threats of violence, etc, the security picks up and takes immediate action to cancel reservations and/or flag accounts with warnings.

 

[GAN]

Of course, you’re assuming Pete hasn’t contacted someone in guest services ..who knows, maybe he has. The point of the conversation, the way I heard it anyway, was that there are a lot of guests that treat CM’s like trash …so if you can do something special when you might not ordinarily do so, it will help in general. I think he understands that calling guest services or starting a petition(which is a great idea) may not change the way Disney handles things. Im kind and generous to most people I deal with whether at home or Disney in general, but I can certainly put a little extra effort occasionally to improve myself. The point was well taken by me, and while your post somewhat surprised me clearly others feel the same way you do.

 

[jimmymc]

And even if I tried, my extra thank you or extra $20 tip doesn't compensate for hate speech.

100% disagree. I've worked in theme parks both on the front lines and behind the scenes, and the great guest interactions are what make the job worth doing. On paper, Disney is not a great place to work. The pay and benefits suck, and you're regularly overworked in hot weather. But you stay with it because of the fun guests. Getting yelled at for every few minutes for enforcing a rule that I didn't create was rough, but at the end of the day I remembered those two people who made me laugh or had an amazing time on their first roller coaster.

I'm not arguing that we as guests should go out of our way to be nice because the mouse is a bad boss. We should be nice to cast members because we should be nice to everyone. Of the 30,000 plus people who watch or listen to the show every week, I'm sure there are plenty of guests who take cast members for granted or have lost their cool at someone. Nobody's perfect, but by going above and beyond you really can turn around a bad day for someone.

 

[erin1715]

Yeah that was a pretty long rant. I basically skipped through the entire thing to listen to actual park news. I agree with the OP that I think it was a rant to the wrong audience.

 

[JLong06]

I don't think they have to be mutually exclusive. Let's do our best to appreciate and show our gratitude to cast members. Sometimes that little extra effort helps their day.

But at the same time, I 100% agree in that it's time for Disney to step up and put a stop to the over the top harassment of cast members (and if I'm understanding you correct - it's time for Disney to be called out on this by media, Pete, us, travel agencies, etc.).

 

[disneyland_is_magic]

Thanks for the replies to my post. I totally agree on part of your point Jimmy. I have worked customer service and fully agree a kind customer can turn the day around. I don’t have any problem with that part.

I feel like two things got muddled in the conversation on the podcast and may be here too.

1. Guests who are “hangry”, overheated, curt, rude or entitled, tip poorly, etc. This happens, it shouldn’t but it does.

2. Guests who spit on cast, throw things, threaten or hit CMs, etc.

I consider the use of racial slurs to be in the second category.

I agree I can help “make up” for category 1 guests but I refuse to try to make up for category 2 and I still think Pete should have called Disney out.

I found the story really upsetting. The n word has zero place at Disney. I am shocked this cast member’s best recourse was Pete. Disney should 100% be willing to stand behind their cast on racism and if there is a lack of policy or recourse in the company they should be called out to do better.

 

[kbelle8995]

I think a measure of courtesy is due whenever you are dealing with CMS. These policies are not their doing. I agreed with Ryno that there is too much okaying of this behavior. There needs to be consequences for your actions.

 

[jecarnl]

The world and the people in it have gone nuts. Everyone just be nice to each other and have some manners. Pretty simple idea.

 

[clapton]

You absolutely hit the nail on the head! What the heck is wrong with people? It’s a sad day when we can’t be nice to one another.

The world and the people in it have gone nuts. Everyone just be nice to each other and have some manners. Pretty simple idea.

 

[WebmasterJackie]

We should be nice to cast members because we should be nice to everyone.

This right here.

 

[IndyToThere]

Listening to the first half of the Apr05 podcast where they talk about customer service, I don't agree on the OP's take that Pete was implying that visitors should try to overcompensate for a prior guest's very bad behavior. Rather, he was imploring to the crowd to be nice in general and realize that the CM (and really any person in customer service) might be going through some rougher times with guest behavior and that we should recognize CM's are people too and not the ones who make the parks rules and decisions.