Do CMs treat people as they are treated?

[Ware Bears]

I'm always amazed that I can read posts by people who've visited at the same time and one will be singing the praises of the CMs and the next will be saying how rude they are.

Not wishing to belittle anyone's experiences but I guess a lot of it is down to personal expectations and how one perceives things and I must admit my glass is always half-full. I've never found the DLP CMs to be anything but pleasant and helpful ~ OK, we did come across one who was a bit fierce once, but many of them have gone that extra mile, just like we've found at WDW where I actually did witness a very rude CM.

Wonderful CM experiences at DLP include one at BTM snatching my DD's Mickey plush and fixing him onto the front of the engine, the brilliant CMs at TOT, one at Cafe Mickey who, when I asked for one 15th Celebration serviette for a souvenir, gave me a whole packet plus stickers, and the lovely CM at Blue Lagoon who forgot to bill us for several cocktails and when we pointed it out told us it was on the house.

 

[Frances999]

The best CM interaction I've experienced was in California and it really is up a few notches from anything I've had elsewhere. CMs there were wonderful and this was peak summer season. They played games with everyone waiting for parades, asked families to pose with them for photos, recommended places to rest for families with tired toddlers and just overall loved their time at work.
A manager there arranged for us to sit in a special area in front of the castle to watch Magical as my DS couldn't cope with the crowds. It was an unexpected kindness and it made our stay so special. I wish I heard of CMs at DLP doing things like that - post here if you know of something special a CM has done

We've had the opportunity to visit Disneyland California many times in the past couple years and - based on my recent trip to DLRP - I can honestly say that the CMs in CA are in a totally different league and entirely incomparable to those in Paris. In fact, the parks are as a whole, but I guess that's for a different thread.

 

[ben1993]

I hate "the customer is always right". I treat customers the same way they treat me to be honest, if someone just shouts a product at me I'll say sorry? untill they actually ASK me with a please.

 

[Libby_Darling]

I agree that they possibly do treat people as they are treated, I imagine it is a difficult task to look as if you're having a blast every second of your job! Saying that, we experienced excellent service everywhere we went and I always got smiles and grins from all the CM's, possibly because I was grinning like a maniac everywhere we went because I was having so much fun

 

[tennisfan]

I hate "the customer is always right". I treat customers the same way they treat me to be honest, if someone just shouts a product at me I'll say sorry? untill they actually ASK me with a please.

I totally agree with this. People who were calm & polite to me got way more then someone who came in ranting & shouting at me!

 

[stargatebarbie]

lets face it the service in disney esp in the shops resturants is shall we say different than in the usa ,but ive also recieved this same different service in the uk
,ive always found the cm to be very pleasent and happy,although we did get a nasty telling of from 1 stern cm at big thunder mountain
,We had just waited a hour to meet tiana in main street and had a few mins before our fast pass to BTM so we ran through the acarde with seconds to spare i,sort of joked around gasping for breath after saying that was close
she said "madame i do not think it funny if people are ill" I got a good telling off and a realy dirty look ,
i can see her point but it was obvious we where laughing and having fun :

 

[jillrobinson]

I've often wondered if that might be the case, Steve.
32 days in the park so far and never had a problem.

I've worked for 26 years on the frontline with the public, attended numerous customer service courses and there are times when I find it difficult to keep smiling. The customer is not always right and I have witnessed people being rude arrogant and demanding towards CM's. There's a story about a group of kids tormenting a dog in the street, the next passerby went to stroke the dog and it bit him

as for the language barrier, my Bonjour always gets the reply "English Madame ?" but despite the ensuing conversation inevitably taking place in English I always finish with Merci and Au Revoir, it's just good manners

 

[disney_princess_85]

There's a story about a group of kids tormenting a dog in the street, the next passerby went to stroke the dog and it bit him

Good analysis Jill.

 

[flortlebap]

So in your opinion then, by asking (politely) for a refund on a meal which turned up cold, soggy and uncooked (the Bacon was GREEN!) there was clearly some reason, which may or may not have been my fault, for the manager (in front of the whole restaurant), to snatch the plate off me and throw it across the counter, having shouted at me saying there was nothing wrong with it and who rolled her eyes at me when I asked (again politely) for a refund? who then proceded to wander off swearing under her breath in french (clearly presuming I didn't speak french when I do ) I think behaviour like that is disgusting, particularly in front of a restaurant full of children. And I fail to see what I did to warrant that kind of treatment - I only complained about food which had potential to cause food poisoning (the cm interestingly wouldn't eat it when I offered )

 

[disney_princess_85]

So in your opinion then, by asking (politely) for a refund on a meal which turned up cold, soggy and uncooked (the Bacon was GREEN!) there was clearly some reason, which may or may not have been my fault, for the manager (in front of the whole restaurant), to snatch the plate off me and throw it across the counter, having shouted at me saying there was nothing wrong with it and who rolled her eyes at me when I asked (again politely) for a refund? who then proceded to wander off swearing under her breath in french (clearly presuming I didn't speak french when I do ) I think behaviour like that is disgusting, particularly in front of a restaurant full of children. And I fail to see what I did to warrant that kind of treatment - I only complained about food which had potential to cause food poisoning (the cm interestingly wouldn't eat it when I offered )

In whose opinion? Mine?

I agree that you were treated very badly. Maybe she was having a bad day, or maybe she's just not a nice person. Whatever the reason, it was unacceptable for the CM to behave in that way. No-one is excusing terrible customer service or blaming you.

 

[anne789bears]

No-one is excusing terrible customer service or blaming you.

I think flortleblap is commenting on the thread title, which implies that those of us who experienced poor service at DLRP might have done so simply because we somehow treated the CMs badly ourselves.

Of course, this is completely wrong. During my trip all members of my family treated CMs with friendliness and respect, yet we were still treated poorly.

It's clear that some people don't want to accept reports of poor service at their precious DLRP so instead think that the guests must have been to blame. Just because you may not have experienced poor service yourself doesn't mean it does not exist or is given only to those who treat CMs poorly.

 

[disney_princess_85]

Just because you may not have experienced poor service yourself doesn't mean it does not exist or is given only to those who treat CMs poorly.

I agree with this statement.

 

[flortlebap]

In whose opinion? Mine?

I agree that you were treated very badly. Maybe she was having a bad day, or maybe she's just not a nice person. Whatever the reason, it was unacceptable for the CM to behave in that way. No-one is excusing terrible customer service or blaming you.

I was commenting on the general tone of the thread

I love DLRP, but I don't look at it with rose tinted glasses and I think some people on here become genuinely, deeply and personally offended if anyone mentions anything negative about it

 

[disney_princess_85]

I love DLRP, but I don't look at it with rose tinted glasses and I think some people on here become genuinely, deeply and personally offended if anyone mentions anything negative about it

I love it too but I accept that it's not 100% perfect and it never will be. It's a shame because the service at WDW is near enough flawless (in my opinion).

 

[flortlebap]

I love it too but I accept that it's not 100% perfect and it never will be. It's a shame because the service at WDW is near enough flawless (in my opinion).

I agree. In WDW they just seem to go the extra mile. all the nice little perks we got there (towel animals, birthday surprises, a free stuffed animal when my daughter lost her shoe at blizzard beach) didn't happen because of the way we treated the cms, they happened because they hire wonderful people who are prepared to go the extra mile.

 

[wideeyes]

The worse CM we met was at WDW at our resort gift shop. A male CM spoke in a totally inappropriate manner to me and my sister, he was old enough to be our grandad!

 

[disney_princess_85]

The worse CM we met was at WDW at our resort gift shop. A male CM spoke in a totally inappropriate manner to me and my sister, he was old enough to be our grandad!

What did he say?!

 

[wideeyes]

He kept going on about coming to our hotel room for a party and he kept asking us personal questions! He was very strange so we ended up avoiding the resort shop in the end.

 

[disney_princess_85]

He kept going on about coming to our hotel room for a party and he kept asking us personal questions! He was very strange so we ended up avoiding the resort shop in the end.

That's awful! Extremely inappropriate.

 

[hildasmuriel]

I think flortleblap is commenting on the thread title, which implies that those of us who experienced poor service at DLRP might have done so simply because we somehow treated the CMs badly ourselves.

Of course, this is completely wrong. During my trip all members of my family treated CMs with friendliness and respect, yet we were still treated poorly.

It's clear that some people don't want to accept reports of poor service at their precious DLRP so instead think that the guests must have been to blame. Just because you may not have experienced poor service yourself doesn't mean it does not exist or is given only to those who treat CMs poorly.

I was commenting on the general tone of the thread

I love DLRP, but I don't look at it with rose tinted glasses and I think some people on here become genuinely, deeply and personally offended if anyone mentions anything negative about it

Conversely I think some people have such a horrid time at the dreaded DLP that they can't believe anybody else could enjoy it. Or that anybody else wouldn't have found the situation described a problem in the first place.

When I read reports of bad service I can normally break them down into....ooh about 25% where people had unreasonable expectations....about 25% where what they say was poor service was actually just 'service'.....about 25% where I just plain don't believe it happened and I think the poster is lying or deluded ......... the remaining 25% are cases where I go "oooh that shouldn't have happened". Of course it doesn't put me off going as it hasn't happened to me.