Who to contact to complain about a castmember?

[Schmeck]

#

I think the direct manager too however they can be hard to get hold of so maybe start with Guest Relations and tell them you want the main guys contact details. You have the right to request them, they do not have the right to refuse!

Of course they have the right to refuse, they even have the right to escort you off property, and ban you forever (not that they would for this request).

OT - why the smokin' smilie?

 

[emmabemmainc]

Sure they will tell you what you want to hear but try to tip not 20% but more and you will hear the truth.
Besides we did see what happened in more than one case. Americans yelling and cursing an the wait staff because with more than six guests the tip will be added.
You are totally wrong. EVERY guest from overseas knows the tipping rules but the Americans try to get out of it.

Shees if they got the chance they would use a coupon to get a free meal. I never did see a country that is so hard on getting a discount let alone giving a five year old child a coupon book for Christmas.
I'm sorry but the cheap skate price goes to the US.

Huh?
Your posts have been nothing but nasty and confusing.

 

[emmabemmainc]

Nope. You misread it. Go back and read it before you accuse others of something.

And nothing angry about my post. I have no idea what you are talking about (perhaps your child is an honors student? Mea cupa). If telling someone to move on and not stew over an incident that happened while on vacation is being angry, then so be.

Oh, I love irony and people who don't get it. "Stop being so angry about telling people not to be so angry and carrying on about things in life."

Thanks for the laugh *tears rolling down my face*.

You are really awful. There was NOTHING ironic about the PP statement. Look up irony. Not one person besides you brought up any of the situations listed in your post. What does ANY of that have to do with the OP being bothered by the CM's attitude? You are obviously upset and were more upset on this thread than anyone else. I hope you don't work in CS.

 

[WDSearcher]

Disney is a bit different, admittedly, but if you're a business only paying $8 per hour, your not going to attract those people with higher experience and/or higher skill that are simply worth more. It's not about doing the best for your pay, but more about attracting higher quality/experienced people by paying more. You aren't going to attract the top 20% of the profession if you're paying the bare minimum.

Now, again, Disney is a bit different than other minimum wage jobs. The non-monetary benefits are much better and as such, they do attract better applicants (and more of them). The basic principle is still there though and you can't attract the best of the profession if you pay/compensate in the bottom tier.

But we're talking minimum wage jobs here, the kind of jobs where everyone pays roughly the same. Everyone is paying the bare minimum. It's not like Disney is paying $8 an hour and Universal and SeaWorld are paying double. These are "unskilled" positions. How do you define "the best of the profession" when what you're looking for is someone to sell sodas? And how do you know that shiny bright eager applicant #1 is better than shiny bright eager applicant #2, since everyone puts on a shiny bright eager face at an interview.

I stand by my original position. If someone agrees to take the job for the amount of money that is offered, then they should do that job to the best of their ability. If you walk into a job thinking that the job is beneath you, the pay's not enough, and therefore you're only going to give it maybe 50% on any given day, do not try to justify that behavior because "I'm not paid enough".

 

[WDSearcher]

It is called having realistic expectations. I do not expect the teenager at Wendys who is working a part-time job after school to treat me in the same manner as a seasoned 55 year old server at a high end steak house across town.

I don't either. Then again, the jobs are very different and require different skillsets. But I do expect each of them to do THEIR job to the best of THEIR ability. Just because the teenager at Wendys is making minimum wage part-time doesn't mean they can phone it in every day.

Not every situation is equal in life. And certain situations warrent certain expectations. Who cares if the teen does not smile at you as he hands you a whopper? He is handing you a whopper. You are at a fast food place. Does it really matter, outside of complete rudeness, how much you smile and talk to the person at the counter and how much they smile and talk back to you?

Of course it doesn't. Unless, maybe, the teen wants to someday do more in life than hand you whoppers. Everyone, pretty much, had to start at the bottom sometime. You can either embrace that time and learn from it and work your way up or you can be cranky and surly every day and be the very last person who gets promoted. Your choice.

You see horrific customers like this all the time. Being irrate in situations that do not matter.

Oh, no, he forgot your mustard packets and did not ask if you are having a wonderful day.......just eat your burger and get on with your day.

People expect WAY to much and have hard times differentiating situations. And people base their moods way too much on a simple encounter they had in passing.

And again ... my point was that how much you get paid should not have anything to do with your attitude; not that everyone should be perfect.

 

[World Showcaser]

Just quoting as a reminder. The CM in question was rude (at least, in perception) to both the person in front of the OP as well as the OP herself.

I think the whole complaint is ridiculous but you honestly feel that a CM not smiling enough or not making small talk is rude? And even if you do, do you think it's so rude that one should run and tattle about it?

 

[Legendteri]

:: shrugs::

I don't know. IMO, no matter how old you are and no matter how much or how little you are paid, no employee is above some constructive criticism. Rolling your eyes at a customer ( people who pay your salary) is rude, no matter how you look at it. The original CM in question needs to be told to stop this. I don't know any job where that would be tolerated. Heck, in college I worked at a movie theater and made a nickel above minimum wage and my managers wouldn't have been ok with me rolling my eyes at our customers. They wouldn't give a flying pattotie how hard of a day I was having and how many times I was asked the same question. I would have been warned to stop that behavior. If I didn't stop, I would have been fired.

Essentionally I think that is what the original poster was trying to say. She didn't think that the CM needed to be fired, just talked to about not rolling your eyes at customers and being more helpful when someone asks you a question. Honestly, I think the same thing. Her supervisor would be doing the CM no favors by enabling this bad behavior.

 

[Twitter]

Huh?
Your posts have been nothing but nasty and confusing.

The truth hurts.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I wasn't there so I really can't make any comment about it (them). However, we've been going to Disney fo 30+ years and I still marvel at the excellent customer service. I marvel because the behavior of the guests in the parks toward CM's has become shocking. I tend to agree with a pp that todays entitlement attitude contributes to that behavior. I make it a point, not just at Disney, to thank those who provide service to me. I try to note name tags and address people by name. I say please and thank you and I try to smile. You get what you give. If I had to put up with some of the behaviors I've seen at Disney I would end up punching someone.

I agree that we get fantastic customer service from the vast majority of CMs. I also go out of my way to thank them for service, etc., and just finished writing emails to Disney about 3 CMs on our last trip who were just FANTASTIC.

That said, sometimes the service isn't stellar, and Disney should know about those instances. Disney places ITSELF above the rest and touts ITSELF as an industry leader, going so far as to hold seminars to teach other companies to be as great as they are. Particularly given that context, they have a responsibility to maintain high standards. Nothing wrong with letting them know the few places where they might have hired someone who isn't meeting them. It isn't being mean as a customer to point these things out.

Now THAT said, I've never personally experienced something bad enough service-wise to actually write to Disney and tell them about it. In my email praising one AWESOME CM, however, I did mention that the other two prior to her were not at all helpful and more than happy to pass the "hard cases" onto this one CM... making her that much more wonderful.

 

[disney1990]

Having a daughter who worked at Disney on the College Program, I know how many hours a day she sometimes worked -- and week after week with no days off during the holidays. It's a hard job and I appreciate all the work the Cast Members do. Do they sometimes have an off day, yes, and I try to be forgiving. Because most of the time, everything is fantastic and that is why we keep going back!

Thank you to the CMs.

 

[uktivo]

I've just returned (Yesterday) and have been to Disney 5 times before over the last 10 years. I even visited just 12 months ago before this visit.

I have to say, my wife and I have noticed a marked deterioration from CM's, not all... some were fantastic.. but we encountered many each day that gave less than satisfactory customer support. Let me give some examples.

1. We stayed in All Star Movies and ate there most days / evenings. Apart from maybe 2 or 3 of the serving staff (one in particular called Katharine who was absolutely excellent) the rest were miserable, bordering on rude. The majority of staff struggled to use the most simple polite greetings such as, Hello, Please, thank you. Something I think is an absolute minimum.

2. In the parks we experienced much the same attitude, some examples..
In Epcot we had purchased nearly 450USD worth of gifts to take back home with us. We asked if we could have the goods returned to the resort, the answer that came back was, "are you checking out tomorrow", "yes" we replied. She rolled her eyes, tutted and said, then no you can't.. she didn't offer an explanation as to why, I had to ask. so.. I then walked to the locker rental area to rent a locker to put the goods in. I stood at the till.. and the guy there who was more concerned in playing with a remote control car looked up and asked if he could help. I asked to rent a locker and he went on to tell me the pricing. At this point his colleague and I assume his boss, who was serving another family on the next till said to him.. "can you take over this sale", the guy serving me said he was busy assisting me. His boss said, "i don't care, do this one first", he then quickly walked out of the store and the guy serving me went to finish the sale on the other till. This was absolutely disgraceful and I immediately turned around and walked out after him to tell him exactly what I thought, but he had gone by the time I got out.

I have to say that the above examples are by no means isolated. As I said in my opening paragraph. I know what to expect from Disney having been there a few times over the last decade. Something has most definitely changed, not just in Disney, but in Orlando. We experienced similar although not as bad customer service in other areas of Orlando.

My theory.. I noticed a lot less retired / older people working in Disney this time. I was under the impression that Florida was a retirement state and those retired people worked in Disney and the surrounding area to complement their pensions / retirement funds. What are the three major contributions this age group can give?

1. They tend to have Children and Grandchildren so come with a wealth of experience and knowledge
2. They tend to be more relaxed and so have more time to give to other people
3. They almost always don't work for the money factor only. They do it because it keeps their minds active and their bodies fit..

I made a note of when we got bad, rude or just plain inattentive service. Every time bar none the server / person concerned was mid to late twenties.

Disney needs to pay some urgent attention to their staff recruitment and training.

 

[Cafeen]

I think the whole complaint is ridiculous but you honestly feel that a CM not smiling enough or not making small talk is rude? And even if you do, do you think it's so rude that one should run and tattle about it?

No. I don't feel that way, nor have I said that I have. Nor would I bother going to GR or shooting an email after the fact. Chances are, I'd have probably forgotten it by then. Even if I was offended enough to consider going to GR over it, I also know that right around the corner there's the 90% of the WDW CMs that go way out of their way to make everyone else's day special, even if they've done the same thing 15,000 times.

But, I'm not the OP. I didn't see the situation. I don't have the full context of it. I don't have the true tone that the CM used (tone does not translate well in text.) As such, it's not my place to validate or invalidate her desire to let someone know how it made her feel. What I think of the "incident" is moot. If she feels the need to complain, then I will support that rather than attack her for it. Just like, if she decided that it wasn't worthwhile, I wouldn't be ragging on her for that either.

It does bother me the rush to judgement that we see here though (of which I alluded to in the first post, which was proven true within the first page or two.) Who really cares if she complains or not? I don't. Whatever decision she decides is hers to decide. If she does, fine. If she doesn't, fine. I don't care either way.

 

[origin62]

I got my info, thank you to those people who answered my question...

I am done responding but had to reply to this post above. IF you read any on the previous posts, you would have read that it was a foreign guest was asking the directions. I was the one who was in the middle of a purchase with the CM.

Also, to the person who insists that since I was a CM TWENTY years ago, I should have all the up to date, current contact info at my finger tips. Really? I guess I should go deposit my paycheck at the SunBank next to the Disney Village, too then....

Lol. I remember those days! Remember how the drive-through had little black & white tv monitors so you could see your teller's face (as she sent you your $50-for-a-week's-wages through the tube?) Good times.

 

[origin62]

I totally agree that people are MUCH more lax about the normal pleasantries of doing business. And that there is no excuse for bad behavior when dealing with a customer.

But there's also good and bad feedback, right? Reminding someone that "thank you" is expected is one thing. Causing a scene or suggesting someone be fired for not smiling is something else.

I once had someone call me out for not pin trading with her. At the time, I was dealing with a kid standing behind me who had just thrown up on his stroller and we were trying to get him a new one. When another CM arrived with a clean stroller, I turned to the woman to pin trade and she sarcastically told me that I should just GIVE her a pin for making her wait. I told her to choose any pin on my lanyard and I'd be happy to give it to her. She took the one she wanted and then asked me how to get to Guest Relations, because someone should know that I was definitely NOT "Disney material". I smiled and directed her towards Town Hall, spelled my name for her (at her request) and then went back to the original issue, and made sure that the vomit-filled stroller made it backstage!

To the parents of the child who was sick, I was the nice CM who helped them clean up their child, get him a new stroller and point them towards first aid. To the other woman, I was the rude CM who was ignoring her when she wanted to pin trade and was not appropriately pixie-dusted.

Sadly, the pin-trading lady and her ilk are on the increase at WDW. Thank goodness they are still outnumbered by the nice guests.

 

[origin62]

When I went to Disney in April, I had 4 castmembers be rude to me. 2 were ruder than the other 2. The rudest was a guy named DJ. It was raining and we were waiting for the MK train under the awning. He came up to my mother and I, clapped in our faces, and said "you can't wait here." I was shocked. That was a.) no way to get our attention (clapping fast in my face like I'm a dog who needs to answer to a command) and b.) telling me in such a rude way. Could have been handled so much differently.
Second was our waitress in the Sci Fi Drive In. She was condescending when she took my moms order and was coughing the whole time. Called a manager and asked for her to be changed, cuz I don't like people coughing who are handling my food. And she wasn't trying to hold back, just kept coughing in our faces as she took our order. He didn't change her but gave us a fast pass, and better believe she acted nice the whole rest of the night.
The other 2 aren't even worth writing about except for the fact that one used force on me when I was trying to find my umbrella by the Tower of Terror. It was 10:05 pm and as I walked back to look for it he put 2 red glow stick thingys across my chest and said "you can't go back there!" I was shocked, told him he should not touch me and that I had no idea. That he should have told me that before he used force, its not like I was DELIBERATELY walking back there with him telling me not to, I honestly didn't know.
Let's just say not too many good memories of this trip.

I'm not excusing the actions of the CMs you described, because they were all unacceptable. However, I have to ask: Is it possible that the train station CM had called out to you and any other nearby guests 1, 2, 3 times before he finally had to come stand right next to you to get your attention? Similarly, how did you not notice at least one, and probably more CMs standing at the ToT with red glowing wands, clearly directing guest traffic away from the building and/or indicating that you should not enter? Could he have stopped you as he did as a final effort, because you were oblivious to the signs and signals telling you not to proceed?

 

[origin62]

Actually, because I work (and have trained) in the service industry I expect good customer service. No matter how bad the day, no matter how wrong the customer, a good service person will still provide quality, warm service---after all, you fake it till you can make it. The service person's training should include techniques for addressing rude, hostile customers and access to off days/mini breaks. If the company isn't providing appropriate time off or the space to have a mini break if needed, the company isn't taking of its customers and should be alerted to the problem.


So, no, as a service person, I don't think there is ever an excuse for me or any other service person to be rude to a customer. Service is what we're taking someone's money to provide.

The difficulty is in finding a common definition of "rude."

 

[Okh]

Sure, I ran across one or two CMs that weren't stellar but they were outshone by dozens of others who were and they were the ones that got letters written about their behavior. Maybe, just maybe, instead of being so ready to play the victim, maybe we should be demanding to speak to the managers of the good ones. Positive reinforcement and all that, you know?

 

[reiella]

Sure, I ran across one or two CMs that weren't stellar but they were outshone by dozens of others who were and they were the ones that got letters written about their behavior. Maybe, just maybe, instead of being so ready to play the victim, maybe we should be demanding to speak to the managers of the good ones. Positive reinforcement and all that, you know?

Perhaps, a small part of it is that exceptional is the minimum standard for many companies. I do generally agree with the sentiment, I'm just cynical as I see it being far too easy for companies to accept employee burnout without actually addressing it. Well addressing it some other way that replace the employee.

 

[EnchantedTales]

OK ... I see this all the time all over the boards -- these and others. And, as a Disney CM for over 20 years, I'd like to point something out. EVERYONE in the tourist industry pays SOME LEVEL of their employees like crap. Disney does it, Universal does it, SeaWorld does it, hotels do it, restaurants do it, souvenir places, other attractions, transportation services ... all of them. This is not just a Disney thing. That said, I've been at Disney over 20 years and have NEVER been paid like crap.

When I came into Disney, I was making well above minimum wage to start. Then again, I came in as part of a technical team with specific skillset requirements. So again ... how much should someone be paid for "unskilled" labor? At what price point should employees suddenly be expected to be professional? Two dollars above minimum? Three? Four?

Not to mention ... they tell you what you'll be making when they offer you the job. If you don't want that level of pay -- if it's too little for what you're being asked to do or if you think your time or talents are worth more -- don't take the job. It's not like Disney tricks you into thinking that you're making $60K a year and then they say, "Oh ... sorry ... we added an extra zero. Our bad."

If you choose to take the job and you choose to accept the salary & benefits offered, then it is your part in this equation to do that job to the best of your ability. Pure and simple. I don't expect anyone -- no matter how much or how little they get paid -- to be perfect. But if you voluntarily take the job for the paycheck you're offered, then do the job. How much someone is being paid does not excuse bad behavior.

Thank you! This was better than anyone could have said it. I don't have 20 years like you but I think it applies just the same. When I applied at Disney I knew exactly what I was getting into. I knew what they would pay me and I knew what my job constituted. Could I be making more money somewhere else? Yes, but it's my choice not to. Not because I get pay less means I have the right to be rude and behave less than stellar. I chose to be here.

What some may not understand is that sometimes it's not about money, it's about being happy and loving what you do. I work because I need to. However, I work at Disney because I want to, not because I am 'unskilled' or can't find something better. I love it here.

But there's also good and bad feedback, right? Reminding someone that "thank you" is expected is one thing. Causing a scene or suggesting someone be fired for not smiling is something else.

I once had someone call me out for not pin trading with her. At the time, I was dealing with a kid standing behind me who had just thrown up on his stroller and we were trying to get him a new one. When another CM arrived with a clean stroller, I turned to the woman to pin trade and she sarcastically told me that I should just GIVE her a pin for making her wait. I told her to choose any pin on my lanyard and I'd be happy to give it to her. She took the one she wanted and then asked me how to get to Guest Relations, because someone should know that I was definitely NOT "Disney material". I smiled and directed her towards Town Hall, spelled my name for her (at her request) and then went back to the original issue, and made sure that the vomit-filled stroller made it backstage!

To the parents of the child who was sick, I was the nice CM who helped them clean up their child, get him a new stroller and point them towards first aid. To the other woman, I was the rude CM who was ignoring her when she wanted to pin trade and was not appropriately pixie-dusted.

I had this happen more than once and I don't know why but it's always been with lost children. One time this 3 year old little girl was absolutely besides herself crying and screaming for mommy. This lady wants to pin trade and I tell her that right now I have a situation and can't trade but that I will be back. She got very angry and rude. Told me that CMs had to trade with guests. I told her that I would after I found the girl's mother. In my head I was wondering: I'm I the only one listening to this little girl screams of horror? Can you not have compassion for someone's pain?

This is a 3 year old lost child! Can't she have some compassion and wait for 5 minutes?

It took me less than 2 minutes to find the girl's mother. When I came back she was complaining to my manager that I had been very rude and wouldn't trade with her. Then follow that complaint he had the little girl's dad asking how could he thank me for finding his daughter (He tried to tip me, and I refused).

 

[Bob NC]

In every job I've had I have been heavily involved in customer service and had heavy customer contact. I have supervised and managed.

The one thing that keeps getting brought up is the theory that someone can give poor service because they are "having a bad day", or, "the previous customer was mean to them."

In all my years these have never been valid, or even acceptable excuses for giving poor customer service.