The State of DL

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  • jsmith11618
    Minion
    • May 2010
    • 1311

    Re: The State of DL

    Originally posted by calsig31 View Post
    So you are advocating not performing well at a job if you don't like the job?
    No, I am saying sometimes people end up in jobs they are not suited for and can only fake it so much sometimes.


    I admit I should not be in customer service, but I am forced to as the service industry is the main industry in my area for my education level, and I need a job, so customer service it is, but I am no good at dealing with people and never will be.

    You can train all you want, but if someone is not a people person, the person can only do so much faking, and then people complain the service seems fake.

    I am sure many at Disney are in the same boat as me, just not people persons and try to fake it, but are not always able to fake it well for an entire shift, but need a job, so we take what we can and do what we can to deal with people the best we can.
    Last edited by jsmith11618; 07-02-2013, 09:03 PM.

    Comment

    • KellyMcG86
      Selfie Expert
      • Sep 2012
      • 8540

      Re: The State of DL

      The thing that baffles me with Disney, and other companies listed such as Wal-Mart, is that there are people literally lining up to a get a job at these companies. We constantly see posts about people being wait-listed when applying at Disney. If that's the case, that means there is a demand for this job. If there is a demand, Disney can be a little more selective. This should mean that 1) the employee should realize that there are ten people waiting to take their position at any given time, and take that into consideration when deciding whether or not they are going to display their bad mood to customers and 2) Disney should not be putting up with rude behavior, and should be replacing them with someone who will provide better service.


      Thank you to Poisonedapples for my awesome signature!
      KellyMcG86's Disneyland To Do List

      Comment

      • bfdf55
        MiceChatter
        • Jun 2007
        • 3053

        Re: The State of DL

        Originally posted by The International View Post
        I think we're advocating "being human" which occasionally means taking a job other than your dream job because you need the money. It's easy to say "Well, it's your job, you're responsible for doing it as best you can!" but in the real world people, you know, need money to live and will take jobs that pay. Is it reasonable to expect a McDonald's employee, at minimum wage, to fully live and breathe McDonalds? Are Wal-Mart's employees expected to be complete devotees of the entire Wal-Mart philosophy?
        The quality of a person's performance of their job, in spite of whatever the circumstance, is entirely dependent on each person's personality and drive to do said job.

        For the most part, people who like and enjoy their job will perform their best with the company's interest being their own.

        However, those who aren't that enthusiastic about their job, whether due to poor pay, personality conflicts with co-workers or management, poor working conditions, etc. may or may not exhibit the same level of enthusiasm towards their job. For the most part, these people will show LESS support for their work. And some will actually perform counter to their company's benefit in acts of defiance towards perceived mistreatment.

        Those in poor employment situations, that do show exemplary performance in spite of less than satisfactory job conditions, will probably move on to better job opportunities.

        Comment

        • bfdf55
          MiceChatter
          • Jun 2007
          • 3053

          Re: The State of DL

          Originally posted by KellyMcG86 View Post
          The thing that baffles me with Disney, and other companies listed such as Wal-Mart, is that there are people literally lining up to a get a job at these companies. We constantly see posts about people being wait-listed when applying at Disney. If that's the case, that means there is a demand for this job. If there is a demand, Disney can be a little more selective. This should mean that 1) the employee should realize that there are ten people waiting to take their position at any given time, and take that into consideration when deciding whether or not they are going to display their bad mood to customers and 2) Disney should not be putting up with rude behavior, and should be replacing them with someone who will provide better service.
          There is a perception of Disney jobs that some times doesn't fit the actual working conditions. Decades ago, working at Disney parks was a highly prized opportunity. The company paid fairly well, CM's were well treated and the working environment was good.

          However, over a decade ago, management started reducing the overall quality of the work experience there. Wages failed to follow economic changes, grooming standards were lowered, Disney University Training was reduced to a shadow of what it once was, and costuming changes, all resulted in lowered morale overall. There were less quality job applicants, but Disney took whatever they could get, which resulted in further lowered morale.

          And that's just at the parks. Other divisions of the company have their own issues that have resulted in lowered morale there. Even "premium" jobs (animation, Imagineering, studio, etc.) are no longer as quality as they once were.

          Unfortunately, if Disney decided to not put up with the rude behavior, they would be hard pressed to cover all the jobs they have to fill.

          Comment

          • Malina
            MiceChatter

            • Oct 2011
            • 3006

            Re: The State of DL

            Originally posted by bfdf55 View Post
            There is a perception of Disney jobs that some times doesn't fit the actual working conditions. Decades ago, working at Disney parks was a highly prized opportunity. The company paid fairly well, CM's were well treated and the working environment was good.

            However, over a decade ago, management started reducing the overall quality of the work experience there. Wages failed to follow economic changes, grooming standards were lowered, Disney University Training was reduced to a shadow of what it once was, and costuming changes, all resulted in lowered morale overall. There were less quality job applicants, but Disney took whatever they could get, which resulted in further lowered morale.

            And that's just at the parks. Other divisions of the company have their own issues that have resulted in lowered morale there. Even "premium" jobs (animation, Imagineering, studio, etc.) are no longer as quality as they once were.

            Unfortunately, if Disney decided to not put up with the rude behavior, they would be hard pressed to cover all the jobs they have to fill.
            That's the crux of it. If Disney were to fire every single rude/etc. worker, the fact is that they wouldn't necessarily have a better quality person to replace them with. If you're, say, bright, conscientious and a recent college or high school graduate, you might expect and be able to get a better job than minimum wage at Disney. If you do end up at Disneyland you might move on as soon as you find something else.
            Merida looks like this. Not a Barbie doll!

            Comment

            • G24T
              No Disassemble!
              • Dec 2011
              • 795

              Re: The State of DL

              Originally posted by bfdf55 View Post
              There is a perception of Disney jobs that some times doesn't fit the actual working conditions. Decades ago, working at Disney parks was a highly prized opportunity. The company paid fairly well, CM's were well treated and the working environment was good.

              However, over a decade ago, management started reducing the overall quality of the work experience there. Wages failed to follow economic changes, grooming standards were lowered, Disney University Training was reduced to a shadow of what it once was, and costuming changes, all resulted in lowered morale overall. There were less quality job applicants, but Disney took whatever they could get, which resulted in further lowered morale.

              And that's just at the parks. Other divisions of the company have their own issues that have resulted in lowered morale there. Even "premium" jobs (animation, Imagineering, studio, etc.) are no longer as quality as they once were.

              Unfortunately, if Disney decided to not put up with the rude behavior, they would be hard pressed to cover all the jobs they have to fill.
              Originally posted by Malina View Post
              That's the crux of it. If Disney were to fire every single rude/etc. worker, the fact is that they wouldn't necessarily have a better quality person to replace them with. If you're, say, bright, conscientious and a recent college or high school graduate, you might expect and be able to get a better job than minimum wage at Disney. If you do end up at Disneyland you might move on as soon as you find something else.
              Just adding one more thing to these already great posts: Disney would not be able to get away with this type of Cast Member behavior if guests stood up and demanded better quality from them. Unfortunately the parks are packed with armies of newbie annual pass holders who seem to have a ho-hum attitude towards CM behavior in lieu of the fact that the AP's inflated egos have made them hopelessly self sufficient in an environment that has a deep rooted history of providing indulgent service.

              Keeping wages low for CMs is to the benefit of the Disney Corporation on Wall Street. If it becomes evident that the parks are turning out more dissatisfied guests that would create a far worse situation for them and things will change promptly. At this moment though I can see some exec checking the complaints stats out and seeing that 80% of all complaints are comprised of "I'm mad that you cancelled the fireworks due to dangerous conditions" and "I'm mad that the cars ride broke down when I was in line". Then as he pours himself some brandy and starts stroking his white cat he says "goooood.. gooooood indeeeed".
              Many Bothans died to bring you these fastpasses.

              Comment

              • Big D
                Expert Churro Salesman
                • Feb 2008
                • 3321

                Re: The State of DL

                Wow, a lot of very interesting posts on customer service at Disney and around the country in general. I'm sad to hear that the University has stopped training customer service. I actually got the job that I have today (I hired in back in January of 2000) largely because I had Disneyland on my resume and the human resources department recognized that this meant I would have exceptionally good customer service skills.

                Here are the two principles that I remember most from my training at the University and ones that I still use on the job to this day:

                The Four Keys
                1. Safety
                2. Courtesy
                3. Show
                4. Efficiency

                Those were our guiding principles, IN THAT ORDER. Maintaining show quality comes before efficiency, being courteous comes before that, and of course, safety always comes first. For example, whenever I was helping to push a churro cart through the parks to it's location on a really crowded day, I would sometimes have to really yell at people (being rude) to get out of the way so that they didn't get injured. That was perfectly okay because safety comes before courtesy.

                The 7 key principles of service:

                S mile
                E ye Contact
                R espect
                V alue the guest
                I nitiate guest contact
                C reate solutions, not problems
                E nd with a thank you

                In the three years I worked there, I almost never had a problem with a guest that I couldn't handle by following these guidelines (especially the one about creating solutions, not problems). On the other hand, I was empowered by management to do pretty much whatever I felt was appropriate to make the guest happy. If I needed to give them a free churro I could. If I gave them change for a $10, and they said that they gave me a $20, and I honestly wasn't sure, I could give them the additional $10 if I believed them. Obviously I couldn't be giving out too much free stuff in a day, but I was allowed to within reason. This to me was the biggest thing that I think allowed me to be able to give really good guest service. I know that in my current business, we can't do ANYTHING at all without management approval, and that is largely due to concerns about possible lawsuits, so I wonder if things have changed at DL and that now the CM's there don't have the same authority that I did and just simply aren't allowed to make exceptions and have to blindly follow the rules no matter how silly they may seem at the time.

                By the way, there was really only one guest that I personally was not able to handle. I was working on the Fantasy Freeze cart in Fantasyland (the icee cart by the Matterhorn), and a guest bought a souvineer sipper, and brought it back and wanted a refill. There is some bizzare OSHA rule that we can not take a cup back across the counter once we have handed it to the guest, so I explained that we couldn't refill that particular cup, but that he could purchase two new regular cups and refill it himself. He got really upset, and I normally would have offered to give him one of the two cups for free, but he really never gave me a chance to talk, and in the end, demanded to know what the exact ordinance number was that stated that we couldn't take a cup back across the counter once we had handed it out. Obviously I didn't know that, so he told me he was done speaking to me and asked to speak to a manager. He actually waited there for about 40 minutes for the manager to arrive (the office is behind Splash Mountain, and any Disney CM gets stopped 10 or more times by guests with questions when they walk through the park), and then berated her for 20 minutes because she didn't know what the city ordinance was either. The manager offered to give him a new free souvineer sipper so he wouldn't have to do the work of refilling it himself, but that still wouldn't make him happy. He insisted that there was no such rule, and that he wasn't going to leave until we took his original cup back across the counter and refilled it. Finally my manager told him he had to leave and called security.

                As you can tell, to this day (14 years later) that still bugs me, but I'm convinced that there was nothing I could have done better in that situation.

                By the way, TylerDurdin, I do have a question for you since you have mentioned that you also work in the customer service industry. Do you agree with me that customers in general have become much more unreasonable over the past 15 years or so?
                Disneyland Cast Member
                Outdoor Vending
                1996 - 1999

                My interview with MiceAge about working at Disneyland:

                http://micechat.com/blogs/mouth-of-t...ding-crew.html

                Comment

                • TylerDurden
                  MiceChatter
                  • Jul 2011
                  • 1362

                  Re: The State of DL

                  ^that was a great post. However, I do think that for the most part customers have not gotten worse or more rude. I think there are some more willing to sue than before which is sad but in my experience even the crankiest curmudgeon will treat others with the respect he/she is given.

                  I do love how you pointed out that service used to come before efficiency. I argued this for a while but a lot of posters here had ridiculous counter-arguments...people who work with people know that this is how it should be done. I wish more people like you worked at Disneyland today

                  Comment

                  • calsig31
                    -
                    • Aug 2009
                    • 6753

                    Re: The State of DL

                    Originally posted by Big D View Post
                    There is some bizzare OSHA rule that we can not take a cup back across the counter once we have handed it to the guest
                    It's probably a health department thing, not DOSH.
                    "Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada."

                    Comment

                    • jsmith11618
                      Minion
                      • May 2010
                      • 1311

                      Re: The State of DL

                      People have become more difficult to deal with these days, so many have unrealistic expectations of companies, live in a me world where only they matter and who cares about anyone else, and frankly nothing seems to make these people happy no matter how much you try.

                      And its only going to get worse.

                      Comment

                      • Big D
                        Expert Churro Salesman
                        • Feb 2008
                        • 3321

                        Re: The State of DL

                        Originally posted by TylerDurden View Post
                        ^that was a great post. However, I do think that for the most part customers have not gotten worse or more rude. I think there are some more willing to sue than before which is sad but in my experience even the crankiest curmudgeon will treat others with the respect he/she is given.

                        I do love how you pointed out that service used to come before efficiency. I argued this for a while but a lot of posters here had ridiculous counter-arguments...people who work with people know that this is how it should be done. I wish more people like you worked at Disneyland today
                        Thank you very much. It is really hard for me to tell if it is the customers that have gotten worse, or if maybe I've been in customer service for too long and am getting less tolerant (17 years now), or if it just has to do with the products that I'm selling. People are going to be more demanding when purchasing something that is several thousand dollars from me then they were when I was selling a churro for $2. But I do see that people seem to be more rude then I remember when I go to the parks as a guest. The biggest thing that I notice is that so many people now seem to either be oblivious to those around them, or just simply don't care how their actions affect other people trying to enjoy the park as well. It seems to happen all the time that a group of people will stop in a congested walkway to look at a park map or discuss where they want to go and hold up everyone behind them rather then step off to the side and out of the way (as I was always taught to do), or they stand in line at a restaurant like Tomorrowland Terrace and then wait until they are at the cash register to begin deciding what they want and make everyone wait behind them while they are deciding when they should have been doing that while they are in line. It really does seem like it's much worse now then it was when I used to work there, but I have to admit it could also be that it did happen and for whatever reason I just didn't notice it then and I notice it much more now.
                        Disneyland Cast Member
                        Outdoor Vending
                        1996 - 1999

                        My interview with MiceAge about working at Disneyland:

                        http://micechat.com/blogs/mouth-of-t...ding-crew.html

                        Comment

                        • Big D
                          Expert Churro Salesman
                          • Feb 2008
                          • 3321

                          Re: The State of DL

                          Originally posted by calsig31 View Post
                          It's probably a health department thing, not DOSH.
                          When I was there, OSHA oversaw restaurants and DOSH oversaw the rides. In ODV, we never dealt with DOSH at all. But that was 13 years ago so who knows if that is still the case today.
                          Disneyland Cast Member
                          Outdoor Vending
                          1996 - 1999

                          My interview with MiceAge about working at Disneyland:

                          http://micechat.com/blogs/mouth-of-t...ding-crew.html

                          Comment

                          • CassiefRN
                            BadWristPhotography
                            • Jun 2012
                            • 1980

                            Re: The State of DL

                            Originally posted by Big D View Post
                            But I do see that people seem to be more rude then I remember when I go to the parks as a guest. The biggest thing that I notice is that so many people now seem to either be oblivious to those around them, or just simply don't care how their actions affect other people trying to enjoy the park as well.
                            I agree, both in the parks and out, people have a huge sense of entitlement tha leads to rude, selfish behavior. I think it is worse with the younger generations (of which I'm a part of) and is only going to continue.
                            Follow me on Instagram: @disneylovingnurse :ap:

                            Comment

                            • LangenFox
                              Disney/Anime/Furry Fan
                              • Apr 2009
                              • 1739

                              Re: The State of DL

                              Currently, America is a self-serving narcissistic society. Most young adults and teenagers of today think they're very special and it should always be 'me,' because they deserve having special treatment with big entitlement, you should only care about me and not other people.

                              That's why I hate Facebook and all other social media websites.


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                              • calsig31
                                -
                                • Aug 2009
                                • 6753

                                Re: The State of DL

                                Originally posted by LangenFox View Post
                                That's why I hate Facebook and all other social media websites.
                                Um... this is social media, too.
                                "Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada."

                                Comment

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