Silly Brazilians

[Pinoy_Stitch_84]

Hallelujah, I did not have any of these groups today. They're coming though :twisted: but I don't know when. I wonder if that type of behavior is innate or cultural?

[Tinker Bell]

The only reason why I started this tread was out of anger and I do apologize for some of the graphic and horrible postings of mine. I'm just concerned that some Brazilian group, and it has happened to me once, is going to report me to my manager because I'm not being nice. All I do is tell them which row or rows to go to on the ride, do my safety spiel, and lock their seatbelts for them. These Brazilian girls got mad because I wouldn't let them sit in the rows they wanted to sit in. A row at the ride I work at can only seat so many people. I also had a Brazilian old woman who kept on going to a row she wanted to go to and I wasn't even done telling her family where to go. My concern is their safety 'cause if anything happens to them, I get in trouble and I don't want that.

I'm even nice to them about which rows to go to on the ride, yet I receive threats that they will go to my manager and tell him/her about how I'm controlling them. My managers know that I'm doing my job the right way though so I guess I have nothing to worry about especially those shallow threats. Ridiculous.

I would not worry about it. Management knows about stupid guests and you would probably not get in trouble. It is not just the Brazilians that do this and I used to see people do crazy things against the orders of the CMs. Not much you can do with them. I have stood there as people get in front of me and I am standing there not able to board then the lines are a mess and the parties wont go at the same time.

Do your job right, have lots of witnesses and a sound testimony.

I have never met a group of people that can annoy the living daylights out of me so fast as this folks. I wish it would be as easy as the managers knowing about them. It's just not enough, because they don't care and they try to set aside managers or anyone that stands on the way of what they want. I have not only seen it, but I have been involved in incidents with this people and wow, wow. All I have to say is that they have ruinned my patience and appeal for their culture all in the time I worked in Disney.

I work in Entretainment and I had a portuguese group calling me rather nasty names because it was time for the character to go and they wanted a picture. Even when the manager told them the character had to go, they still would not listen and tried to push their way to the character. It was as if nobody was talking to them and they cursed me fluently thinking I couldn't understand them. I did, but I wouldn't have been able to carry a conversation with them because I'm not fluent and off course they pretended that they couldn't speak English. I guess that they had a moment of magic when they had a conversation with the manager with no problem speaking English.

Another thing that bothers me is how they refuse to wait in line or they try to cut in line. Wait in the line, dang it!! Everyone else is doing it, why can't you?! There is a full line of people and instead they go thru the side and try to cut ahead of everyone else. Then when you point to the line and explain that they need to do the line, they still try to cut in saying that they come from Brazil. Well good, I'm glad. Problem is that we have guests from Taiwan, China, France, Uk and all over the world and they do the freaking line! So, you are going to do it too! Ugh just ugh!

Dealing with them is becoming more and more difficult, because they are becoming more and more rude. I'm actually dreading the summer when they are all here and it's hot and people get in a nasty mood.

[Zazu]

Hallelujah, I did not have any of these groups today. They're coming though :twisted: but I don't know when. I wonder if that type of behavior is innate or cultural?

It's cultural.

Brazil has a large gap between the upper and lower classes, and not a lot in the middle. The kids we get (who are first and foremost teenagers, with all that implies) are from an upper class that normally looks down on "people in service". Those of us who wear costumes and nametags fall into this category for such people, and it sets the stage for trouble since this *isn't* our cultural expectation.

Queuing, or waiting a turn in any fashion, is an artifact of British culture, which Americans, Australians, and a few others have picked up on. In most of the world it's quiet customary -- and not at all impolite -- for all to press forward in a mob. It's not wrong, but it is different, and I work to remember that. Some days I have to work really hard!

Were we indeed a bunch of ignorant, impoverished, "trained monkeys" (Eisners words, not mine) who could easily be replaced, then treating us like trash is more understandable (if still less than forgivable). I suspect it would come as a great surprise to these guests to find out just what fraction of cast members have high school diplomas, much less college degrees.

Let me return again to their age. Teens brought up as scions of the rich and privileged -- in any society -- tend to act like spoiled brats. This is bad when it's an individual, and downright dangerous when done in large numbers.

All of the above applies equally to those from any culture. Brazil is prominent in our minds because of the way the groups are organized -- by school -- and their distinctive language. (And how would your senior class have behaved in a foreign country with a 75:1 student:chaperone ratio?) I've observed similar problems with groups from other countries of both Latin America and Asia.

Now, what can we do about it? Lots!

I've had very good success in keeping such groups from disrupting my attraction (and even parades) by finding a leader -- usually, the guy or gal carrying a flag. (Thanks for the help.) I explain the seating arrangement of the attraction, or the safety rules for the parade, well in advance, and they have been uniformly good about explaining it to their group. I've had fellow CM's ask me just what I'd threatened them with to get such good behavior out of them.

Look on it as a new challenge -- a new cultural divide that it's part of our job to overcome. Keep trying different things until you find one that works for you, then share it with the rest of us.... PLEASE!!!


One last remark, this time as a Moderator, not just a fellow CM: SGT rules permit complaints about Stupid Guests as individuals, but they clearly ban badmouthing guests as a group, especially when that's an ethnic group (even when history suggests it's accurate). We've already given one SGTer a week's timeout, please don't make us plonk anyone else just to be fair. Thanks.

[mechurchlady]

Well said Zazu. I also feel that it is more a social issue combined with lack of supervision. You are also right that the best appoach is to deal with the person in charge of the group.

[Big Wallaby]

Well said, Zazu. I thoroughly enjoyed your informative...(looking for a word that describes it without sounding demeaning)... can I say "dissertation" without it meaning the wrong thing? This is all very fascinating to me, being that I am days or maybe even just hours away from being a CM myself (I love the DOT paperwork...), and I have been mostly lurking this site to see what CM's have to deal with and how they deal with it. I fully expect to get a good rant in here within the year, but for now I'm just here for education and enjoyment.

All that to say I will most certainly use that "find the leader" option when I can. It's also good to know how I am actually being looked upon. Right or wrong, I am not going to change them then and there, and I won't even try, but I can work with being viewed as the "underclass". Heck, I'll even have a bit of fun with the whole thing. But it's great to know all of this going into it. And again, thanks Zazu for the explanation and information.

[Mad Hatter]

:twisted:

The DW and I have gotten very aggressive with these people and will continue to do so. Two years ago about 25 of them started shoving me and the lady in the back and trying to go around us and we had to hold the rails like a barrier and they were trying to pry our fingers off and hang on our arms and physically shove us aside. Had to physically had to overpower them like a barrier and then yell to their face which after being aggressive right back at them worked.

[bpgstudios]

You know, Zazu, it has actually never occured to me those types of reasons. I actually thought it was more of a teenager-in-large-group syndrome (defy authority, cause chaos, etc) but now that I understand that we as CMs are NOT authority to them, that makes it more understandable. Just from the sound of it and the description you gave of their culture, coupled with first hand experiences with them, your solution is obvious. I remember a friend of mine told me a similar thing he did at Small World... he told the group leader (at the attraction entrance) that on the boats there were 6 rows, with 4 per row. The leader told the group to get into groups of 4. The whole tour group came down to load in groups of 4 holding hands. Load didn't even need to do anything since the tour group was ready.

I think that the group leaders probably do know how our culture works, and (usually) understand that while they are in our parks we are an authority. Sometimes (from my experiences atleast) the leaders take advantage of us not knowing how to deal with their culture. I know when they come back in the summer, I will most definitely be more asertive with the group leader, and understand that when the rest of the group does not listen to me that it is not because they are being rude...its just their culture. I know I'm gonna help spread this message among my fellow CMs in my area... I wish I knew this the first time I had to deal with them. Thanks again Zazu for enlightening me.

[BRWombat]

...and understand that when the rest of the group does not listen to me that it is not because they are being rude...its just their culture.

Good reply, and I've enjoyed the dialog here. Just had to comment on this one line. Just because it's their culture, does that mean it's not rude? Sounds to me like more like, it's acceptable in their culture to act rudely. Just nitpicking, I know.

[bpgstudios]

Well I think its more along the lines of that they are not intentionally being rude for rudeness sake (i.e. just to get what they want). I think its more of a "because they don't know any better" type thing. As long as the group leader understands how we do things in our culture, I (personally) would be fine not getting respect from the rest of the group. I know it can be hard to keep some of these groups organized, so as long as they do not pose a hazard of any kind, I can deal with them not looking at me as an authority on my attraction -- as long as the group leader does.

[Juliana]

I am brazilian myself, but I gotta tell you something - I hate brazilian groups.
To Zazu - some of the kids in the groups are spoiled, I won't deny it. But actually, we can't say that most of them are from the upper class - those usually go to WDW with their families, stay at the best hotels (unlike the groups, which most often than not stay at Pop Century / All-Star Resorts). The real problem is that for most of the kids, it's the first time they're travelling without their parents. Sure, the tour guide (the group leaders =)) is an authority, but we all know it's not the same. So they just think they can do (almost) anything they want. And this is where they are completely wrong...
The worst thing for me is when not only the kids are rude, but the tour guide actually seems to encourage it. Like when they just walking around, singing (terrible) songs loud, and other stuff some people mentioned here. It's just disrespectful! And even more amazing because most of the tour guides go to WDW 3-4 times a year, so they know better than doing anything rude or incorrect. They could help the cast members, like, while waiting in line they could tell the kids that they should make groups of two, five, whatever.

My worst experience with brazilian groups was about five years ago, when Club Cool was still called Ice Station Cool. My sister was trying some sodas and I was just waiting for her when a brazilian group came. But as if just drinking soda wasn't enough, they decided to throw the cups at each other. Nice.

Hope you can get my point - I most definitely need more than two months to learn English well ;)