Stupid Guest Tricks

HarryFromMarydelDE wrote:When I read "older gentleman from Italy" I was picturing maybe Robert Loggia or Tony Bennett; then I read the next sentence. I'm telling myself, "they meant older for a CP." I hope.

-Harry

haha, yeah, I should have specified the "for the CP" so people didn't think this was just some 20 year old doing this, just on the older end of the spectrum for the CP.

But CPs have to be in college right?

Yes, they do. But there are older people who are in college. My first CP we had a 45 year old roommate for a week, and we were a wellness unit. We quickly got her moved out because she was psycho.

EeyoresButterfly wrote:Yes, they do. But there are older people who are in college. My first CP we had a 45 year old roommate for a week, and we were a wellness unit. We quickly got her moved out because she was psycho.

I have had students that are in their 50's, going back for another degree. I had one that retired, (buy out?) and was going to start a second carreer.

I guess if they qualify, why not?

GRUMPY PIRATE wrote:That was my question too, but eve more so, is there an upper age limit for the program? I have seen a lot of "mature" students going back to get their degree(s) on campus, and have even had a few in my class.

There is no maximum age to do the CP. I have seen people down there who were in their 40s-60s.

smart1hermione wrote:But CPs have to be in college right?

Yes.

HarryFromMarydelDE wrote:I've heard of people doing the CP in their 60's, and some CPs told me they had some older CPs in their apartment complex.

Sounds great for the dirty old guy that we all know... to be 60, in the college program, staying at Vista Lay...

Kinda creepy, actually...

I wouldn't think it's creepier than some older regular CMs hitting on much younger ones. My guess is that most of them just really want to work at Disney and that the CP is a good way for them to get their feet wet (same as lots of regular CPers)

And a number of the older students that I encounter, a good portion of them are retired at a relative young age (50's) and are looking for a different type of second career.

Unfortunately, the way the economy is now, the protection 40+ workers had no longer exists. It's virtually impossible for anyone older than 40 to find a job, and if you're 50+, you may as well forget it. At 35, you're not getting too many responses from job applications. So we older folks have to re-career anyway we can. That totally sucks, because employers are shooting themselves in the foot, and a few other unmentionable places, by not hiring older workers. We Boomers are loyal, knowledgable, and make better employees. I'm not putting down younger workers per se, but I've worked with some that were not very dedicated to their job. If you want to hear more, go to monster.com and check out the Age Issues forum. We need to earn a paycheck too, but if nobody's hiring us, how are we supposed to support ourselves? Not all of us have kids that are grown and gone, or a mortgage that's paid off, and not all of us like the idea of getting an RV and traveling the country, especially with the ever-rising cost of gas.

AARP claims to list employers who hire older workers, but those jobs are minimum wage and part-time. With rising housing and food costs, that's not a solution. Look, I don't drive, and I believe I've missed getting alot of jobs because of that; I also for various reasons, not my fault, (long story), didn't get the chance to find my niche and keep my skills up to par. So here I am, most of my experience is in manufacturing, but between so many jobs going overseas and my being on the slow side, that's not an option anymore. Temp agencies are scams.

If I were to work for Disney, it would have to be with as little guest interaction as possible. Of course, I suspect Knott's is still an albatross around my neck, when it comes to looking for a job, because I frankly push my volunteer position I had until we moved farther south. I have seen Disney CMs riding Metrolink trains; does DLR pay for bus/train passes? Just curious. If I had a good shot at costuming or anything else that had zero or very little guest contact, I'd consider applying. One more thing--doesn't DLR have a shuttlebus that runs from the Anaheim Metrolink station to the park? I think I checked and it did, but things can change.

But isn't age discrimination against the law? I would think that people would want to hire older workers, they get the benefits of the experience and work ethic that older workers tend to bring to the table. Not to mention that typically workers just starting at a company get paid less, and older workers will probably retire earlier meaning that they will be paid less when they leave the company than somebody who makes a long career of it. Of course, my generation tends to have multiple jobs, so that is less likely to happen. I would think the employers are opening themselves up to big lawsuits if they are not hiring older workers.