No, Sorry, I Do NOT Work Here!

[Lasolimu]

I get the CM question a lot, too, and I sure don't fit into the "Disney look." All it requires is that you don't look lost or befuddled like most of the SGs around you.

Come to think of it, I never was mistaken for a cast member while at DLR in July. Could be that California guests are smarter, but it was probably just because I was wheezing and gasping for breath the whole time because of my asthma flare-up. Somehow I guess that doesn't give off the "ask me for directions" vibe I usually have.

I would definitely have to say it was the asthma because I always seem to have people think I work there whenever I go so it can't be that the California guests are smarter.

[felinefan]

They probably mistook your wheezing and gasping for a case of swine flu or something and didn't want to get it, so they didn't come up and ask if you worked there. Trust me, Califirnia guests are no smarter than the average guest. But when you consider that only 1/3 of the state's population was born here, it's a little hard to say. It's comparing apples to oranges when comparing California guests to guests elsewhere, because most Californians are from somewhere else.

[darph nader]

Hang on a second there Gato Amigo,some of us California visitor/ guests aren't all that bad.

[felinefan]

Yeah, I know. Remember I did time in Knott's, so my view is particularly bad, because that dump attracts the worst elements. Plus I lived with mom for six years, and she was a very negative person. A real downer being with her.

There's the story of a farmer whose land was next to a road leading to the local village. One day as he's out working in his field, a car comes by, loaded with household possessions and towing a trailer. There's a man, woman and kids in it, and the car pulls up beside the road, driver gets out and asks the farmer, "What kind of people are in the village down the road?" The farmenr asks, "Well, what kind of people were in the town you left?" "Oh, they were the most spiteful, back-stabbing, gossipy bunch you ever saw. I was so glad when the factory closed down and I lost my job, so I'm looking for a new place to get away from those people." "Well, same kind of folks are in this village." says the farmer. The driver gets back in the car, telling his wife, "This place is just as bad as our old town, honey. Let's keep going." The farmer watches as the car goes down the road, through the village and leaves the village behind.
Next day, the farmer is working in his field again when another car, also loaded with household goods and pulling a trailer, stops by the side of the road and the driver gets out and asks the farmer, "What kind of people are in the village down the road?" "What kind of people were they in the town you left?" asks the farmer. "Oh, they were the kindest, most generous and friendly people you ever wanted to meet. The factory closed down, and they helped as much as they could, but we lost our home anyway so now we're looking for a new place. I sure miss those people back home." "Well, same kind of folks here." "Oh, thank you!" As the driver gets back into the car, he excitedly tells his wife, "This place is just like our old home--nice people live here!" The farmer watches as the car goes down the road, enters the village, and does not continue on the road out of town.
The farmer told the truth to both people. If you expect people to be mean and nasty, that's the only kind of people you'll find; if you expect people to be nice, that's what you'll find, too. When I was a kid, my dad used to buy paperback versions of Ripley's Believe It Or Not! books. In one, there was an illustration of a sign outside a certain town, which said "Welcome to (name of town); population 10,000 people. 9,999 nice folks, 1 sorehead." If you're like the first driver coming into a town with a sign like that, you'd think the sign must be woefully out of date, or wrong, because it seems like everyone is the town sorehead. But if you're like the second driver, you also might think that the sign needs to be corrected, because you sure can't seem to find the sorehead!

Yes, it really does seem like when people come to the parks they leave their brains at the gate, and show their bad side, but look at it this way--they're in a new environment, everything is geared to exciting the senses, and so no wonder their minds are in a whirl and they seem to be confused. Granted, there are people who are idiots 24/7, but I'm sure once you get most folks back to their natural surroundings, they probably aren't any worse than the rest of us. We have bad days, make mistakes, and get our brains scrambled occaisonally, too.

[Bright Scouter]

Of course you do. At Walt Disney World, we are the picture of diversity. You can be black, white, blue, red, pink, green, one arm, two arms, 3 arms, fat, skinny, breathing or even not breathing.

In fact the only thing that matters is that you show up for work. And even sometimes that's optional.

So long as you don't have a beard. Bummer for me.

[joanna71985]

There's the story of a farmer whose land was next to a road leading to the local village. One day as he's out working in his field, a car comes by, loaded with household possessions and towing a trailer. There's a man, woman and kids in it, and the car pulls up beside the road, driver gets out and asks the farmer, "What kind of people are in the village down the road?" The farmenr asks, "Well, what kind of people were in the town you left?" "Oh, they were the most spiteful, back-stabbing, gossipy bunch you ever saw. I was so glad when the factory closed down and I lost my job, so I'm looking for a new place to get away from those people." "Well, same kind of folks are in this village." says the farmer. The driver gets back in the car, telling his wife, "This place is just as bad as our old town, honey. Let's keep going." The farmer watches as the car goes down the road, through the village and leaves the village behind.
Next day, the farmer is working in his field again when another car, also loaded with household goods and pulling a trailer, stops by the side of the road and the driver gets out and asks the farmer, "What kind of people are in the village down the road?" "What kind of people were they in the town you left?" asks the farmer. "Oh, they were the kindest, most generous and friendly people you ever wanted to meet. The factory closed down, and they helped as much as they could, but we lost our home anyway so now we're looking for a new place. I sure miss those people back home." "Well, same kind of folks here." "Oh, thank you!" As the driver gets back into the car, he excitedly tells his wife, "This place is just like our old home--nice people live here!" The farmer watches as the car goes down the road, enters the village, and does not continue on the road out of town.
The farmer told the truth to both people. If you expect people to be mean and nasty, that's the only kind of people you'll find; if you expect people to be nice, that's what you'll find, too. When I was a kid, my dad used to buy paperback versions of Ripley's Believe It Or Not! books. In one, there was an illustration of a sign outside a certain town, which said "Welcome to (name of town); population 10,000 people. 9,999 nice folks, 1 sorehead." If you're like the first driver coming into a town with a sign like that, you'd think the sign must be woefully out of date, or wrong, because it seems like everyone is the town sorehead. But if you're like the second driver, you also might think that the sign needs to be corrected, because you sure can't seem to find the sorehead!

I've heard that story before. I always enjoyed it. :)

[KBFRideOperator]

[font="Comic Sans MS"]

No one here has mentioned it....but I still two-finger point...and will till the day I die. I'm a former CM, but have any of you picked it up from being a park regular, knowing the cultural significance?

I got called out on it at Knott's....but someone noticed my exceptional guest service first. He asked why I was much nicer than anyone else he'd talked to in Rides. Conspiratorally, I leaned over, covered my mouth with my hand, and whispered, "Because I was taught how to treat people by the best example....a Mouse."

He knew JUST what I meant, and was sad to hear that my efforts at Knott's, which were PRAISED by guests and staff alike, had gone unappreciated at Disney. I mean, I didn't work there for the recognition, I truly LOVED helping the guests....but SOMETHING from management would have been nice. A letter... "Hey, we got such-and-such a comment on your service the other night from so-and-so... thank you for working so hard to bring our Guests the Magic!!!" Something small would have been nice, just to recognize those of us Cast Members whose exploits don't make it into the history books. I know going above-and-beyond is what Disney does best, but to our Guests, it really is extraordinary.

It's sad that I've learned more about that at Knott's than I did at DCA...

[/font]

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

No one here has mentioned it....but I still two-finger point...and will till the day I die. I'm a former CM, but have any of you picked it up from being a park regular, knowing the cultural significance?

I got called out on it at Knott's....but someone noticed my exceptional guest service first. He asked why I was much nicer than anyone else he'd talked to in Rides. Conspiratorally, I leaned over, covered my mouth with my hand, and whispered, "Because I was taught how to treat people by the best example....a Mouse."

He knew JUST what I meant, and was sad to hear that my efforts at Knott's, which were PRAISED by guests and staff alike, had gone unappreciated at Disney. I mean, I didn't work there for the recognition, I truly LOVED helping the guests....but SOMETHING from management would have been nice. A letter... "Hey, we got such-and-such a comment on your service the other night from so-and-so... thank you for working so hard to bring our Guests the Magic!!!" Something small would have been nice, just to recognize those of us Cast Members whose exploits don't make it into the history books. I know going above-and-beyond is what Disney does best, but to our Guests, it really is extraordinary.

It's sad that I've learned more about that at Knott's than I did at DCA...

But if helping guests is part of your job description, would not the self satisfaction of doing your job well, be enough?

[felinefan]

As former Knott's employee, I personally can attest to the fact that when a Knott's employee is pleasant, it's out of the ordinary. It's been nearly four years since I worked there, but I can tell you, though there were people I worked with who were decent, there were a greater number who had no business working with people.

I once saw two R.O.s on Balloon Race, having fun with the guests as they loaded and unloaded, as well as when they operated the ride, and I thought it was great. Then one of my shift leaders told me to go up there and tell them to stop doing what they were doing--cracking jokes over the mike, playing with the guests, etc.. In other words, making magic. :mad:

The entire atmosphere at Knott's is that, they don't want you to have fun doing your job, you're just a robot to them, not a person. They refuse to make accomodations if you have appointments, are sick, or anything. It's either be there when you're scheduled, or you're fired. I once told the ride operations manager that if he didn't like the way I worked, he could get himself a robot. :twisted: Okay, that got me in trouble, but boy, did it feel good to say that! I lost my job shortly thereafter, but who cares? I was about to lose my sanity, and my health was starting to suffer. I needed to get out of that place, any way I could. :p:

[turkeyham]

When I did ROP in high school, I did training at Knott's. Vamp Snoopy and also the General Store in Ghost Town. I did foods first, food prep, food service, no cashiering until merchandise and bussing.

General Store had us go out into the store and help the guests. Candy handling and money handling was through the leads.

I did ROP training at DL. We did foods at Hungry Bear and did that for 1 month. It was allot of fun.

With those trainings, I did ROP at Del Taco and got hired quickly. Food and beverage is a good area to work in. :)