My first Stupid Guest Trick...awwww

[Taryn]

Hey all, I'm Taryn! I've been a lurker for a while, and a Cast Member for a week and a half.

Anyways, I work Future World Custodial at Epcot. Yesterday was my first night working at the same time as the fireworks, so of course I panned and broomed my way over the lagoon so I could watch it for a few minutes. It was great until I noticed a little boy, maybe 3 years old, wailing in his mom's arms because the fiery inferno above him somehow managed to scare him. I immediately felt bad for the kid, so I was going to go over to him and distract him with my pins. However, I then saw his father (who was standing up on a ledge so he could see the globe better) turn around as if to comfort his son. But then, right as the warm fuzzies were building up in the pit of my stomache, he yanks his baseball cap off of his head, throws it down as hard as he can at his son's face, and proceeds to scream at him in Spanish, presumibly about he was ruining the vacation.

It kind of creeped me out. I felt bad for the kid, but I was afraid to approach him and comfort him without ticking off the dad further.

So, there you have it, my first SGT of (most likely) many!

[Ansem]

As a CM you will witness all sorts of hell these kids get from their "parents" and most "parentsP will still try and use the kids as a way to get around the rules.

[mechurchlady]

Taryn welcome to CULTURE SHOCK.

First of all what I am about to say is about a limited few people and does not describe everyone in that group. It is usually the low brow neanderthals who adhere to ancient rites and values especially men, sorry dudes but that is the truth, lol.

Some Hispanic men treat their sons like gods and spoil them while expecting them to be little men and behave. In your case you saw this happen.

Third world mentality occurs when people come from countries where you push, shove and take what ever you can get at any means. In America people wait in line but in some places in the world you do not wait in line and there is not "my personal space". They are used to being crowded in a market or bus and getting poked and pushed.

Some countries have a philosophy that men rule and women have nothing to say. This is only an excuse used by a few low brows but is a major problem in parks. A male janitor can say "please get off the fence" and the guest will quickly apologize and get off the fence. The female park manager and highest ranking CM in all of WDW can say "please get off the fence" and the guest will not get off the fence until HE is good and ready to or male CMs step in.

Some cultures feel the left hand is dirty and the right hand is clean. It is an offense to hand them a ticket or food with your left hand. The left hand for using the bathroom paper for example and you see why they are upset with you. Pick up trash and dirty baby diapers with left hand and eat with right is the rule.


It is sad and hard to work with the public when you see so many children who are treated badly or neglected. It touches my heart to see a child with its parent where the parent is helping the child to learn and enjoy the park. Be thankful you have great parents and pray for them kids. When parents hurt kids in public, what do you think it is like at home.

[Kwahati]

Taryn welcome to CULTURE SHOCK....low brow neanderthals...ancient rites and values...men, sorry dudes...Some Hispanic men...Third world mentality occurs...In America people wait in line...not "my personal space"...Some countries have a philosophy that men rule and women have nothing to say...Some cultures feel the left hand is dirty and the right hand is clean...It is sad and hard to work with the public when you see so many children who are treated badly or neglected....

Okay...woah boy! There's a whole lot there and some of it...um, I guess I'll do it in a semi-line by line fashion (numbered for your convenience and pleasure):

1) Claim: Males are more guilty of stupidity bordering on abuse than females.
Answer: I'm a male, so I suppose if you want to lump me with the 'low-brow neanderthals,' then you can dismiss all of my answers fairly simply. Assuming you realize you've only made an ad hominem attack against males and not an argument, however, I'll just point out to you that what you've said is rude and probably untrue. Why? Because stupidity is neither male nor female...it's universal!

2) Claim: 'Third world mentality' leads to people pushing and shoving. (Implied claim: Americans [and by implication other 'first worlders'] are less rude than people from third world countries.)
Anwer: How ethnocentric and zenophobic of you! It's clear you've never traveled abroad, so let me be the first to tell you there are a lot of first world cities you will not enjoy. Amsterdam (the largest city in and the capital of the Netherlands, however not the seat of govenment. For clarification: it's pretty centrally located, so it's one of the major hub cities in Europe and most likely where you'll fly through if you ever go to Africa from the US. Sort of a crossroads of the world! So, I'd say it's decidedly first world.) makes the pushing and shoving in Disney parks look like a friendly family gathering. Paris, France and (I hear) most of the major cities in Italy, too! In fact, most of first world Europe doesn't believe in lines or personal space (I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't nice about it while I was in the A'Dam airport a couple of weeks ago. I just turned around and told this Italian guy: "Go on bi*ch, I dare you to run into me again! You'll get hurt...") Here's the thing: You classify this as a 'Third World Mentalitly' Um...I hope without any further explanation you'll understand why that's phenomenally racist in a way that lots of Americans won't get. Which leads me to the next bit: Not that I don't love my country (I'm ex-USAF ) but I completely understand why we're hated world-wide. It's not just because of our wonderfully eloquent and diplomatic Commander in Chief. It's also because we're loud, we expect everyone to cater to us, we don't bother learning languages before we show up in foreign countries...the list goes on. On the other hand some of the kindest, most wonderfully polite people I've ever spent time with are the Masai, a tribe in Tanzania and Kenya. They live in huts made of mud and animal dung. They carry spears in their everyday lives. And when I tried to give a gift of a pen to one of their children (about 4 years old) he admired it for a moment, wrote on his hand with it briefly, and then said 'Thank you' and handed it back to me! (It took a minute, but I convinced him it was alright to keep it--by the way: at that young age, he did speak some English, fluent Kiswahili, and the native language of the Masai [I think it's called Kimasai]). Where's your 'Third World Mentality' now?

3) I'm going to quit the 'claim and answer' format now. Yeah there are cultures (lots of them) with different beliefs, rituals, tendencies, practices, and even desires than ours (and after that first ignorant slam on all men, I'm thinking I *may* become a big proponent of men ruling and women not getting to say anything). One of the big differences, I find, though is that most of them know our practices when they come here. I'm in the practice of just not using my left hand for interactions (and also being careful about keeping feet flat on the ground, in mixed company, rather than pointing the soles of my shoes at someone-like you do if you're sitting with your legs lazily extended in front of you), but even if you do and someone doesn't appreciate it, odds are they won't say anything about it. If they hassle you, apologize in a gracious manner, and most rational people will forgive. Most rational people will also listen to anyone telling them a rule they must follow (male or female). In either case, if you run into irrational people (Hassling you needlessly and/or violently after an apology or not listening to the rules) then call freakin' security! Duh! However, most people from other countries are required to learn about other cultures in their schools so most of them are respectful of ours when they come here.

4) I too don't like seeing kids abused.

Sorry for the long post, there was just a lot of ignorance happening all at once. I do classify it is ignorance (not stupidity) because it was unintentional. I'm assuming you didn't know. That's not a crime, and that's why I hope you understand that there is no anger or malice in my reply. I'm simply trying to educate and hope that, next time, you find less rascist ways to say what you're thinking. I know it's not intentional, if fact: I think a family member of mine wrote a paper at an ivy-league school about how it's ingrained in the psyche of our nation to see things we don't like and associate them with people we think are beneath us. Just hoping people will ponder that and try to think of who they might be offending when they talk. (Especailly because I deal with it everyday: I'm a big tough Jew, but I just can't sock *everyone* in the jaw who I hear say 'That's Jewish' or 'I got Jewed'...so I guess education is the way to go).

Have a magical day!

[mechurchlady]

Kwahati I wish you had read the first paragraph I wrote. It is a few people who stick to values that they were taught as kids and that most people do not act that way. It is that few people who believe they rule the world or who demand the world follow their set of values. I come from a multi-ethnic background and was raised in a multi-ethnic neighborhood all my life.

As for the way men from some cultures treat CMs, that is based on my observations as well as conversations with friends who were CMs.

[Kwahati]

Okay...let's examine the first paragraph of your post:

'First of all what I am about to say is about a limited few people and does not describe everyone in that group. It is usually the low brow neanderthals who adhere to ancient rites and values especially men, sorry dudes but that is the truth, lol.'

So there's a qualifier, and then a sweeping generalization. I think the best way to make clear what it appears your saying is to attempt to rephrase you...please tell me if I've misconstrued: 'Not eveyone in the group I am about to deride is bad, but men have a tendancy to be low brow neanderthals who cling to outdated values and beliefs.' I don't know if that's how you meant it, but that's how it reads, and it sounds pretty bad. Additionally, the way I learned english (and the other languages I know), it's really hard to put a qualifier before a broad generalization. Like, try the following 'Not all blacks and latinos are useless, but they do have a tendancy to be lazy!' Would you say that and then try to back out when a particular person got upset by saying to them "Come on! Look at the qualifier! I said not all of them! Clearly I wasn't talking about you!" Kinda ridiculous in that context, huh?

As far as guys being bad to CM's being based on your experience...without doing any scientific studies, I'd guess that there are just as many rude women as rude men (especially if you count the cheerleaders who show up every year as young women). I'd also venture to guess that this actually varies by gender of the harassee as well as occupation (I get more evil women when I'm working my hotel, and more evil guys when waiting tables) I don't know for sure though...maybe that's a good idea for a new thread: a running count of exactly how many 'bastards and biotches' everyone comes across in a given day

Regardless, the 'guys aren't neanderthals' argument aside, what really made me choke on my own bile was the 'Third-World Mentalitly' phrasing you chose. I think that this phrasing is in fact a way of clinging to an outdated belief: that we're better because we're 'advanced.'

[joanna71985]

Guys, she didn't start this post for a debate. Please don't argue about this here. If you have to continue the conversation, could you keep it to PMs please? Thank you.

[felinefan]

One busy day I was running Huff 'N' Puff, and there was this family in line that apparently were Italian, judging from the kids' names. Well, they would ride, go around, and then push their way back to the front of the line to ride again. I told them, "No cutting in line," and the parents said, "They weren't cutting." I don't remember for sure if I told them that if they push ahead of the other kids waiting in line, that's cutting, maybe I did, or maybe I just told them they have to go to the back of the line and wait their turn. I went home that night and looked up the subject of lines in a book on forgien customs and gestures, and sure enough, in Italy there's no lines. I always looked forward to Brits and Aussies coming to the park; they understood rules and had their kids lined up in a row, very disciplined and orderly. They were a joy to have on my ride! If only we Americans would act so rationally....

[ThunderCat]

Guys, she didn't start this post for a debate. Please don't argue about this here. If you have to continue the conversation, could you keep it to PMs please? Thank you.

I was quite enjoying the thread, thank you. If you don't like it, here's a tip: DON'T READ IT.

Seriously: who died and made you Moderator?

[IdiotsAreEverywhere]

Yikes. I think this thread is taking a turn for the worse.