What do you mean, Cast Members only?!

[Taryn]

Alright. I've only worked at the World for a week and a half, and already I'm shocked by the idiocy...the audacity of some people! Yesterday, I was in charge of keeping the women's restrooms at the Coral Reef and the Living Seas clean. I was running back and forth between the two, and frankly, it was like fighting a losing battle. Still, I managed to keep them both looking at least decent, if not spotless. I was in the Living Sea's bathroom, struggling with countless chemicals, cleaning tools, and rags in my hands, when an Asian woman came up to me. Smiling widely, and completely disregarding the fact that I was incredibly busy, she said "Can I see your pins?" I could tell that she was most likely visiting our country, since she sported an incredibly heavy accent. Sighing, and forcing a cheerful smile onto my face, I said "Of course Ma'am", and put down all of my cleaning tools so as to better show off my shiny bits of metal. She looked at them for all of thirty seconds, grunted, and said "Thank you" in a voice that told me this transaction was finished. Rolling my eyes, I continued my cleaning, and then gathered up my things to return to the Custodial closet. Now, the closet for this particular bathroom made you actually leave the bathroom, go through a separate door marked "Cast Members Only" (Or something like that, I can't remember exactly), down a hallway, and into an unmarked door. And there was the closet. So, I made my way there, put my things away, and proceeded to check off all of the things I had done. This was at least 10 minutes after my interactions with the woman. Suddenly, I heard someone walking down the hall and pause outside my door. The door opened- and there was the Asian woman! "Oh good!" She crowed, delighted, "I found you, I found you!" I was absolutely horrified. "Ma'am!" I cried, trying to keep the semblance of cheeriness. "You're not supposed to be back here!" I was completely ready to forgive her this mistake, figuring that her language skills weren't good enough to recognise the fact that she was most certainly NOT supposed to be here. "Oh, I know, I know, it say Cast Members only, but it ok! I need the pin!" I stared at her. She completely disregarded the rules, trespassed on Private Disney property that Guests, under no circumstances, were allowed to see. Unless they were with DiveQuest, but then, those people had to pay a pretty penny. As I herded her quickly to the door, hoping no one would see us, she continued to say "I want your pin! I need it! It's my last day here, and I need your pin!" Breathing heavily, so I wouldn't yell at her, especially now that we were onstage, I said quietly "Ma'am, do you realize that if one of my superiors had caught us and had thought that I let you back there, I would have lost my job?" I was furious. "Oh, it ok, it ok!" She cried, " I need you pin! It my last day!" Nearly shaking, I traded pins with her, and watched her walk away. I was sorely tempted not to trade with her, and if I wasn't so new, well, maybe I wouldn't have. But it was still all about making sure each and every guest had a Magical experience. And she did.

She probably wouldn't have if she realized how close she was to having me throttle her.

[mechurchlady]

It was not ethnicity but pin traders. I have met the scum of pin trading and have been rather annoy myself as a pin traders. They will do almost anything including stealing, lying, breaking rules, and trespassing.

Pin trader have to have a pin and will do anything in their power to get it. I have been pulled to the brink of teetering over by someone grabbing my lanyard, had the hooter bouncers who have to have a pin on your lanyard near your hooters, the rope burn from guests yanking on lanyards, the slobbers who pull pin backs off with their teeth and drool, and lots more.

They have to see your lanyard even if you are with other guests. They will hover over peoples' shoulders trying to see if they can find a rare pin. I wrote a little about this I think in my thread about ToonFest. At ToonFest I was at the Studio store hunting for rare pins. I got me my Figment pins. Pin traders used to be, at DLR, very nice except for the scum who lied, cheated, stole pins from DLR, and formed cliques that made life a living nightmare for other upright pin traders.

If you see a pin trader then excuse their obnoxious ways as they are so enrapt in finding that pin they need that they will not see the tram about to run them over and might even walk into a wall.

Goes to SGT time out corner for life for being an annoying pin trading guest.

[TinkerBelleRoo]

I'm not a cast member just a (hopefully not stupid) guest but I have to ask, what's the big deal with these pins? I saw them and walked right by them. They're cute and all but rather pointless. People going crazy over them is ridiculous. They're metal pins, people, not gold bars.

Maybe its just me that refuses to buy into the 'rarity' of these pins. They have no real value. Its just Disney trying to create a sense of Urgency that you MUSt get them. Like those beanie babies (the TY ones) a few years back.

I admit I got a few and got a little caught up in it because they were really cute. But look where they are now. You can't give them away. The pins are going to go down the same road. In a few years these pin fanatics are going to look at those lanyards filled with them and wonder why did I waste all that money on this crap.

And then all the poor cast member can finally have a break :D. Or just toss the lanyard and watch them all run for it. Now that should be a fun stupid guest trick to watch for the rest of us :D

[ThunderCat]

The pins are going to go down the same road. In a few years these pin fanatics are going to look at those lanyards filled with them and wonder why did I waste all that money on this crap.

A few weeks ago, one of our Pin Trading shops set an all-time high sales record. I don't think the pins are going the way of the Beanie Babies any time soon -- especially not considering Disney has about $.05 invested in each pin -- and they sell for, what? $8-13 each? Nope - We're making waaaaaay too much money on those beauties.

This is why I tell my guests "Now, be careful. Pin Trading can lead to madness - or worse. If I were you, I'd only worry about getting the pins I like, or think are cool. It's really easy to get into the mindset of "I have to have them all" - and you can't. There are Tens of Thousands of different pins out there."

[joanna71985]

That is horrible. If I was you, I would have removed the pin and told her it had already been traded. But seriously, I HATE pins and when guests come backstage. Pins are the reason I wear a hip lanyard and refuse to put lanyard pins on it. And I had an interesting experience with a guest backstage recently. I was working with Pooh at Pooh's Playgroun and we were backstage "switching out". Well, all of a sudden a guest comes backstage past the door with "cast member only" on it, and past a heavy black curtain. And guess what was back there? Oh yeah. Good thing he was an adult. It was not a pretty sight.

[mechurchlady]

Pin Trading is a big money maker for the parks. Cheap to make and cheap to sell. i probably have 1000 pins but not sure because they are shoved in corners. Pin trader sometimes live pay check to pay check and will let the water heater, car, home repairs and new clothes slide. The eBay have hit at one time $500 for one pin and it used to be common for groups to buy out rare pins like LE 500 and then resale them for double or triple what they where bought for.

it is a nasty compulsion and it hit me bad at ToonFest which I mentioned in my post on that. i was back to circling and hounding to get a bunch of pins. It is to the point that I collect good dragons, cast pins, DCA, Fantasia, artist choice, chester & hester, unusual pins like YES and United Way, one of each character, and attractions at DLR and to a lesser extent other parks.

I got lots of pins and need a job (Hi Zazu), total home repair, car, food, and other things in life but them pins sit their dusty and useless but Except for Brad calling me TRASH and other bad stuff there are memories in my pins.

Lots of happy pins.

[EpcotGolfer]

There's a door at the Animation building at Studios that leads backstage right next to our base. It's clearly marked "Cast Members Only", but it also has a big red "EXIT" sign (in case of emergencies) hanging above it, so sometimes people, both english-speaking and not, will walk through this door, across the hallway, and make it to the other side out to the dumpsters. At one point, we tried putting a Marker board with the phrase "Not an Exit" written in about seven different languages right in front of the door, but we were told that this was a hazard by impeeding an emergency exit. And besides, guests would still exit the door, totally ignore the sign (and not even think, "wait a minute, there's a MARKERBOARD in front of me at WALT DISNEY WORLD"), and proceed out the other door, so it was really no use. So we just have to resort to jumping up from whatever we're doing when we hear that door open, rush out and ask the guests, "politely", to go back where they came from. Sigh...

[BirdMom]

I've found a sense of humor is the best way to handle the interlopers, especially children (who generally end up backstage by accident). I always told them that they would immediately be put to work for very little money if they didn't skidaddle, and that would usually get rid of them.

The pins are underwhelming. I have a handful, but they are only things that have personal meaning, like a Zorro pin (because it was my favorite show when I was a little kid) or pins for Attractions I worked, as well as the old pins they gave us back in the day. It's like any other hobby to me - don't buy it as an "investment" - that's a joke, it will be overdone like every other fad, and people will be stuck with a pile of pins they don't want then unload them for .25 on eBay. If you don't love it and want to keep it for yourself, don't buy it or trade it. The pin traders are only the latest incarnation of Disneyana "collectors" who take themselves and their hobby way too seriously.

[mechurchlady]

It will not die soon. Here are some examples.

$350 LE 120 Figment pin
http://cgi.ebay.com/Disney-Epcot-Cast-O ... dZViewItem

$545 pin
http://cgi.ebay.com/VERY-RARE-HAUNTED-M ... dZViewItem

30 year service pin for cast members asking $299.99
http://cgi.ebay.com/DISNEY-30-YEAR-CAST ... dZViewItem

[LittleDollClaudia]

Okay, I stayed quiet on this as long as I could. I found this at Food For Less the other day. (A real scary grocery store) Now, talk about something you could sell on Ebay as some limited edition! I am so tempted. I could probably get $200 for it. And why, because it's Disney.I have learned working in a hotel by Disneyland that displays various promotional items that anything that says Disney is worth something. Guests I have here would give me money for a napkin if had some special date on it. I had flyers about the early closure for the Pirates premiere. Some lady asked for 20 of them. I said why? "They could be worth money someday." Wow. So take more useless trash home to sit in your house because it could make you a couple of bucks. Sheesh!

But really, would you feed this to your dog? You evil person, you. :twisted: