Let's respond to our guests complaint....by completely ignoring him!

[glendalais]

This is just.....yea...

(For the record, I didn't see this firsthand, but I did hear about it from multiple CMs, Your Mileage May Vary)

Anyway, Space Mountain 101ed yesterday afternoon. Fairly normal 101, CMs go to the entrance to inform the guests about the situation, apologize, and encourage them to enjoy one of TL's other attractions.

A guest comes up and starts asking about Fastpasses (are they still valid, etc. - I'm sure Attractions CMs know what I'm talking about). Apparently, something goes wrong, and it gets to the point where the Guest starts taking names.

This is where it gets ugly.

They took off their nametags and walked off.

Long story short, they supposedly were all reported and are apparently in more trouble than they would have been referred to City Hall for the original "offense" (which I'm sure Guest Relations would have probably consoled the guest out of filing in the first place, given the fact that the Attraction was 101).

I don't know if this is even accurate. However, if it is it saddens me to see such conduct. Are there SGs out there? Of couse there are (hence this forum :p :) , but we deal with them in a professional manner, not like this :( .

[GuestJockey]

Are there SGs out there? Of couse there are (hence this forum :p :) , but we deal with them in a professional manner, not like this :( .

Or at least we should. I've seen situations where the CM pulled his nametag (still on the shirt) and stretched it out right into the guest's face and said "make sure you spell it right!" It's appalling. Sometimes in City Hall you wish you had the magic power to bypass the red tape and just hit the "fire that guy" button.

[Ms. Matterhorn]

Or at least we should. I've seen situations where the CM pulled his nametag (still on the shirt) and stretched it out right into the guest's face and said "make sure you spell it right!" It's appalling. Sometimes in City Hall you wish you had the magic power to bypass the red tape and just hit the "fire that guy" button.

That kind of behavior comes from students' experiences in high school when they misbehave and are sent to the principal's office and NOTHING HAPPENS TO THEM! I teach in such a school. Now I know where those students go after graduation. They believe they can continue to get away with bad behavior with no consequences.

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

It also shows that they have very bad judgement on human interaction.

Taunting an SG like that, could result in one of them hitting his limit and punch the CM! A bad outcome for both of them. Remember what the "S" in SG means!!

I would think that the simple act of remaining relatively calm and directing the SG to City Hall to file a complaint would suffioce. Plus it gets the SG out of your face.

[Big Wallaby]

I have three thoughts regarding this alleged incident... First of all, if they did that, they should be canned. If they did, it just shows how easy it is to work for Disney.

Third thought... A few days ago, a housemate came home with a story he had heard from another driver, where a Disney employee had, on her way home, run over some guests, killed them, then drove home. Cameras caught her in the act, so when the police showed up at her house, she tried to bribe them with $100 and sexual favors. Since I heard the story, I have found absolutely nothing to corroborate it. I've scoured the Internet to the best of my ability and found absolutely nothing. If this happened, even Disney and it's great abilities in the PR department couldn't make that disappear. The fact I've heard nothing leaves me pretty well convinced it didn't happen.

If you find out more, I would love to hear it. Though this is much, much, much, much more believable than the one I just passed on, I still take it with a grain of salt until I talk to someone who was there (and only if they are someone I trust, which excludes many in the bus department).

Now, did you talk to someone who saw it themselves? If so, my belief in the story goes up.

[BirdMom]

I'm sorry, but this is the sort of thing that really bothers me - that a guest can march down to City Hall and make any sort of claim, and be believed, when in fact, the guest may be exaggerating or downright lying in order to weasel something out of Disney.

When I was an R/O, someone claimed that they asked me the time and I told them to go down to Main Street and check the clock out there for themselves. When told by my Manager, all I could say was, "what?" with a laugh, and she said, "I didn't think so..."

Having said that, I used to have a lead who would respond to requests for his name by saying, "It's Al, it's spelled A-L. That's phonetic if you didn't get it in the first place..."

I feel for anyone who has to stand at the CH counter and listen to those people moan all day, but I would hope that you don't believe 90% of the stuff that is told to you, because, I can't believe some of the stuff I've read when I've seen feedback reports in the past...

[EeyoresButterfly]

Did you hear this from people who heard the guest complaint after the fact, or from people who saw it or heard about it from a witness?

If it's true, that's disgusting. I once had a guest attempt to argue with me for almost an entire rotation (he was pissed off that I wouldn't let him in FP at Philhar just because his GAC had the standard wheelchair entrance. He literally stood out there in the rain with his wife watching me for twenty minutes and would come back and try to argue. At Philhar the standard entrance is the WC entrance, and there wasn't even a full show's wait at that time!). I was super annoyed, but I never got snarky with him. I just smiled, explained the rules, and said that if he felt he wa given the wrong pass he go to GR.

I always hate it when I hear CMs braggin about stupid thingst hey want to do or have done to guests. I hear people talk about pushing strollers into the moat or the river (depending on where you are) if they are left in the wrong place. Some claim to have done it, I'm not sure I believe them. Then there's the entertainment CMs who talk about on their last day removing costume pieces on stage. I always want to just punch them when I hear that. If you hate your job that much, leave. Yes, it is a service sector job so you deal with idiots, but in my experience the guests who were a joy to serve greatly outnumbered the SGs.

[glendalais]

If you find out more, I would love to hear it. Though this is much, much, much, much more believable than the one I just passed on, I still take it with a grain of salt until I talk to someone who was there (and only if they are someone I trust, which excludes many in the bus department).

Now, did you talk to someone who saw it themselves? If so, my belief in the story goes up.

Did you hear this from people who heard the guest complaint after the fact, or from people who saw it or heard about it from a witness?

I agree with all of you, this should be taken with a grain (or two, or ten) of salt. I didn't see this firsthand, and frankly, the more I think about it, the more weird it seems.

Space Mountain is one of the DLR's flagship attractions; and it's Cross-Train only, which should weed out the bad CMs. I find it odd, to say the least, that Space CMs there would do something like this. Normally, they seem like good CMs who enjoy their jobs.

I will have to look into this a bit more. It just seems so odd, now that you mention it.

[JugglingFreak]

What's funny is people don't even look at the name tags most of the time. True story: I used to work at Gulfstream Aerospace. We have photo ID's that we had to have pinned or clipped to your shirts around the chest area so the would be easily visible.

People when in a situation like that would almost inevitably say "What's your name?", etc. despite it being stuck to the person's chest with a picture.

I would generally respond with a fake name and then the upset person would write that down and threaten to complain. Once or twice I did hear about a complaint with the fake name I had given.

I always hate it when I hear CMs braggin about stupid thingst hey want to do or have done to guests. I hear people talk about pushing strollers into the moat or the river (depending on where you are) if they are left in the wrong place. Some claim to have done it, I'm not sure I believe them.

Those kinds of things are just venting.. I doubt anyone has ever done it but people say things like that all the time at almost every place I've ever worked. In fact people do that sort of thing on this very board (clothes-lining heely kids, etc). Just because you say things like that doesn't mean you don't love your job, it's just a way of dealing with stress..

[Big Wallaby]

Just because you say things like that doesn't mean you don't love your job, it's just a way of dealing with stress..

And it doesn't mean we don't love working with the guests we host, either...

I don't know about you, but right now I am kinda addicted to working in theme parks... or at least very close to them.