Experiences with CMs- care to share?

[SorcererDonald16]

[No, they get rewarded, I know this because when hockeygirl visited me in March, she emailed in the names of everyone she thought deserved recognition and Mr. Brit was one of them and he told me later on he got the money. It depends. There's a meeting and they present the money to the CM, I think sometimes they do tell who wrote it. I knew who gave me mine because my managers did mention the names of the guests. Generally I just request mine to be delivered anonymously but the CMs pretty much know it's me based on what I write if it's someone I know.

Is this still the case now? I did not know this! They always send me a feedback survey link on a postcard after I get home, and I list my positive experiences there. But I can never remember anyone's names!

Next time I go, I will have to jot down names along the way and then send in emails when I get home.

It is indeed! So if someone really impresses you, if you remember their name, then just go to guest relations and take it from there.

Glad to know!

Do you happen to know the appropriate email I would write to when I get back home? Usually by the end of each day, we are all dragging and I don't think my parents would be too receptive to stopping by GS on the way out of each park.

[figmentaholic]

Unfortunately I did not get their names but I had two great experiences with CMs during the Year of a Million Dreams. If I remember correctly they were both the same day.. A group of us including my hubby and a few other friends were taking our annual trip in Feb. When I went in, I randomly got one of the YOAMD Tinkerbell pins. I still have it. I refuse to trade it even though I am not a Tinkerbell fan.
The other one, I think I was breaking off from the group maybe to go to DTD, I forget exactly, but I got a ride to my car out in the AK parking lot with one other family on one of the Disney golf carts. Then the nice lady gave me a certificate, I think was some sort of special guest of the day thing.



That was certainly special to me. I just wish my silly mind was less forgetful so I could remember more of the details, but I will never forget the overall experience.

[DisneyYorkie]

I had a poor experience with a CM just this past Friday (4/20/2012). I was having difficulty with getting FPs for Space Mountain at MK. I tried several times with no success. There was a CM at one of the FP machines, so I went over and asked for assistance. I explained that this wasn't an isolated instance, she asked me if I had stored the tickets close to a cell phone by any chance. I had, unfortunately, never thinking that that would damage the magnetic strip on the back. That part of the conversation went fine; I don't have a problem when I do something dumb if someone explains it to me (as long as they can do it in a nice way). It was the NEXT part of the conversation that bothered me:

CM: How many days are left on your ticket?

At this point, I was trying to recall how many days of the 8 I had used, subtract it from 8, trying to figure out if she wanted me to include today or NOT to include today, so I was stumbling a bit with my answer. At this point, the CM says, under her breath, "Okay, lady DOESN'T know how many days are left on her ticket."

I eventually came up with the number and she advised me that I could go to Guest Relations and get the tickets replaced. She gave me three "Fastpass" tickets that I could use that day in MK only to get Fastpasses since my tickets weren't working.

I know CMs are people to and they have bad deals and they have to deal with stupid people all day long that don't know how many days they have left on their tickets, but I guess I was just a little taken back by what she said and how she said it.

[Amy]

That's too bad DisneyYorkie. I'm with you, sometimes CMs might be having a bad day, but they shouldn't let that affect how they deal with guests. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your day ok and didn't let it bother you too much!

[Soarin08]

I can't STAND to hear that CMs are rude, I swear... I feel like we are all a big CM family here at Disney and when some other CM is rude, it makes us all look bad... Sorry to hear that, DisneyYorkie! Rest assured if you ever deal with me in any capacity... I'll bowl you over with so much niceness you'll be thinking "Holy crap on a cracker, she's nice!"

[figmentaholic]

I can't STAND to hear that CMs are rude, I swear... I feel like we are all a big CM family here at Disney and when some other CM is rude, it makes us all look bad... Sorry to hear that, DisneyYorkie! Rest assured if you ever deal with me in any capacity... I'll bowl you over with so much niceness you'll be thinking "Holy crap on a cracker, she's nice!"

Thankfully despite all my visits, the CM rudeness has been very very seldom.. More often than that are the what I would call 'I don't want to be here' CMs, where they are not rude but just kind of tired looking and not particularly happy.

But honestly, we have heard the stupid guest stories, and I can understand how that could wear them down after a long day/week/etc.

[Soarin08]

Still, I don't believe being tired or worn down is any sort of excuse for any CM to be any less than friendly and welcoming no matter what. We are the face of the company and we need to represent it in a way to make Walt proud. Letting the fact you're worn out show and having it affect the guests is not what he would have wanted.

Sorry I get a little fanatical with CM behaviour, being one who tries to be perfect... my email of recommendation from my boss for Guest Relations isn't lying in the line "exudes a passion for the Disney product."

[dstrawn9889]

who would i send to , or email to to express my thanks for a disney store CM's above and beyond?

[DisneyYorkie]

Still, I don't believe being tired or worn down is any sort of excuse for any CM to be any less than friendly and welcoming no matter what. We are the face of the company and we need to represent it in a way to make Walt proud. Letting the fact you're worn out show and having it affect the guests is not what he would have wanted.

Sorry I get a little fanatical with CM behaviour, being one who tries to be perfect... my email of recommendation from my boss for Guest Relations isn't lying in the line "exudes a passion for the Disney product."

All very good points! Every time I visit Disney, I wish with all my heart that I could work there. I WOULD be that person that exudes a passion for the Disney product because I truly believe in what WALT himself believed in: the power of the American family and the importance of dreaming and doing.

[figmentaholic]

Still, I don't believe being tired or worn down is any sort of excuse for any CM to be any less than friendly and welcoming no matter what. We are the face of the company and we need to represent it in a way to make Walt proud. Letting the fact you're worn out show and having it affect the guests is not what he would have wanted.

Sorry I get a little fanatical with CM behaviour, being one who tries to be perfect... my email of recommendation from my boss for Guest Relations isn't lying in the line "exudes a passion for the Disney product."

All very good points! Every time I visit Disney, I wish with all my heart that I could work there. I WOULD be that person that exudes a passion for the Disney product because I truly believe in what WALT himself believed in: the power of the American family and the importance of dreaming and doing.

It should be that way with anywhere people work, especially retail where you work directly with the public. That is the same boat I am in. I work for a very large retail chain and I am the face of the company, and I have to be happy and treat all the customers well even when they mistreat me and my co-workers. Today was a great example of that. It was a terrible day with a lot of difficult customers, but I was happy and smiling when when I wanted to run to a corner and curl up and just hide.

[Soarin08]

who would i send to , or email to to express my thanks for a disney store CM's above and beyond?

Disney Store? Good question. I'll have to look it up. Being that they are CMs but they aren't (if we hire a Disney Store CM into parks or cruise they are treated as a new hire as if they've never worked here before), it might be something not even affiliated with anything I can think of at Disney.

[Amy]

Came across these CM appreciation cards in my roaming around the net. Something that might be fun to print some out and hand them out when you feel a CM has sprinkled a little extra fairy dust on your experience. NOTE: It does mention you need to download the cards, and use Microsoft word to edit and print them. I didn't try to download any of them as I won't be traveling to Disney anytime soon. If anyone does decide to try them, you'll have to let us know if they worked well...
http://tagrel.com/APP/CMCards.shtml

[junebug1233]

I have had one bad experience with a cast member.

We were at the Liberty Tree Tavern last year (love that place!) and we had a certain waiter, I will call him "Bob." He was not particularly friendly and was soooo slow. Since Liberty Tree is family style, we typically have to ask a couple times for different refills on different food items. It was almost impossible to get him to come back to get us anything. He also seemed very confused about the dining plan and took a long time to sort out our bill. All of this wouldn't have been a big deal, but because it took so long to get out of there, we left MK right after fireworks ended. We wanted to go to extra magic hours at Epcot but instead got stuck in the crush of people trying to leave and it took us forever to get to the monorail. Then, they were doing repairs on the monorail and we had to take a bus to Epcot. Needless to say, we didn't get to enjoy much of the extra magic! I can't blame this entirely on Bob, but my family frequently bring him up when talking about Disney!

[figmentaholic]

I hate to hear these negative posts, so let me post another positive one. It isn't one particular person, just the general help that we have been given.

We go every February, the makeup of the group changes a bit, but there are usually three core people, me, my hubby, and J, the guy who always organizes this (because essentially we go down there for his birthday every year)

The problem is that J has health issues and uses a scooter to help with mobility. So that means that we have to take things much slower, and that includes getting in and out of rides. His eyes are bad as well so he has to let his eyes adjust when we go into a dark place like Le Cellier etc.

Overall the CMs have been very accommodating and have been patient with him and us and for that we are eternally grateful. It is frustrating enough to have to go through Disney at a slower pace, so having their patience helps ours.

[Amy]

I hate to hear these negative posts, so let me post another positive one. It isn't one particular person, just the general help that we have been given.

We go every February, the makeup of the group changes a bit, but there are usually three core people, me, my hubby, and J, the guy who always organizes this (because essentially we go down there for his birthday every year)

The problem is that J has health issues and uses a scooter to help with mobility. So that means that we have to take things much slower, and that includes getting in and out of rides. His eyes are bad as well so he has to let his eyes adjust when we go into a dark place like Le Cellier etc.

Overall the CMs have been very accommodating and have been patient with him and us and for that we are eternally grateful. It is frustrating enough to have to go through Disney at a slower pace, so having their patience helps ours.

That is a kind statement to make about the CMs. I like that you said their patience helps with yours. I have to remind myself sometimes that F1gment would also like to go faster, like when she was younger, but she is so happy to be able to go at all, that I have to remember to slow down sometimes and also be happy that I am able to be there with her. It helps that some of the late EMH nights I can return to the parks by myself and go, go, go as fast as I want