Friday, October 20, 2000
by Kevin Yee
Sometimes management decides it's time to reward the CMs. I don't mean anything parkwide, I just mean locally, at the restaurant or store or attraction.
The leads get their own party once a year (or at least they used to; I think 1996 was the most recent one), but the kind of reward I'm talking about today is for the whole crew of a location. This is pure management-thanking-hourlies. So they throw a party!
One such night happened at the French Market shortly after the whole "business unit" thing, and the idea was to boost morale. Managers have a modest budget for this sort of thing, and pretty wide latitude.
Party at the Market!
So we just convened at the French Market patio, and one of our number fulfilled his dream by being a DJ. Go Joey! He was actually pretty good.
Naturally there was dancing. We cleared out a bunch of the tables on the patio and formed a giant dance floor.
Stage lighting helped set the mood. Free food and drink everywhere helped everyone feel appreciated. But parties don't just start. There needs to be an icebreaker. And this icebreaker?
Bingo! It still strikes me as a truly odd thing, but there it is. Here we were, CMs at the Market, showing up after work hours at our own restaurant, playing Bingo and munching cookies. Odd.
The party, once it got going, was actually pretty okay; certainly better than I had thought it would be. Nothing quite like dancing with your co-workers while your boss(es) look on with pride (this was before Ally McBeal debuted, by the way, so the coworker dancing thing was still a novelty, for me at least).
The evening was marked not by any one large event but by a series of fun smaller ones. We played some version of bingo (find one of your co-workers who has re-hired twice! find one who lived in Montana!) There were minor prizes given out for such things as Most Improved Worker and so on. Our manager Carrie was rather touchy-feely that way. Always irritated me slightly, to be honest. It never felt fully genuine.
But the party? Oh, the party was fun, harmless, and worthwhile I guess. It was distinctive in that the locations never used to do this — in the past, there were department-wide parties.
One such party at a nearby park went all day and night, with free food driven down from Disneyland itself. At this park we played softball and other outdoor games. This, to my mind, was the more appropriate way for co-workers to have a party. Seemed Disney-like and wholesome, while the dance party onstage at the French Market was just plain... weird. It felt "off" for some reason.
Another such New Orleans Restaurants party was held at the beach, of all places. Corona del Mar, if I remember correctly. One of our Cafˇ Leads, Mark, was instructed to use the departmental pickup truck to drive out the clam chowder for our party. He got a flat tire on the 55 freeway, in his blue / white striped Cafˇ costume, no less.
Picture someone wearing this costume changing a tire on the 55 Freeway. Actually, this could happen all the time now, since many Cast Members now take home their costumes using "FastTrack".
The truck of course has no spare tire — it's for use backstage only, and only sometimes goes on actual streets — so he had to call the Facilities people at Disneyland, who then drove out to find his broken down truck and replaced the tire for him.
When he arrived, we derived a great deal of merriment from his predicament, of course. Amazingly, the chowder was still warm (though not hot).
But departments gave way to "business units" as you heard a few months ago in this column, and the parties became smaller. And less inspired, if you ask me.
Do they still have Cast Member Appreciation Events? I'm sure they do... but I haven't heard about them lately. Any Cast Members out there want to comment?
Next up: Cast Member "Milestone" parties
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Are you a CM or a former CM? I would love to hear and share your stories! E-mail me! Stories and comments you submit become property of and may be published on this site; we normally don't publish last names of current CMs, but if you wish to remain anonymous altogether or do not want me to share your stories, please let me know when you e-mail me. — Shoshana NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in reader-contributed stories do not reflect those of Cast Place or MousePlanet. CM – Cast member; company lingo for “employee.” Empowerment Evolution – The 1995 attempt by newer park management to introduce modern accountability and market forces into the stodgy Disneyland methodology and power hierarchies. The name was meant to “empower” rank and file employees by removing layers of their management, though now there are more managers than ever. TPO – Theme Park Operations; the division of the Disneyland hierarchy that actually works in the theme park itself. TDA – Team Disney Anaheim; the name of the on-site administration building. Area manager – used to be responsible for an entire land, with all business divisions in the area reporting to him. Area supervisor – the immediate boss for location supervisors who divide up a department of intelligently grouped locations. The area supervisors in turn reported to the area manager. Nowadays all supervisors and area supervisors have been replaced by managers and assistant managers — the same idea, but smaller “business units" than a department; usually just one location in fact. RFT – “A” status; a full-time hourly employee. RPT – “B” status; an hourly employee five days a week but just not quite 40 hours usually. CR – “C” status; an hourly employee who works weekends year-round and five days a week during all school holiday periods (including summer and Christmas break). CT – a part-time hourly employee who works five days a week during all school holiday periods (including summer and Christmas break). No seniority, so shifts worked are usually quite short. Locate the employment center to fill out an application, and they will call you for an interview (dress nicely, just shy of an actual suit). Once there, follow these rules, in this order of importance: 1. Smile and be very friendly. They want outgoing people.
2. Do not let the group interview throw you off balance. They want outgoing people who can “perform” a little bit.
3. Do not worry about job (in)experience. They don't care. They want friendly people, not experienced and/or hardened people.
4. Do your best to convince them you already have a Disney attitude: you want to work with people, you're a team player, and you would consider this a dream job (however, don't overdo it on the crazy-Disney-fan side either). Strike a nice balance.
5. Did I mention the importance of a smile? 
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