I got that a lot in retail. I was constantly on guard, but customers would like...hover around in the general area and sort of look my way, like they wanted to ask a question, but not really. It's hard to read body language sometimes, so you don't want to just walk up to everyone you see who looks like they might need help. Whenever a customer came up to me and I was chatting with my co-worker, I would immediately drop the conversation and turn my attention to them. I know this doesn't happen everywhere and there are employees legitimately ignoring customers, but sometimes people aren't as obvious as they think they're trying to make themselves look when they need help. In this instance at Disneyland, if you're walking up to a CM and they are chatting with co-workers, you ask for help and you either get the stink eye or they straight up ignore you after you've made it clear you're looking for help, then there's a problem.
Bottom line is, we're all human, we all have thoughts and emotions. Maybe someone was dealing with a death in the family, maybe a bad break up. Maybe it's abuse. Maybe it's failing school. Maybe they're struggling with mental health issues. Maybe it's the fact that they deal with thousands of incredibly rude guests who treat them like dirt because they're in a customer service position day in and day out, which erodes away at your spirit (I know, I work customer service). Either way, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and brush things off. I pick my battles because I know what's worth it for me to care much about and what's not. Everyone is different, though.
If you're getting bad customer service, then do something about it. Request to speak to a manager. Go to city hall. Email guest relations. Let these people know how your experience went. The manager isn't going to know unless they hear about it. And in that case, the manager can't do anything about it if people just grumble and go on their way. Likewise, let them know how good a job they're doing, too! If you had an awesome experience, or something you saw that didn't personally happen to you, please take the time to email names and areas. Many people are super quick to raise their voice and complain, but it's few and far between to get compliments. In fact, I don't remember the last time I was complimented for anything at work. 99.9% of the time all I hear are complaints. However, when we do hear that someone noticed we were doing a good job, I cannot explain how good this makes me and my co-workers feel. It drives us the rest of the day, the rest of the week sometimes even and all just from a seemingly small compliment.
Unless we want Disney to replace its workers with automated machinery, which will be extremely cut at dry with less leeway for making magical moments, maybe it'd be better to put things into perspective.
