Odd encounter with CM in TTC parking lot . . .

[goofy4tink]

I tend to get tired of the 'reasons' people give for rude behavior by CMs. Every single CM knew, going in, what the pay would be. So, I guess that when you get paid $10 an hr, it's understandable when you're rude. You're almost entitled to that rudeness. But if you're paid $18 an hr, you're supposed to be thrilled to be working and rudeness isn't acceptable.
Doesn't work for me. Yes, most of these CMs are young. But they should know what expectations are.
I would have noted the CM's name, the time and area if the parking lot. I would have stopped at Guest Services at some point and put in a complaint. I would probably have followed up with an email. That behavior went well beyond CM crankiness. It was downright rude. There is never any excuse for that. These CMs are the first people guests interact with.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

If the CM was taking a deep breath to control his temper with 5 cars in the lot at EMH. . .geez, he must have been joy personified at the 10am rush.

 

[Magpie]

That's a funny take on it. What I would say is that Japanese is a very high context language. If a pronoun can be inferred by context it will almost always be dropped in spoken conversation. This leads to sentences like you mention. This is true of any pronoun and most nouns. If someone asks how old your dad is, you don't answer 'my dad is...' unless it is some sort of polite speach situation. You don't even use a pronoun like Kare (he) if you don't need it. Just, "nanaju sai da"

On the other hand, speaking about oneself does not make designating yourself redundant nearly as often as you may think. From Edo to Aichi to Osaka you hear Japanese talking about themselves directly in every conversation.

Especially true when answering questions.
"Who went to Disneyland over break?"
"Ore deshita"
"Boku da"
Basically two ways of saying, "I did".

As for pronouns of choice... Young women still use watashi and less formal versions. Office ladies will use atashi. The Japanese hipsters and teenagers are using uchi. And males from 15 to elderly get by with ore.

Trying to straddle the list e between too polite watashi and a little loose ore, I found myself using jibun to self reference. It literally means "oneself" so it gets used a little differently but to the same effect as saying "I".

Curious which text you use. Everyday Japanese is my favorite starter text but a lot of students still get started with genki.

Genki! What's your opinion of it?

Also, I just found this site, which is a lot of fun... http://www.japaneseammo.com/stop-using-watashi-i-the-real-way-to-refer-to-yourself/

"A funny take on it" is probably inevitable, considering I'm naturally coming at this from a very foreign perspective, and still figuring things out (and always will be!).

 

[mumumouse]

So until our trip last week we have never had a "bad" experience with a CM. Last week's experience was odd and so totally out of character for a WDW CM we were completely taken by surprise.

We got to the TTC really early for EMH, it was so early there weren't any CMs in the parking booths yet and there were VERY few cars going into the TTC. Typically you veer to left until you get to the point where you turn right to head down toward the parking spaces. Well this day the only other cars that were in the parking lot veered to the right instead of continuing to the left. There was a sign with an arrow that said "MK Parking" pointing in the direction they were going so we followed the other cars thinking it was so early we were being parked in a different area of the parking lot. When we pulled into the space the CM guided us into he asked if we were heading to MK and told us they were actually parking people there for a golf event and that we should drive back around until we get to where we can "go across" to get to the main parking lot where we would be closer. No biggie. We thanked him and headed that way.

So we went back around and came to an area where we could either turn right and basically go to just the other end of where we had previously "parked" for the golf event or we could "go across" and head over closer to the entrance for the TTC. Since he said "go across" we thought that was what he meant. There were no other cars there and no CMs in sight to verify we were headed the right way. When we got to the place where you turn right to head to the parking spaces there was a CM and my husband told him we were trying to park for MK and asked him if we were in the right place. He said "Yes, follow the cones and then park behind the row of cones up there." He did the two finger point to where he was telling us to go. So we do as he says and before we get to the row of cones a CM walks in front of our rental mini van with his hands out. My DH rolls down his window and the CM says in kind of a snotty voice "Where do you think you're going?" My DH replies "They told us to come this way for MK parking?" The CM kind of sarcastically laughs under his breath and responds "Oh, so you just decided to ignore all the arrows and cones and just go whoever you want to go?" My husband, confused, replies "No, the guy back there told us to drive up here." My DH is totally calm and friendly as he talks to him. Then the CM says "No. No no one told you that." We were confused so I tried to clarify "Yes, the CM back there (and pointed to the man in the distance) told us to come up here." He then takes a deep breath like he's trying to control his temper and gives me this hard stare as if I have just challenged his "parking authority" and repeats "No. You know no one told you that, you just think you can do whatever you want to do." Then he curtly told my husband to drive across the parking lot to the end of the row and park next to the only other car there.

Okay. So we are very nice, non-confrontal people who do NOT break rules. We were in a rented mini van. It was me, my husband, our 28 year old son and his 27 year old girlfriend and our 16 year old son. We were not rude at all. In fact it was clearly apparent that we were lost in the parking lot and just trying to figure out where we were supposed to park. So we pull into the parking space and the one other car there next to us is another mini van with a man and woman and two young children eating McDonald's. My older son gets out of the van while asking "What was that guy's problem." The man in the driver's seat in the car must have heard him because he rolled down his window and asked "Did that guy give you a hard time too?" We said yes. His response - "That guy should NOT be working at Disney."

So it didn't affect our day at all except that it annoyed us. Having a WDW CM accuse us of lying? Umm, no. Unfortunately we were so thrown by his behavior that none of us thought to look at his badge and get his name so we could write to WDW about the incident. I have NEVER even considered complaining about a CM before but being accused of lying really ticked me off. In the end we decided that maybe he was just having a really bad day for some reason so we didn't complain. But it sure feels good to it off my chest here! Whew!

You should complain. Name or no name.

 

[kristenabelle]

Agreed with all the above posters about logging an official complaint. I had an unfortunate complaint about a CM (my first, ever), emailed WDW the day after I returned home, and received a call confirming the time and location of the event in question, which the guest relations CM told me would help identify the complaint-related CM. They also mentioned that it was about training/re-training in many situations, not punitive (if that makes you feel any better)

 

[disneyvoice]

Agreed with all the above posters about logging an official complaint. I had an unfortunate complaint about a CM (my first, ever), emailed WDW the day after I returned home, and received a call confirming the time and location of the event in question, which the guest relations CM told me would help identify the complaint-related CM. They also mentioned that it was about training/re-training in many situations, not punitive (if that makes you feel any better)

Actually that DOES make me feel better. I don’t want to get the CM in trouble but it did occur to me that we were able to let the situation go because we knew that kind of attitude is not the norm from a WDW CM. What convinced me to notify WDW of the encounter is the thought that someone could have that kind of incident be their very first encounter with a CM and mar their opinion of WDW. It would make me feel terrible if that happened because we didn’t share our experience.

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I am going to send an email.

 

[cobright]

Genki! What's your opinion of it?

"A funny take on it" is probably inevitable, considering I'm naturally coming at this from a very foreign perspective, and still figuring things out (and always will be

I liked Genki. When I was a student the textbook was the Japanese for Busy People series( I said everyday Japanese earlier) that was in 2005. I've since audited classes to keep my skills and have used the Genki series and Minna no Nihongo. When I was tutoring, Genki was probably the most common. JfBP is my favorite textbook series. It was developed by the association for Japanese language teaching.

Genki is a close second best (imo). It's also a lot more expensive. Hands down best book for memorizing kanji is Heisig's remembering the kanji. I picked up about 500 useful kanji over a 3 week Christmas break.

Parting word of advice. It's not the devil's tongue and the culture is not so mysterious. Follow my European Theory of East Asia. China is like Scotland. Their ways and manner and food will seem the most outlandish, but they are a kind people once you can understand them. Korea is like Ireland. They are expressive. Quick to fight, quicker to make up, they dance and sing and hug even. And they drink ... All the drinks. Japan is more like England. Quiet, reserved, and polite, though that politeness is often an affectation. My professor and mentor while a student and long time friend since, Seigo Nakao, has endorsed my theory and he literally wrote the random house Japanese English dictionary.

 

[Magpie]

I liked Genki. When I was a student the textbook was the Japanese for Busy People series( I said everyday Japanese earlier) that was in 2005. I've since audited classes to keep my skills and have used the Genki series and Minna no Nihongo. When I was tutoring, Genki was probably the most common. JfBP is my favorite textbook series. It was developed by the association for Japanese language teaching.

Genki is a close second best (imo). It's also a lot more expensive. Hands down best book for memorizing kanji is Heisig's remembering the kanji. I picked up about 500 useful kanji over a 3 week Christmas break.

Parting word of advice. It's not the devil's tongue and the culture is not so mysterious. Follow my European Theory of East Asia. China is like Scotland. Their ways and manner and food will seem the most outlandish, but they are a kind people once you can understand them. Korea is like Ireland. They are expressive. Quick to fight, quicker to make up, they dance and sing and hug even. And they drink ... All the drinks. Japan is more like England. Quiet, reserved, and polite, though that politeness is often an affectation. My professor and mentor while a student and long time friend since, Seigo Nakao, has endorsed my theory and he literally wrote the random house Japanese English dictionary.

Lol, I never would think it was the devil's tongue, or that the culture is particularly mysterious!

My mother was an American army brat who lived in Japan until she was nine. Her first words were in Japanese and she was largely raised by the household staff. After Japan, she lived in Germany. I've been curious to know a bit more about her. Plus, I also tutor reading, and I was interested to try putting myself in my students' shoes - tackling a phonetic and writing system that's completely unfamiliar to me, in order to see what it feels like from the student side of things. What kind of mistakes will I make?

My mother sometimes tells me things about the "Japanese people" that I suspect are generalizations based on her personal experience... she had mud and rocks thrown at her, people would mock her behind her back and make fun of her inability to speak properly or understand all of the social conventions. But, at the same time, she loves Japan. She was SO excited to return, a few years ago, and find the beach she remembered playing on in Okinawa. It was, despite the problems with being unwanted, the happiest time of her life.

So, I am trying both to honor her, and also my students, and plus... it's just fun!

I like your European theory of East Asia. And I'll look for Heisig's book, thanks.

 

[cobright]

Lol, I never would think it was the devil's tongue, or that the culture is particularly mysterious!

My mother was an American army brat who lived in Japan until she was nine. Her first words were in Japanese and she was largely raised by the household staff. After Japan, she lived in Germany. I've been curious to know a bit more about her. Plus, I also tutor reading, and I was interested to try putting myself in my students' shoes - tackling a phonetic and writing system that's completely unfamiliar to me, in order to see what it feels like from the student side of things. What kind of mistakes will I make?

My mother sometimes tells me things about the "Japanese people" that I suspect are generalizations based on her personal experience... she had mud and rocks thrown at her, people would mock her behind her back and make fun of her inability to speak properly or understand all of the social conventions. But, at the same time, she loves Japan. She was SO excited to return, a few years ago, and find the beach she remembered playing on in Okinawa. It was, despite the problems with being unwanted, the happiest time of her life.

So, I am trying both to honor her, and also my students, and plus... it's just fun!

I like your European theory of East Asia. And I'll look for Heisig's book, thanks.

Okinawa is a different animal. The Americans are a much bigger imposition there and regular folk resent them. For good reason mostly. Also some of the hardest fighting of WW2 happened in Okinawa including a well remembered mass suicide within one of the military bases, like 900 soldiers. In the rest of Japan your an oddity at worst and in Osaka you'll get taken out drinking whenever you want to go.

 

[tarak]

Genki! What's your opinion of it?

Also, I just found this site, which is a lot of fun... http://www.japaneseammo.com/stop-using-watashi-i-the-real-way-to-refer-to-yourself/

"A funny take on it" is probably inevitable, considering I'm naturally coming at this from a very foreign perspective, and still figuring things out (and always will be!).

I liked Genki. When I was a student the textbook was the Japanese for Busy People series( I said everyday Japanese earlier) that was in 2005. I've since audited classes to keep my skills and have used the Genki series and Minna no Nihongo. When I was tutoring, Genki was probably the most common. JfBP is my favorite textbook series. It was developed by the association for Japanese language teaching.

Genki is a close second best (imo). It's also a lot more expensive. Hands down best book for memorizing kanji is Heisig's remembering the kanji. I picked up about 500 useful kanji over a 3 week Christmas break.

Parting word of advice. It's not the devil's tongue and the culture is not so mysterious. Follow my European Theory of East Asia. China is like Scotland. Their ways and manner and food will seem the most outlandish, but they are a kind people once you can understand them. Korea is like Ireland. They are expressive. Quick to fight, quicker to make up, they dance and sing and hug even. And they drink ... All the drinks. Japan is more like England. Quiet, reserved, and polite, though that politeness is often an affectation. My professor and mentor while a student and long time friend since, Seigo Nakao, has endorsed my theory and he literally wrote the random house Japanese English dictionary.

I’ve been following this and taking notes for my 13-year-old. She loves all things Japan (especially anime and manga) but she asked me to buy some language books recently. She very badly wants to live there someday.

OP, that is definitely not acceptable behavior. We live near Hershey Park and the lot attendants are usually teens. We obviously don’t get the traffic that WDW gets, but the worst I’ve gotten here is a rolling of the eyes.