Week 16

I had an interesting guest experience this week. We call this following situation a code 22, which is an unruly guest.

I was working the back gate at Epcot, International Gateway, which leads to the Yacht and Beach Club, the Boardwalk, and the Swan and Dolphin hotel. It was the very end of the night and I was closing with one other cast member. I was putting the covers on the turnstiles when I heard a male guest yelling and screaming obscenities. This cast member I was working with is known for being rude to guests so I can only imagine what she has done this time.

I should take time now to say that while closing we have four main tasks. 1) Wish every guest a good night. 2) Open the gate for strollers to exit. 3) Make sure any rented Electronic Cart Vehicles do not leave the park. 4) Make sure no alcohol leaves the park. When looking for alcohol we are trained to look at the cups, not what is inside the cup its self. A clear plastic cup WITH a lid on it is fine to leave the park as those are nonalcoholic drinks. However, clear cups WITHOUT a lid are not allowed to leave the park because these drinks are alcoholic.

Now, back to the situation. So I start to walk over to try to defuse the situation. The guest is obviously very drunk and clearly upset at something that just occurred. Apparently the man had a clear plastic cup without a lid on it containing a clear liquid. My fellow cast member instructed the man to finish the drink before he left the park or to throw it away. The man decided to throw the drink away. As he was doing this another guest walked by with a clear plastic cup with a lid on it containing a clear liquid and he was allowed to exit with the drink.

Well this sent the drunk guest into a tantrum demanding to know who gave the cast member the authority to choose what can and cannot be taken out of the park. He claimed his drink only contained water. He was very upset that he had to throw away his cup of water...he had some very colorful language. Now, this could have been defused rather easily if my fellow cast member would have explained calmly why the other guest was allowed to leave. Instead, she did what she usually does when any guest starts yelling-she completely ignored the guest. This only further enraged the guest.

So I approach the guest and his wife, knowing that I am dealing with two very drunk guests, and with a smile, say, "How can I help you sir?" To my surprise he is very calm with me explaining what had happened. His wife was trying to pull him out of the park to get him to leave which angered him and he started yelling again. At that point I waved our security guard Richie over just to be safe. Richie takes the lead and soon the guest and Richie are screaming at each other filled with obscenities. Richie walks away from the guest and again he turns towards me, and again, very calmly says, "Tony, may I please speak with a manager?" I tell him I will call for one and place the call using our code 22 on the phone so the manager knows what to expect when he comes in.

When the manager comes over he first talks with Richie and then moves over to the guest. The guest explains what happened and the manager goes into our gift shop and gives the guest a free bottle of water. I was torn on this action. On the one hand I can see why the manager gave the free bottle of water. The guest did have a cup of water thrown away for no reason (our cast member should have known it was water) and honestly giving away a bottle of water costs the company nothing because the Coca Cola Company gives us bottles of pop and water free while they make most of the profits on fountain drink sales. So it was a quick and cost free way to make an upset guest happy and it would get the drunk guest away and back to their hotel quickly.

However, this guest treated two cast members very poorly (I think he treated me well because I treated him well even though he was drunk), He was swearing as families with small children were leaving the park, and he got that water from a fountain so it didn't cost him anything. So in that regard I wish the manager had just had the guest escorted from the park, but, from a business stand point I understand why the bottle of water was given. It was a quick way to defuse the situation, and it didn't cost the company a thing. A win-win in the manager's mind.