A few points after reading the recent comments:
1- I am not at all surprised that Show and the other CMs aren't too put off by the memo/policy. This is not new to them, and they are obviously "committed to the cause". I am more concerned about CMs who don't care enough about Disney to discuss these things on Internet message boards. New CMs who never knew management ever expected them to act as if they are "on-stage", even if they are just walking through the park in-costume.
2- I can understand not wanting to pay walk-time for CMs who don't walk through the park in-costume. If there are certain areas that allow the CMs to exit through employee exits, or at least change clothes first, then no, they shouldn't be paid walk time. This is not difficult to administer. Many large corporations designate certain jobs/shifts for special pay scales/rates/procedures. So the cost is not nearly as large as some have speculated.
3- The comments from Voice about CM behavior shouldn't be taken to be an indictment of all, or even most, CMs. We are talking about the lowest common denominator, if you will. The bottom 10%, or 5%, or whatever. When paid for their walk-time, these CMs have no choice but to provide Disney quality interactions at all times or they are gone. If not paid for their walk-time, they can do ANYTHING they want, and they can't even be verbally warned. I know most CMs are wonderful, caring people that Walt would be proud to have lunch with. But there are exceptions.
I don't want to overplay the significance of this. Its only one decision, and it will be un-noticed by most guests. In fact, most of us will probably not see any immediate impact because we probably find few occasions where we need to stop a CM and ask questions. But there will definitely be some guests who do not get as positive an experience as they would have otherwise recieved. Policies are a reflection of management's direction, and this policy can only be viewed as a bad sign.
And the answer to the question is this. The issue was highlighted by management because there was a CM that was off the clock and did not assist a guest, it turned into a big issue because the guest went to guest relations and put in a complaint. The managers then tried to reprimand the CM for his actions which in turn sparked a union greivance. Being that the CM was off the clock and was not rude but merely stated that he was off and unable to assist, the CM won the grievance and the upper management was forced to come out with some sort of policy across the board. The only way to do this was to make a written statement that would be sent to all managers advising that it is the CM's decision to assist or not, once they are off the clock managers can no longer take situations of this nature into their hands. Obviously they still expect the CM's to be polite about it, but... I still stand by what I have said before I personally have no problem answering a simple question on my way out (if it is a complex question or situation I would direct the guest elsewhere, but for a simple can you tell me where such and such is? it's easier to just answer).
