Disturbing news video regarding AofA About This Page:

[HollyH]

Originally Posted by Huntermom

Dot,

Can you share some explanations that would absolve the employee of blame? I can't think of any. He was assigned a pretty simple task and even most first graders would know that cleaning a table with a floor mop is not acceptable.

I agree. Most people over the age of 10 should know this was not acceptable. The ONLY thing, IMO, that would partially absolve the employee of blame would be if she was told specifically and explicitlyby her supervisor to clean the tables this way. She STILL should have refused to do so and reported her supervisor (IF that was what happened) to someone higher up, but maybe following a direct order of a supervisor might justify her being able to keep her job and be retrained and not fired. Maybe. I'm on the fence about that one.

Otherwise, I've got nothing.

[Her Dotness]

Sure. Language difficulties could easily result in a failure to understand proper sanitation. Might be an immigrant from an extremely poor background who hadn't the household sanitation skills we have the luxury of thinking are simple common sense. A lot more illegal aliens are employed in such jobs than we want to think about.

Training in too many instances these days is so rushed that much too much is thrown at new hires so rapidly that they can't retain the details. Stores I worked in considered 6-8 hours of training in a single day sufficient. Experienced employees had to finish training new hires oftentimes, because that was all the time the trainer could give them.

Combine something like this with either of the other two factors, and you could have exactly the sort of unacceptable cleaning shown in the video.

[Pax]

Originally Posted by Huntermom

I think sometimes we forget Disney is not exempt from poor employees, I would hope the offending person was fired. To me, there was no excuse for the behavior.

Better, according to the article that person is apparently no longer welcome on any Disney property ever again. Not to work, not to play, not to anything.

[CinderAbby]

Language difficulties could easily result in a failure to understand proper sanitation.

I highly doubt the local board of health would agree that this is an "acceptable" excuse. IMO when it comes to something as important as sanitation, you better be able to speak that persons language or have a very reliable interpreter available to make sure sanitation rules are understood. Too many people are at risk of getting sick. The video looks bad enough for Disney as it is, so I'm sure the last thing they would want is for people to start getting sick. And with busy places like a value resort food court(yes, I know everywhere at Disney is busy but the food courts always are in my experience), it could spread pretty quickly. Then would follow lawsuits, etc, since we know a lot of people are sue happy "it ruined my vacation and now I won't ever be able to eat in another food court." Then there would be all the negative publicity (like what they're getting now). Pretty hefty consequences IMO (if they happen - and we know at least one person would go that far) to say a language barrier is a good excuse for a job done incorrectly.

[Huntermom]

Dot,

When we traveled to some pretty poor and remote villages in Mexico, I was struck by how clean everything was. I cannot imagine anyone thinking using the same broom/mop on a floor and table was OK.

I understand the use of subcontractors as a way to save money but I think it may be penny wise and pound foolish. What ever money was saved by contracting and getting poorly trained or just as likely poorly paid and disgruntled employees was lot by the bad publicity this caused. I am sure this is not the only place the video was posted and it sure makes you think about Disney service in not such a good way.

The comment about no longer being allowed on Disney property makes we wonder if this wasn't a set up of some sort. Seems a little radical (and unenforceable)

[smilechaser]

disturbing. Very disturbing.

[feonag]

Originally Posted by HollyH

I agree. Most people over the age of 10 should know this was not acceptable. The ONLY thing, IMO, that would partially absolve the employee of blame would be if she was told specifically and explicitlyby her supervisor to clean the tables this way. She STILL should have refused to do so and reported her supervisor (IF that was what happened) to someone higher up, but maybe following a direct order of a supervisor might justify her being able to keep her job and be retrained and not fired. Maybe. I'm on the fence about that one.

Otherwise, I've got nothing.

I, too think that people should know better, but they do not! I work in food and am shocked at how little common sense these people have that I have to work with. I am constantly correcting their behavior and asking them to think about what they are doing and ask them if they would do this stuff at home.(I am not even a manager, they sit in the office and have no clue what their employees are doing)You would think that anything that touched the floor should be either tossed or washed and that you should change your gloves, right? Nope, totally clueless. I blame parents not teaching their children any common sense and basic life skills anymore. I ask the young people I work with if their parents have showed them how to cook and clean and 99% of them say "no".

[MJY65]

Originally Posted by Her Dotness

Overuse of disinfectants only encourages disease-causing agents to develop increased resistance, making disinfectants less and less effective. Not a desirable situation at all and one we create by excessive cleanliness.

That is a common, but erroneous, belief. Microbes can develop resistance to antibiotics due to overuse. Drugs like Amoxicillin work by inhibiting bacterial cell wall formation in the replication of the next generation. Those that survive (often due to discontinuing the course too early) can then become resistant to that drug in the future.

Alcohol based sanitizers like Purell or disinfectants like bleach work by direct killing action on the microbes that are already present. They do not contribute to formation of resistant strains.

[aliceinwdw]

I use hand sanitizer in Disney because everywhere you touch, it had probably been touched buy 1,000 other people before you; e.g. any part of a ride, the handrails in teh queues (that people frequently sit on), etc. So I use it to make sure that if I absent-mindedly touch my face afterwards, at least my hands are that much cleaner.

However, before any meal, DH and I both go wash our hands for the same reason. If we're at a TS meal, I rest my silverware on my plate or the butter plate, etc., never on the table. At CS locations, we'll lay out a bunch of the napkins first before eating -- making our own table cloth. We do it just because I don't want to necessary carry around wet wipes, but I know better than to assume someone else has properly used or cleaned the table before me.

As far as this particular incident, I just think the employee was being careless -- more or less going through the motions and not thinking about how disgusting that floor-mop-as-a-table-rag actually is -- because she's using the spray cleaner (not that it's helping), so she obviously knows how to clean -- spray, wipe, etc.

Anyway, all-in-all, it's better to safe than sorry. If they just had something like tearaway table covers (like at the doctor's office), maybe that would help.

[Shell_of_the_South]

I don't think you need training to know you don't clean tables with a mop! That's ridiculous!

[MichaelF]

A lot of business outsource so they don't have to manage and train the employees. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney didn't know how these employees are trained since its left up to the outside company. The company I work for just added 600 people at our location. It amazes me how people don't take pride in their work these days.

[E(ticket)lizabeth]

I want to know who else has seen a "third-party vendor" ever cleaning a restaurant? I always see CMs in obvious Disney costuming. Hmmm.

[comfort80]

I have to say, at the counter service restaurants at the contemporary and at PORFQ the ladies that went around cleaning the tables, floors, counters, etc were very loud in their unhappiness with their jobs.
in their defense, i must say that day both restaurants had poorly behaved customers making unnecessary messes, like dumping fountain drinks all over the counters, and dumping ice and condiments wastefully so someone would have to clean up. i actually felt bad for the cleaning staff at the restaurants. But poor behavior from some should not warrant deliberate contamination of tables other people use.

[momtotaryn]

Well, since we'll be staying at AoA during our upcoming June trip, this video initially horrified me. I was really looking forward to the food court there. However, because of the coverage Disney had because of it, I am fairly satisfied that they have taken steps that it doesn't happen again, especially at this particular location. I'm thinking the management there must be extra vigilant about making sure things are done properly.