Entitlement

Everyone seems to feel they are entitled to something. Employers feel they are entitled to loyalty amongst their employees, employees feel they are entitled to a safe and secure job. Senior citizens feel they are entitled to Social Security, young poor people feel they are entitled to government aid. Everyone is entitled to something.

Disney and its fans are in the same league. Disney fans feel they are entitled to the absolute perfect vacation, or as one person put it, “I expect them to exceed my expectations” — a statement that if you parse out you realize is metaphysically impossible. Disney on the other hand seems to feel entitled to a few things as well. Unswerving loyalty of its customers no matter what junk they shovel at us, as well as charging whatever outrageous prices they can.

It’s a sad state we’re all in. It’s not just Disney, but in all aspects of our society. People always desire things they just can’t have. We know we can’t have everything we want. So we take our desires down to a level where we feel is a good bargain. A Disney fan may want to walk into all their parks for free, and have nothing but five hundred million dollar rides left and right thrown at them. But most people know they can’t have that. Disney, for its sake, perhaps wants everyone to pay ten grand a person to walk into their gate, and for that sum of money, they provide little other than a weed-choked dirt lot. Disney knows that they can’t get that, either.

No one gets what they desire. So they make up in their heads what the minimum is they are at least entitled to for whatever reason. Each person, or set of persons in the case of a corporation, is willing to tolerate a certain level below what they desire and that is their entitlement. Many Disney fans tolerate what they see as problems. Different fans tolerate different things. Some are willing to tolerate extra bits of cartoons invading the parks, or the effeminate ethos overwhelming the place, for example. Those who go to the parks are obviously also willing to tolerate the high prices to get in and for food and merchandise on Disney properties. Whatever the problems are, if you are a fan of the parks, you are willing to tolerate certain issues in order to go to the parks, and have fun at them. When your experience at the park hits a certain line beyond what you are willing to tolerate, or what you feel you are entitled to, you complain. It doesn’t matter to whom, you just complain—to Disney to your friends, or to people online. You complain. Everyone does this. The ill advised addition of cartoons into Small World is a good example hitting people's tolerance point with many people vociferously complaining about something that, taken in abstract, otherwise would probably not have generated as much heat.

Disney is willing to tolerate a lot as well. They are willing to charge you less by selling you an annual pass, basically nothing more than a volume discount, to get you in their gates so you pay them even more money while there. They’re willing to tolerate complaints, will comp people, and generally put up with dealing with the public who can be very difficult to please. It’s a balancing act between making themselves appear interested in you as a person (which they are not) and making sure they keep the dollars flowing in (which is actually why they exist). This is true of every corporation. No matter how they market themselves, no matter whom they market themselves to. They have to kiss a bit of rear to ensure that people continue to give them money.

For years Disney has tolerated people complaining online about every little picky thing you can think of. Most are completely out of line. Some of the more outlandish complaints I recall involve not liking the design of the Disneyland parking structure, the wrong color socks on the pirates at the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, to even not liking the construction materials for the Millionaire building in DCA. Stupid, pointless, and endless complaints spoken with vitriol and hate by people who supposedly “love” Disney. Some of these people go to Disney every week. They go to parks they claim to hate, and spend money there. Some even have bought stock in the Disney Corporation. Many of them think that their three shares entitle them to guide direction of the company (guess what, it doesn’t).

And still they continue to complain.

But an odd thing happened recently, not at Disney, but at another entertainment/vacation company that may indicate a slight change in course in how companies react to people who complain endlessly—even if the people complaining are supposedly their biggest fans.

Royal Caribbean International (RCI), a cruise line I have gone on and found absolutely wonderful, has banned a couple for life from ever cruising on their ships again. Brenda and Gerald Moran from Cleveland Ohio were big fans of the RCI line. They took a couple cruises a year for the last three years, bought stock in the company, and loved the cruise line. Except every time they went, they managed to find something to complain about. Sound familiar?

Some of the complaints seem pretty reasonable. But the question has to be asked, if there are so many problems on board these ships, what’s there to love about it? If you complain and complain, and yet go back, something does not quite add up. Royal Caribbean, for their part, agreed with some of the complaints, and offered discounts and vouchers to compensate for the problems the couple had on their cruises.

What seems to have annoyed RCI was that even after the Morans were given compensation, they still had a negative review of the cruise on a cruise message board. RCI asked them to take it down, they refused. RCI then sent them a letter saying they didn’t want them on their ships anymore. Michael Sheehan, Royal Caribbean’s associate vice president of corporate communications is quoted on expertcruiser.com as saying “On all but one of those sailing the Morans felt there were a variety of service failures they experienced. In a small number of cases we agreed and compensated them appropriately. In most cases, however, we disagreed. Having concluded that we are unable to meet the expectations of the Morans, we have told them that they would be best served by sailing with another company.”

It has long amazed me that Disney has tolerated some of the antics of people online who treat their properties as their private clubhouse, as if their annual passes allows them any special privileges other than a cheaper entrance fee. It has also amazed me that people kept going back to a place they have long complained about. “If you don’t like it, don’t go.” I’ve said that a lot. Of late, it seems that the constant barrage of bitter mewling has had some effect on Disney’s business. I don’t know why Disney does not kick these folks off their property, and I don’t know why these folks continue to go.

One thing that has been said in response to me regarding permanently kicking people off their property is how terrible the publicity would be for Disney. Well, probably not. The Morans were banned from RCI. It didn't exactly make the front page of the New York Times. It has kicked up a bit of dust on cruise boards online, and an article here and there, but if you were not paying attention to those, you would never know it happened. In fact, Disney did remove Jim Hill a couple of years ago for doing an unauthorized tour of the park, and caused David Koenig to cancel a planned tour of the park as well. Yes, people on a couple of bulletin boards said things. Not all said Disney did wrong, and these events have since long been forgotten. It appears that Disney has very little to fear in exercising this option of theirs.

But Disney really does want to hear from their customers, including customers who write online. Online customer feedback is a big corporate focus these days. Disney has been cultivating relationships with groups of people online, as was shown to me on this blog at http://www.svmoms.com/2008/02/draft.html. Disney really wants to hear from people. Normal, regular people. Those people are their real customers, the typical average person who goes to the park for fun, and not to find fault. They visit Disney by the millions and spend billions of dollars a year at their parks. It is absolutely not the case that Disney is uninterested in the opinions of those online. They simply want to hear from people who don't have some sort of impossible to please attitude, those with a personal vendetta against individual employees, or someone with some other bizarre axe to grind.

So it is entirely possible that Disney and the Disney superfans could have a wonderful relationship with each other. Disney would have an extremely loyal set of customers, and the fans would have a company that had an interest in listening to them. There is one simple thing that would cause this to happen: Don’t have a feeling of entitlement.

Instead, have a feeling of appreciation. Fans should appreciate the things that Disney does, and does well. Not everything is always going to be great, but simple humble appreciation that they try. Inept as they may be sometimes, they do try. They don’t have to be in this sort of business to make money. They could make money making cluster bombs for the Department of Defense. But they don’t. They are trying to make money by entertaining us, making us happy, and in return for that, we give them dollars. It's not really a bad thing they are doing.

But Disney could show some appreciation, too. Of the fans who love their products, who give them their money, who feel strongly about what they do. Calling them names and thinking them to be stupid suckers who deserve to be taken is not right. It’s just not. While some of us may be raving nutcases who are never happy with anything, most of us might not actually fall into that category and have some semblance of a good thing to say now and then. Those of us who are strangely drawn into this interest and who care just might deserve some appreciation. A little, anyway. Sometimes.

Respect for honest and decent efforts, even if eventually they don't always measure up, is something we should try to strive for not just with Disney, but to everyone in all areas of our lives. We're all only human, we all make mistakes, we all sometimes say or do things we shouldn't. That is the nature of being.

But for Disney and its fans? Being vicious, being nasty, all that, that’s from thinking you’re entitled. This happens on both sides. But do you know what each side is truly entitled to? They are entitled to this: Absolutely nothing. Disney doesn’t have to give their fans a thing. Not a single blessed thing. As RCI did, they don’t even have to let you on their property. You don’t like their stuff? Well, here’s your money back, don’t return, ever again.

The fans, on the other hand don’t have to give Disney their business, either. If you don’t think they are measuring up to your standards, you don’t have to give them your business. They are not entitled to it. They aren't entitled to your loyalty, your support, or your interest. If you don't like what they have to offer, choose something else to do with your time and money.

Instead, try a cruise. I understand Royal Caribbean may have some extra space for you.


Source:

http://www.expertcruiser.com/advice/royal-caribbean-says-get-out-of-here-to-couple/