Less than Helpful Volunteer for GAD Voucher

[forever a child]

The Disney GAD Volunteer I had come in yesterday to help write Thank You notes to our Donors spent more time on her cell phone than volunteering!:shake: What a sad excuse for a volunteer! We are sending teams to Haiti to help provide people with clean drinking water and apparently she found so little value in that that she couldn't spend her time working for 4 hours instead of chatting on the cell phone! If there are any more volunteers like that out there...please stay at home!

I've decide to implement a no cell phone usage in the office policy for our volunteers as a result of her. Our staff was really surprised and offended by this volunteers behavior. And I am embarrassed because I am the one who signed up on the Disney site for the GAD program! (So it is sort of a view as poor judgement on my part to do so!) We have high quality volunteers and she stood out as NOT one of them. So I would suggest to other people out there who are participating in this program to do your best please. Otherwise, you may find organizations pulling from the program. I may have to if I continue to get people who obviously don't care about the organization and are just there to get a free ticket!

Thanks for letting me vent!:blush:

[DizneyRox]

...If I continue to get people who obviously don't care about the organization and are just there to get a free ticket!I'd be surprised if this is an isolated incident. I'm not surprised by peoples selfishness any more. In fact, it seems it's just a way of life these days.

[g8rgirl29]

Wow!! I am sorry this is the experience that you had!! It is like everything else, people find a way to work the system. I haven't really read everything with a fine tooth comb but isn't everything fairly specific as far as hours needed to work for a job? Is there someone you can contact to ask what you do in a situation where someone just shows up to wait out their 8 hours. Maybe you could tell the volunteers when they come in for this program "If you don't put in your full 8 hours I will not be issuing a pass. So, if you don't intend to work leave now".

[Ms. Mode]

I too am distressed to see people trying to work this offer to their own benefit. Isn't it enough that you get into WDW free for a day?

[BigRedDad]

Personally, I think many of the opportunities are a joke. WDW should have made it a voucher for 1-day and not allow it to be used to upgrade to other forms of tickets. The reason I say this is many opportunities are only a 1-2 hours long. That amounts to about $35 per hour for volunteering. Many of those are getting filled first.

The GAD tickets should only be a 1-day ticket with a $0 value. This way they cannot be upgraded.

[GloMonkey]

Personally, I think many of the opportunities are a joke. WDW should have made it a voucher for 1-day and not allow it to be used to upgrade to other forms of tickets. The reason I say this is many opportunities are only a 1-2 hours long. That amounts to about $35 per hour for volunteering. Many of those are getting filled first.

The GAD tickets should only be a 1-day ticket with a $0 value. This way they cannot be upgraded.


There had to be SOME reason for AP's to even bother to do it. If it were just for a 1 day ticket nothing else, I wouldn't do it. I have an AP I wouldn't even look.

[BigRedDad]

There had to be SOME reason for AP's to even bother to do it. If it were just for a 1 day ticket nothing else, I wouldn't do it. I have an AP I wouldn't even look.

This defeats the purpose. You are giving a day of your life to help others and Disney World is giving you one free day at a park. "I wouldn't do it" means you are not doing something for someone else, you are doing it for selfish needs. This completely solidifies why I think the entire thing was done very poorly.

[DizneyRox]

There had to be SOME reason for AP's to even bother to do it. If it were just for a 1 day ticket nothing else, I wouldn't do it. I have an AP I wouldn't even look.
Reason #1 why we're not doing anything. We have an AP, so there's no incentive. The Fast Pass is a joke as well.

Which I guess is selfish, but at least we're not wasting others people's time in the process...

[Patricia]

Hmm.. I had to go out of my way to find something to do here in Canada.

I don't need the ticket but I thought it was nice I can donate it to someone who does.

That was my incentive.

[Ms. Mode]

Hmm.. I had to go out of my way to find something to do here in Canada.

I don't need the ticket but I thought it was nice I can donate it to someone who does.

That was my incentive.

Good for YOU! :thumbsup:

[murphy1]

Sorry you had that experience. I think there are a lot of people doing that. I used this as a learning experience for my kids to show them that they can do something for others. I also told them you get a nice feeling helping others and in this instance you got rewarded for it, but the feeling should be enough. The "funny" part is there is that commercial with Miss Piggy and Terri Hatcher and Miss Piggy quits after she hears she got the free ticket! In the end, some people are going to just do something just to get something. Incidentally, if you have anything in Georgia, I would be happy to help your organization.

PS Don't even get me started on the cell phone thing. I have had people walk into me at Target and overheard some pretty nasty conversations b/c they think the world has to hear all about it.

[forever a child]

We have had 7 of our regular weekly volunteers benefit by getting the GAD ticket. So as long as they get this nice bonus then I am happy. :clappy: It was a fun way for them to get something special when they are coming in weekly and spending 1 or 2 full days a week helping us. They were very happy and surprised that we were participating in the Disney GAD program. We LOVE our regular volunteers they are so much fun and such a blessing to work with! :D

If I get more volunteers that are obviously not interesting in helping but just to get the free ticket then I will push them back to helping in May or June and see if they are still interested then:D

As far as the working requirements. I was asking a minimum of about 4 hours for each volunteer for the GAD Disney program. However many of our regular volunteers vary from 2 hours to a full day. We have volunteers that have been working with us for over 5 years! Our volunteers going to Haiti were giving 7 - 10 days!

[forever a child]

Well, it looks like it is official...I have to pull our organization from the Disney GAD program. No one in office is very happy with our Disney Volunteers! I didn't make any friends from it either:crying:

[Frog]

wow, who would of thunk that a cool idea like this would bring out the selfishness in us humans....
Helping others seems like such a fundamentally sound block of the pyramid when it comes to basic human interaction...
and my family appreciates the fact that Disney would like to "stir the pot" so to speak to remind us of this.
Please gaurd my actions so I dont cause others to stumble... Amen