Apparently, my defense of The Walt Disney Company was premature...

[MegaGlide]

The movers should be loading her stuff this afternoon.
This e-mail, along with all of Molly's attempts at communication with the company, went unanswered.


Dear xxxxxxx,

I'm really sorry to be bothering you like this, but I don't know who else to contact.

I'm sure you interview enough potential cast members that you may not remember Molly, but I believe you saw potential in her.. You had initially secured her a full time position in the Norway pavilion as a cashier of sorts in the restaurant. She was to relocate from Indiana. Shortly before she moved, you found out that the position she was hired for was being eliminated, and you spent the morning looking for other full time positions for her, finding three to offer. We were all so impressed with this; the fact that you remembered her and went above and beyond to find her another full-time position. When we told people about this, they said, "Of course, it's Disney!"

Molly chose the Runner position at Old Key West. Unfortunately, right on the heels of her moving down there and attending Traditions and beginning her training, her gall bladder became inflamed and had to be removed. Complicated by her being new to the area with no doctor, by the time they figured out what was wrong, she had to be hospitalized for 5 days and even after the gall bladder was removed, her liver enzymes were out of whack and they had to install a stent in her bile duct. She kept Disney informed the entire time, and they told her to just concentrate on getting well, and to return with her paperwork from the doctor when she could return. Again, when we told people how accommodating and understanding Old Key West personnel were being, they said, "Of course, it's Disney!"

The minute the doctor released her to return (with a 10 lb weight restriction on lifting because of the surgery), she did so and was sent to Disney Medical to be cleared. They cleared her and she returned to Old Key West, where she was informed that she could not perform her duties with a 10 lb weight restriction. Another two weeks passed before the restriction was removed and she was allowed to return to work. To save you doing the math, she was off a total of about a month before she could return without restriction. As I understand it, she completed her training and was performing her duties as a runner admirably. She was repeatedly told what an awesome job she was doing. The only negative feedback she ever received was one night when she thought they were out of extra pillows. Apparently there were still a few left, and whoever was in charge that night was upset that she had missed them. That's it. No performance reviews or even informal mentioning of anything Molly was doing wrong, just repeated praise with the one mentioned exception.
On Saturday, Molly was terminated on day 89 of her 90 day probationary period without cause. When she asked why, she was told it was nothing specific, that she just wasn't a good fit.

This young woman planned on making Disney her career. She would have done whatever she was told she needed to do to keep that job, but was never given the opportunity. These are copies of a few of the texts that Molly sent us during her tenure there:

I realized today that all my favorite Disney songs are about leaving home and doing something amazing and having adventures. Wanting to be more than what you are.
"Out There", from Hunchback. "Go the Distance", from Hercules. "Part of Your World", from Little Mermaid. The Bonjour song and its reprise from Beauty and the Beast.

I have seriously spent my entire life wanting to do something like this, even before I realized it. I hear the fireworks every night at nine. And we can see them from the bridge. It's lovely.

I will forever be a Disney Cast Member. This job makes me too happy to ever leave it. Seeing all the little girls running around in their princess dresses and all the little boys being pirates and just all the kids in general just being so happy all the time. The adults, too, for that matter. It's the most amazing thing I've ever experienced. And when I drive by people in my pargo I wave and smile and they wave and smile back. It's nice to make people feel special. Like, we notice them. We want their stay to be magical. So we do our damnedest to make it that way. Agh I love my job. It's hot and sweaty and exhausting and demanding but I love it!

This letter is being written by me alone and Molly is in no way responsible for it, but the entire family is heartbroken for her and frankly, a little disenchanted. We have raised our girls on Disney and have been to Walt Disney World as much as we could afford. Virtually all of our vacations have been to WDW. In fact, we are planning another vacation there this September. Our family has been in an unbelievable state of giddiness planning and anticipating this vacation. Now we're worried that we won't be able to be there without feeling sad and disillusioned. Disney has robbed us of our magic. "Of course, it's Disney!" Now, for the first time in our lives, we don't know what Disney is or what it stands for anymore.

Just to show you what Disney threw away, after Molly was fired, I texted her to see if she was home so we could talk. Her answer? No, it'll be a little bit, I needed to stop by costuming and drop off my costumes. This after they fired her and took her ID. She returned her costumes to costuming. Like she was told.

I guess I'm just curious about what happened here. I have a daughter who spent her savings to move to Orlando for a full time position with Disney who is now broke, unemployed and heartbroken.

Respectfully,