Who did you meet today?

Who did you meet today? I met a guy picking up trash.

I recently attended some training with the Disney Institute. I was part of their Quality Service program at the Walt Disney World Resort. One of our field experiences included a trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

After completing our assignment, (yes it wasn’t all fun and rides) we were making our way back to our rendezvous point when we observed a few in our group along with one of our facilitators talking with a cast member. I recognized him as a cast member because he had one of those trash grabbers in his hand and he was dressed business casual. When we got to the group I overheard this cast member talking and I recognized his voice. Tom, our facilitator, introduced us. As it turns out, he was from a small town in west Alabama. When I mentioned I was from Alabama he gave me a big “Roll Tide” and a huge smile while shaking my hand. Immediate connection. . .

Then it hit me! HARD! This guy who was working trash detail was none other than Rilous Carter. Who is Rilous Carter? Well, for those that don’t know him, I have put in his picture below.

Nice picture, huh? He’s a cool guy. And to save you the time of looking him up on Google or Wikipedia, I’ll clue you in on who he is.

Rilous Carter is the Vice President of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. He’s pretty much the head cheese, second in line only to the boss, Mickey Mouse.

So, pretty neat that the head of the park was on trash duty that morning. But, did you know that everyone is on trash duty? As part of our training on Quality Service, we were asked how many employees there were in Disney’s central Florida operation. Between seasonal, part-time and full-time cast members, there are over 60,000 cast members. Of that number we were then asked how many we thought were janitors in charge of picking up trash around the hotels, restaurants and theme parks. The answer is equal to the number of cast members – over 60,000. Every single cast member is responsible for picking up trash. It’s in every job description.

In your job, is there anything beneath you? When your customers leave, are they going to share the same kind of story? Give them such an experience so when they leave, they want to tell everyone, “Guess who I met today?”