Conversation with Kyle James

Kyle James is a Lakewood Ranch High School graduate pursuing a degree in business from
State College of Florida. In the meantime, he’s a new face at the reception desk in Lakewood Ranch’s Town Hall. As of September, he’s using the skills he learned as a customer service representative at Epcot during his semester in the Disney College Program — albeit for a different audience.

I applied twice for the Disney College Program. It’s actually hard to get into. They have thousands applying and only a few get accepted. I went during the spring session, which was Feb. 2 to Aug. 7. I was working at Epcot in the merchandise role. There’s a lot of different roles, but I told them that I used to work at CVS, the one here off Lakewood Ranch Boulevard, so they put me into retail work at the souvenir shops. I was stationed at Future World North — by Spaceship Earth (the big golf ball, that’s what people call it).

One of my favorite things about working for Disney was the interaction with guests. Disney has what they called “Magical Moments.” This is guest recovery, which means going out of your way to make the best of the guest’s vacation, because they really are there for one reason, and that’s to have a good time. So, this little girl bought a glow toy from a vendor. It unfortunately didn’t work. The parents were there, and they told her to come talk to me. So I took it and said, “Hmm, that’s not right. Let me go in the back really quick and see if Tinkerbell can fix it. Maybe she can sprinkle some pixie dust on it.” So I went back and obviously got a new toy, but I took the tag off and everything. I said, “Tinkerbell told me not to try it yet. She said she wanted you to try it first, and if it doesn’t work she’d put some more dust on it.” So the minute she pressed that button, her face just lit up.

Disney’s all about magic, and it’s really cool when you realize you are the magic. It’s just that one extra step that can really make a guest’s vacation. Disney calls its workers cast members, and when you’re working, wherever a guest can see you, you’re “on stage.” When the guests can see you, they know when you’re doing something right or wrong, so you are acting your part when you walk through the doors. You really have a huge impact. When you walk through the doors, you enhance your personality. You have to leave everything else at home, whatever’s happening with your roommates or your family or whatever. Now, you’re here for the guest.

The most important customer service lesson I learned was to listen. You can’t solve someone’s problem without listening. You have to talk with guests like you know nothing about them and be interested in what they have to say.

I applied to Town Hall because I found the position in the newspaper — I didn’t even know it existed before that. Town Hall just sounds more professional… my first real tie job, so it’s nice to act the part. I had my first real conversation around the coffee pot — that was cool. It is a change of pace because everyone working at Disney is my age, so it’s different working with someone that doesn’t have the same background as you, but it’s interesting to be with people who are wiser. I’ve learned a lot in the past year.

Something they’ve already taught me here at Town Hall is to smile when you’re on the phone. Always smile, because the customer will know if you’re smiling or not.