Part of your broadway world podcast(S3 EP4)|WTF Disney?! Featuring the return of Ashley renay!!

[00:00:00] podcast Hello everybody and welcome to this week's episode of the part of your broadway world podcast. Today we have a special guest. We had this on our first, yeah on our second season of the part of your broadway world podcast

[00:00:39] to talk about her time with Disney and she's going to come back and talk to us again. Peace, welcome Ashley. Hi. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. Yeah, I think I'm good. Sorry, I'm like, like, like I'm in there too late.

[00:00:59] I'm just fighting with this because this light to since this lights up. I have this remote. This doesn't work anymore. Oh gosh. And I changed the batteries. It doesn't work. So I don't know what's happening. I do things that I got like that.

[00:01:15] I actually got it from five below and I used it once and then they all busted and I was like, that was a waste of money. I don't know if like a wire is loose or hopefully it's just like the sensor. Maybe you could just change the sensor.

[00:01:26] Yeah. I don't even know if you can do that. I don't know. So anyway, how are you? Yeah, good. Yeah. Made it through Monday. Yeah. I mean, that's all in your life. Things were happening and if you can even imagine more things happened after so. Really?

[00:01:47] Yeah, it's just life and I'm pretty sure I told Mike every time I jump on live, you were always in my lives. You were always in them. I told him, I feel like some it's like somebody is just jumping into my root.

[00:02:00] It was like the same person every time and they're reporting it because I either get a violation or a restriction or something. And I'm just like, there's literally no reason for this. Oh, you know what's about me? I know. It is not right now.

[00:02:15] No, no, I definitely know it's not you, but it's just like, I just, I just feel like one of my friends actually her account. She was banned from lives today. So I don't know. It's just the fun of the game, isn't it? Tick tock is tick tock eating.

[00:02:37] It's moody. My account, my main account got like a couple, like a month or so ago got like two violations, like two strikes. It's like they're handing him out like candy and I'm like, but like apparently what I was talking about today made people feel uncomfortable. Yeah.

[00:02:57] That was with the restriction that I got today. Did you feel uncomfortable? I am sorry if you felt uncomfortable about me talking about Etsy. Etsy. I know like who what it was just like that's that's what the thing said. I took a screenshot.

[00:03:09] I sent it to Mike and I was like, what is happening in my life right now? Like what is going on? The universe just does not want me to go live. I remember you've said that I was like, huh? What? I literally can't even more. I just can't.

[00:03:23] I just can't. It's okay. I'm gonna still do it. Yeah. I lose my account and it's a sign. I'm not supposed to be on tick tock anymore. There are other platforms. Yeah. Not as fun. Or as like, honestly easy to make money, but that's cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:44] And we're lobbying to keep tick tock and are we bad? Yeah. Are we now? I don't know about that. Maybe I'm like, you know, I'm so like petty. I'm just like, yeah, they deserve it. Like. Oh my gosh. So petty. I'm just like, no, they deserve it.

[00:04:06] I'm just like, you know, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Oh my gosh. So. So when I had reached out to you again for getting another interview,

[00:04:23] it was on another one of your lives and you were talking about everything that happened to you while you were working for the company. And you were talking about the so talking shit about how everything that happened. Yeah. And airing out the dirt. Yeah.

[00:04:41] And like I, I love Disney, right? Like I have Mickey Mouse back there. I take my kid every single weekend. We love it. But there are aspects of it. That. Just start. Infuriating. And I know people that work there now and they have great

[00:05:01] leaders and they love their job. But man, when you have a bad like leader and a bad department, I mean that can happen anywhere, right? But to have. Like HR employee relations. And everybody else underneath the sun back a manager who has

[00:05:24] a history of laying off and firing either working mothers, single working mothers too, or pregnant women. There's a problem. And that was my experience. I was working underneath a leader who she treated people and this, this was what I was told from other like higher ups on

[00:05:54] like in that department. Okay. So I was told that she views people. How they are in the company. So like, I was an intern when I started out on her team. Because I was an intern. I never stopped being an intern to her even when I wasn't anymore.

[00:06:12] Um, so there's that if you're a manager, she'll treat you like that in real life. That is just her view. Like your worth in life is what your job title is underneath her basically. And, um, that like she also was very much like,

[00:06:31] I don't know how to say it. Like I don't want to say it nicely. Um, not like she deserves nice, but like the fact that she was like enabled to fire me for being pregnant and high risk pregnancy. Um, she was enabled to they allowed her to.

[00:06:47] And, um, I still can't believe it. I did go to, um, to the government and I let them know what was going on. And I went to labor relations. I spoke to everybody. Um, and even though the government sided with me and said that I had a case,

[00:07:05] the only thing that I could do at that point was sue them. And I chose not to, I decided to just. I mean, would they contacted me? When my second. Born was three months old. That was, it would have been in December.

[00:07:24] So it's a commercial one over some, yeah. So he was three months old. That was when this finally ended. And I was originally like fired for being pregnant in. August 2021. And it just came to like a resolution in December.

[00:07:41] And when the government came out and they reached back, because I had like a, um, a private investigator through the government that was like doing all this stuff and talking to all these people. And he said, wow, like he agreed with me and I had a case.

[00:07:54] There was nothing they could really do. Um, because they didn't want to tick off like their largest employer in Florida. So, um, I was fired. Finally, like finally, um, they originally fired me. But when I was like, what you're doing is against the law.

[00:08:10] And then I started like pulling out all the documents. So originally they. It was really crazy because of COVID, right? Like. They had laid off a bunch of people and I guess the thing that's so frustrating.

[00:08:20] Okay. Cause like, they're like, well, you know, COVID will COVID will COVID. Yeah. But once you start talking about your personal experience, like, yeah, well COVID, but like, well, no, no, no, no, no, it's not about you. It's about COVID for us. Um, I was high risk pregnancy.

[00:08:32] Okay. I, um, had an undiagnosed autoimmune disorder too at the time. So that's why like everything was going so badly. And my son, which we now know, um, has two rare diseases.

[00:08:43] So all of that was going on, but no one really knew what was going on with my pregnancy. And, um, I, my doctor said like, cause he was asking about my working situation. And I told him, like, I was still furloughed and he was like, okay, well,

[00:08:54] if anything happens there, let me know because you cannot return to the office because where you go, your baby goes and we don't know what's going on with him right now. Um, so like, okay. I was due in October.

[00:09:06] I'm like, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my manager knew I was pregnant too. Okay. So like she was very aware that I was pregnant. Um, and I was due in October and they called me at the end of August.

[00:09:20] So I had less than two months left to my pregnancy, less than two months. Um, and she called me and she called me. She texted me on a Thursday saying like, oh, I need to call you tomorrow or whatever. Like super weird. And I knew what was coming.

[00:09:33] Okay. Um, so she called me on Friday and it was like three o'clock in the afternoon. Okay. So like everything was about to shut down and she said, oh, you have to return to work on Monday or you don't have a job.

[00:09:45] Gave me absolutely no time to like, even get my life in order. Like regardless of like my pregnancy or anything that like just no regard for like having like, like, like, I'm not going to be on the job.

[00:10:02] It's just no regard for like having like, like, what if I wasn't in town or like, what if I had another job that I had been working that I had and I'll quit because you're telling me I have to come back to work.

[00:10:13] Like it was just like, there was no like timing of it to where it would be conducive for anybody. Right. And that was just true for anybody that was furloughed and being recalled. You had to return to work under their, um, whatever they said,

[00:10:29] if you said, Oh, I can't do this. do this. There was like no negotiating it because they were like, we should be happy you had a job, right? Which is for the most part, yeah. But I was, when before I was furloughed, I was actually

[00:10:41] working 50 plus hours a week and when they recalled me, they dropped my hours to 20. So I was like, what? And they're like, yeah, no, like you can't do that. So I was like, okay, I was like,

[00:10:55] well, is there any way to work remotely? Is there any way to work remotely through the duration of my pregnancy because I'm high risk? And they said, absolutely not. If you do not return

[00:11:04] to work on Monday, you're fired. I was like, what? Like what? So then I reached out to my doctor and my doctor was like, absolutely not under no circumstances. Can you do that? Here's a note.

[00:11:17] So I had a note from the doctor and I was like, okay, like, okay, like this is fine. Meanwhile, there was a person that was working on the team and she had been working remotely for four

[00:11:28] years. So it wasn't like they never had anybody on the team working remotely. We were all working remotely before Disney shut down. But like, there was a person on the team who had been working

[00:11:41] remotely for four years and they were saying that it was against company policy for anybody to be working remotely. And I know people right now that are still working remotely. In fact, somebody on that team moved to Maryland and is working remotely still. He actually like worked remotely

[00:12:00] in a different state for three years. So it's like, they just wanted me to, they just wanted me to quit. That's what I'm thinking is because that just sounds a little fishy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, especially

[00:12:15] because like she knew I was pregnant. And when they did layoffs on that team, the only people they laid off were the working mothers. That's it. And then and then when and then they rehired those

[00:12:27] roles with younger women who were either like not married or like recently married and childless, essentially. That to me just sounds very anti motherhood. Yeah. And the government agreed with me, but there was nothing they could do. They said they said and I will say like nothing against

[00:12:57] her she can live her life however she wants. She's in her fifties and she has cats. That's fine. I'm not bashing that but the fact that every single working mother on her team, she laid off

[00:13:12] and then when she found out that I was pregnant like forcing me off the team, like that was just so messed up. And like so much happened in between that too. Yeah. Like I mean, I went to employee relations. I went to labor relations. I was talking

[00:13:30] them and telling them what was going on. And then like so I was interviewing for other jobs internally at the company. And I was in the final picks for two different manager jobs. And my former manager,

[00:13:46] the guy, the only male on the team that has that is working remotely in Maryland. Okay. He viewed my LinkedIn profile after I interviewed for both those jobs. And then the next day

[00:14:00] I got rejected. Okay, that they blacklisted me and I will say the private investigator that I was working with through the government this is this is what they did all this. I was just like telling

[00:14:15] them what happened and like I just I you know what I mean? Like I didn't want I didn't want to be blacklisted and then they blacklisted me from even trying to just get a job internally.

[00:14:27] Mm hmm. So like his the main point of me like at that point I was like, well, I'm never going to work for this team again. I just want to make sure that like I can be hired again.

[00:14:39] And the fact that they did that to me was just like he clearly spoke badly about me to the hiring manager so they wouldn't hire me because you know what I mean? Like it was and

[00:14:50] I'm not saying that the other person that they interviewed wasn't like a good candidate or anything like that but the fact that like I had this really good interview and then like

[00:14:59] he viewed my profile and the next day I got rejected from it. It was just so fishy like not even just that but it's just like it's not even like if you were like

[00:15:11] if like the other person was like right for like kind of better for job. It's the fact that they blacklisted you. Yeah, they did they did the my private investigators straight up said that

[00:15:25] they did and he was working to make sure that they weren't going to do that. But like who's to say they didn't? Who's to say they took that away? Right. You know what I mean? Like there's no way to

[00:15:35] say that they took that away if I applied to a different job right now. I mean probably still get declined like there's just there's no way to know you know because I just had to trust

[00:15:46] that's the other thing I have to trust all these people who have done me badly already. Right and like you said it would be in one thing if you know they thought oh well this other person

[00:15:58] would be better for their job but the fact that they were going to hire you looked at your profile and then took it away is what gets me. It's kind of angry because we've known each other for like

[00:16:17] a year or two now and just knowing you for two years I know that you would have been so great at that job. Oh thank you and it was like social media like what I did like what my master's degree is in

[00:16:31] like content creation like what what I do right now like what am I doing you know so. Do you know what I mean? It's just I don't know it's hard not to be like bitter about it and I do

[00:16:45] have moments where I am increasingly like mad about it and so okay I'm gonna I might cry about this. This is a good cry though okay a good cry back right bitter sweet cry I don't know

[00:16:57] but I know like you know a lot about my son right yeah um and I have two little boys um I'm gonna cry my goodness um Maximus is just amazing and there's a lot of feelings and emotions

[00:17:10] and I'm gonna talk through kind of just like let it all out how I'm feeling right now if that's cool yeah it's fine okay the fact that like I was basically fired from my dream job because of my

[00:17:20] my boy is angry right like it's infuriating that I was essentially fired to him you know discrimination yeah it is like I was a protected class and they still and that's the thing too

[00:17:35] it wasn't it's not the company that was the problem okay I want to say that it wasn't the company that was a problem it was the manager that I worked under that was the problem and then everybody after that that enabled her behavior right because I truthfully feel

[00:17:53] like if the people that were looking at this particular case I also worked at Disney I worked there for 10 years right you know I mean like it's not like I'm just I worked there for 10 years

[00:18:04] like I've moved cross-country for it let's see I moved from Michigan to Florida for Florida to California and from California back to Florida how many times is that a cross-country

[00:18:13] for a company when the guy didn't get paid to move I paid out of my own pocket to work at this place because I love it I have to believe that if the right people saw this

[00:18:27] and didn't know her and didn't enable her they would have sided with me and things would have been very very different especially because like the other people on the team that were also let go

[00:18:40] or there was well I don't want to tell her story that's not my story to tell and I don't want to reveal any of her information but like she was also like she was recalled and had to quit

[00:18:51] because they wouldn't work with her and her child care issues so it's like I have to look at those situations and I have to see because she's not a clearly not a compassionate person like I have

[00:19:04] to feel that way she's never shown that to me in the year and a half that I knew her yeah and the fact that like I don't know it's just okay anyways so the fact that I was basically

[00:19:17] like fired from this job because of my child makes me so angry and that job worked with animals animal kingdom was always my favorite park I always knew that when I went into communications I

[00:19:32] wanted to do something with conservation because like I was not going to be an animal keeper right like that's not my forte but like I wanted to work with animals so I since this all happened

[00:19:43] I have had a really hard time going to animal kingdom and gosh I'm gonna uh I've had a really hard time going to animal kingdom and I've had a really hard time like doing anything

[00:19:56] surrounding animals and animal kingdom whatever it is but my son is obsessed with safari animals specifically right now um he is limited in speech because he's autistic um and he like knows African

[00:20:11] animals like we took him to animal kingdom on the 4th of July and he like the safari ride we had to ride twice and we could have ridden it all day long hmm like all day long he was just

[00:20:26] the happiest little guy he was like yelling out all the animal names and pointing at them on like the little guide card he even said ankoly cattle okay he can't say like most words like and he

[00:20:40] said ankoly cattle like he was like so like into it an ostrich like these are like he he knew giraffe and he knew hippopotamus because hippopotamus is his favorite animal um and just seeing it through

[00:20:53] his eyes and walking through like we even rode the train to conservation station right rafiki's planet watch and that's where my office was um and I haven't been able to be back there since

[00:21:05] this all happened because I was I was just so hurt you know I was so hurt because like this I moved cross country so many times for this place I've missed weddings I've missed birthdays

[00:21:16] I've missed funerals and they just kicked me to the curb because I needed to not return to work for the duration of my pregnancy which was eight weeks and I had max four weeks early so it was

[00:21:31] really only four weeks that I needed to work remotely and then I would have gone on maternity leave yeah and they wouldn't grant me that or they could have just not even recalled me they didn't

[00:21:43] need me for two years almost they didn't need me for a year and a half two years and then they needed me right at the end of my pregnancy they could have just not they could have just not

[00:21:54] recalled me because she hadn't put it in the system yet do you know what I mean like she didn't put it in the system yet if she would have just given me time you know what I mean like they wouldn't

[00:22:07] even have to do maternity leave they could have just like had me come back like they could have been like oh hey okay it's fine just you know text us when you can return to work and we will

[00:22:17] work with you on that one but no after what five hundred and eighty nine days or something crazy like that they decided that I had to come back to work in two days and risk my life and my child's

[00:22:31] life and again like Maximus has and I share this out everywhere because when you have a rare disease you have to share it out to find people that will help you it's not like you know other

[00:22:43] he has two rare diseases I have to talk about it and the fact that like I could have lost him if I returned to work and got covid like I could have even though I was fully vaccinated at that time

[00:22:54] pregnant women were at higher risk of getting covid even vaccinated or not vaccinated and like losing their child from it I was not about to risk that you know so it's just I have to

[00:23:05] so anyways it's nice now that like I still have like bitter feelings about it but I tried to separate her from the company even though she works there I have to think that if people actually knew what

[00:23:20] happened in this situation the person that was let go would not have been me because when they actually finally let me go the director called me and these are his exact words he says it's

[00:23:32] time you are now purged from the company I literally was just so floored by that like how insensitive like how insensitive and then he was like oh he was like asking he's like oh how you've

[00:23:49] been like good like I just had another baby and he's like oh wow I was like yeah like you know it's been that long dude um but like the fact that he said it like that I was just like what

[00:23:59] like I hope he doesn't talk to like other people like this because that was terrible he hung up and I literally just sat in the room and I sobbed for a good five minutes before I pulled

[00:24:09] myself out together and went back out and was a mom um I'm thankful Mike was home that day because I don't think I could have gotten through the day because that was that was terrible like

[00:24:20] there are a million different ways you could have said it but to say you were purged from the company like oh that was awful that's just wild to me yeah to have the nerve to say

[00:24:36] those words to somebody yeah and not even think about it and just not even care you know it's crazy to like so when COVID started happening right so um and like people were starting

[00:24:52] to so like there were like the interns that were there I was a specialist at the time so um I was lucky enough to where like I had just went from intern status to specialist status

[00:25:05] so had that not happened beforehand I would have been fired and like my husband and I were in the process of buying a house and clearly thinking about starting a family um and had I've been fired from

[00:25:17] that job then like when COVID first started happening that would have been devastating we actually closed on our house the day the furlough was announced so it was like a lot a lot but I

[00:25:30] remember I remember there was this girl that was an intern on one of the um animal science and environment teams and she was she had just gotten out of the navy um and she wanted to work with

[00:25:45] animals so she went back to school to do that and her and her boyfriend were or no fiancee were going to buy a house and he was also in the navy um so he was deployed and she was like an

[00:25:58] intern um and her dog just had surgery and was like not doing well and I remember um my leader called me and she was telling me that she she was being like let go like they were like

[00:26:14] eliminating her job and I was so upset for and like the way she was like yeah we're just eliminating her job so um you know it's just it's just easier for us to do that because of

[00:26:23] COVID and everything like that's exactly how she said it to me like she was so like gnaw a lot and I'm like feeling this girl's emotions like knowing her as a person and seeing her as a human

[00:26:32] and recognizing that like this is devastating for her like this is devastating and I'm like oh my gosh that's awful like I feel so bad for her and and then her response to me was she's young she'll bounce

[00:26:45] back and I was like okay first off like even if she is young that's still devastating second off yeah I don't think she was as young as she thought she was um because like for me I was an older

[00:26:59] intern I went back and got my master's degree so I could do internships like that and like that and that is a thing she was so tone deaf and insensitive to any other person's experience

[00:27:12] that I don't understand how she is a senior manager um because there has to be some like like you have like and I get it like you have to like kind of like be hard sometimes

[00:27:21] because you have to make these hard decisions you have to do these hard things but it just shows that like if you're on her team like there's no compassion and there has to be some kind of

[00:27:35] compassion for your team and clearly there was nothing just the way that I would with everything that you said of like how they talk to people it's just unbelievable and just so

[00:27:49] so I'm professional and yeah sometimes I don't like to say that I don't like to say like I get triggered by but listen sometimes I get triggered because like her emails were so like

[00:28:06] and I get like if you have like a personal relationship with somebody you don't have to always be totally professional right I get it but like her emails were so like

[00:28:15] so like texty like it was like she was sending me a text um and like there would be this like big project that had to be done or something and then it would just be like I think it's but it would be

[00:28:27] like THX I don't know it was just like I remember like you know like especially like in my first internship when I was working public affairs at Disneyland like it didn't matter who you were

[00:28:38] emailing you were professional you know what I mean like you didn't say stuff like that because you don't know who's gonna have eyes on it at some point you know what I mean like so but that's just

[00:28:49] how she was like I and I'll tell you like I try to have respect for everybody I have no respect for that woman none if I ever saw her like it was so weird oh my gosh oh my gosh the other day um I

[00:29:03] was on Facebook and I was like she came up on my suggested friends and I was like no no that's weird that's so weird that's so weird yeah but what really bothered me the most was I went through all the

[00:29:24] right channels to keep my job but also keep my son like my doctor is telling me that if I go into work and I were to get COVID my son is not gonna make it because I was pregnant and again he has two

[00:29:42] rare diseases he is in and out of the doctors when he was in and out of the hospital when he was a little baby and now he's in and out of the doctors all the time he still has significant

[00:29:51] health issues we still have doctors on speed dial like I would have lost my child if I if I would have gone into the office my doctor said that to me even the risk of that living in my brain

[00:30:05] what would I have done you know what I mean like what would they have done if I would have gone into the office contracted COVID from somebody ended up in the hospital potentially

[00:30:14] lost my son what would they have done for me I'm getting fired honestly was a blessing in disguise but it should not have happened the way that it did right and I was about to say that like it

[00:30:28] sucks yes but in a way it was a thing in disguise yeah absolutely because I worked so hard to get that job I interviewed for it when I was getting my bachelor's degree and I didn't get it

[00:30:45] and like I didn't get the internship and I was devastated and I worked my butt off to get that particular internship so it was hard um yeah but the fact that like that internship is the one

[00:30:59] that destroyed my career is what like not because like it was an internship that turned into a job right right and the fact that it literally destroyed my career before it really even got off the ground

[00:31:13] was really hard for me to grasp because I fully anticipated on going back to work after I had max I did I mean I love Disney so much I knew my freaking kid Maximus I mean come on

[00:31:26] like right you know so I I did fully intend on going back to work I never intended on being a stay-at-home mom um but with his health issues and him being autistic and now with his

[00:31:39] little brother too like I I clearly was supposed to stay home but I just I kind of wish the decision would have been mine and I wish it wouldn't have been made for me especially in such like a kind

[00:31:52] of like emotionally traumatic way that's what I was gonna point out like just like you like you know that could have had like you you were gonna make that probably that decision on

[00:32:08] your own of like being a stay-at-home mother yeah but for it to happen the way that it did and with how brutal it kind of was yes that's like an experience you want to have

[00:32:20] truthfully honestly what would have happened is because I had max so I was doing okay so they called me at the end of August I had Maximus September 23rd and I was supposed to have him

[00:32:34] in October so I had him in September like it was only four weeks if that and like if when he was born he was so small he was four pounds like he was tiny and then at four months

[00:32:49] is when I started noticing like the first rare disease which is when I would have returned to work so like I mean I literally probably would not have been able to right you know because like

[00:33:04] when I was going back and all this stuff like he was signed up for daycare like we had daycare secured and then like the Friday beforehand his doctor was like I can't I can't sign this release

[00:33:16] because we don't know what's going on so I would not have had childcare I would not have been able to go back to work you know so it's like literally all of this stuff could have just

[00:33:27] been avoided if they weren't crap people right you know exactly so I don't know like I probably wouldn't have even gone back to work and then they would have just been done with me anyways

[00:33:39] so I don't know but but but at least that would have been your choice yes yeah yeah that choice away from you when they fired you yeah they did and I'm still $30,000 in debt

[00:33:51] for my master's degree that I went back to get that stupid job for you know oh well but I'm just really thankful that like Max has like healed that part of me right you know because like now

[00:34:10] I can't wait to go back to Animal Kingdom and take him on the safari and show him all the animals and that's the other cool thing because of that job I know all these fun facts about the

[00:34:19] animals you know so I'm I just wish it I just wish a million different things would have happened especially like I wish you know I just wish a million different things would have happened

[00:34:31] yeah and that's fine but at the end of the day I have to sit here because I will okay so I know you talked about a certain manager with Patrick before and he he that manager royally

[00:34:48] screwed me over when I was in entertainment because I was trying to leave entertainment and stuff and he um he like didn't fill out a form for me to be able to transfer in time and I was on

[00:35:01] vacation like I was celebrating my engagement with my now husband at Disneyland and I got an email saying that I was not in consideration for it and I asked them what happened and they said

[00:35:11] that they never received the form from that manager um and so when I reached out to him I was like what happened he's like oh I just wanted to talk to you about it I'm like there was no time like

[00:35:20] I'm like you know me like we talk all the time like he was like the venue owner you know so it was just really devastating um and he did a lot of other things too to a lot of other people

[00:35:27] and I remember sitting there thinking like okay I just have to hope that someday all of this will catch up to him and um I ended up leaving Disney for about four months to do an internship

[00:35:37] with Universal which was amazing um and that's what helped me get my internship at Disneyland so I moved out to California and um I remember I was I got a message from somebody I actually was on my lunch

[00:35:48] break at Disney and I got a message from somebody and they were like oh hey guess who was fired and I was like what like what it was because like I guess he pulled like somebody into a bathroom

[00:35:58] to give them like feedback or something and then he was like terrible to her or I don't know when she walked out in tears and there were like all of these like state uh witness statements that

[00:36:07] were written about him so they eventually were like no cut ties so I was like wow so in my brain in my brain I just have to think at some point if this is gonna happen not maybe not fired

[00:36:20] or anything as thing I don't want her to get fired right well no I don't want her to get you just stopped and thought about like well do I yeah there oh I don't want her to get fired

[00:36:35] but she does need some type of like first off she needs to be retrained on like the company's policies yeah um I don't expect her to understand the law um but if someone's coming

[00:36:48] to you and saying okay what you're saying is inaccurate and against the law that is not the time to double down that is the time to like okay well let's let's figure this out together type deal

[00:36:59] um and then I also feel like she just needs some like deep compassion training that's what what I was about to say too is like the fact that she doubled down it that's

[00:37:15] what makes me feel like she's immature in that sense yeah the fact that you double down yeah absolutely absolutely and I mean she is she for I will say I think immature is a perfect

[00:37:29] way to describe her um just from my experience with her um and like that's not that's fine that's fine not everybody has to act a certain way or be professional but at the same time if

[00:37:44] you're a senior manager at a very large company um you do need to have some type of professionalism sitting there and um even if your job is 100% your life that's fine too but you do need to have

[00:37:58] like lines that you won't cross right you know and be spiteful towards people like I will say after um after I started speaking out about her other people were coming to me telling me their

[00:38:13] accounts and things that happened to them but they were too afraid to say anything because they knew if they did that she would go after them because she has before um so I just have to think at some

[00:38:28] point she's gonna cross the wrong person and it's eventually gonna catch up to her I just have to move like that's like with me now like I'm just gonna move on with my life I can I'm at

[00:38:37] the point now where it has been long enough to where I can separate her from Disney um for a while there I that was my experience that was Disney um but I can recognize now that she was not the company

[00:38:56] um and that's the thing how large is Disney as a company you know what I mean like how many people actually work there you know you can't imagine that every single person that works there

[00:39:07] is going to be good you know right it's always gonna be some bad ones um it's just the problem is that the bad ones typically stay the longest yeah which is unfortunate but yeah it's a thing

[00:39:21] that happens and not really much we can do about it no no so and again I do get upset about how like labor relations and employee relations like backed her so much right like I was I was a cast member

[00:39:36] too nobody was on my side and I was the protected class you know so that that was also that was some of that was really hard for me to understand was how all these people could be backing her

[00:39:51] while I was the one that was like losing my job for being pregnant and literally that is what happened they recalled me I had I only had to start like I had eight weeks

[00:40:03] but ended up being four weeks left of my pregnancy and even though I was working remotely before before COVID and there were other two other people that were working before COVID for years remotely they refused to offer me that for four weeks

[00:40:20] right just four weeks it was only through the duration of my pregnancy that just shows me and proves me even when I say it out loud and I go back through if I were to go back through

[00:40:29] and read the email man I just proves to me that she just wanted me to quit there's no reason why she couldn't have contacted me on Thursday and said let's talk right now instead of waiting to 3 p.m.

[00:40:43] on Friday for me to say that I had to return to work on Monday morning or I was fired right you know what I mean like it's just she didn't want me back no and I don't know like the more

[00:40:58] that you you you're talking about it and like you're like explaining explaining it like I'm starting to wonder and think was she jealous of you or something oh my gosh no absolutely not

[00:41:14] that's why she was fired you no absolutely not there's no way they literally stuck me in a corner and like forgot about me when I was working there like there's that's not no no there's no if she

[00:41:25] didn't care about me not at all no no it sounded like a little bit so I was like I just really think she just wanted somebody okay so okay when I was an intern on her team

[00:41:38] I actually were I lived really far from the office like my drive was like an hour and a half without traffic right so with traffic on the way home was terrible and she was going out of town

[00:41:51] and needed somebody just like to watch her cats but like I'm married I have a dog at home like I have a family like most interns you know stereotypically are single people with

[00:42:04] just roommates but I was married with a dog living an hour and a half away and she came to be and asked me if I could watch her cats and I was just like oh I like honestly I would love to but I can't like

[00:42:14] I have to get home like I have a dog and a husband like and ever since then it was weird ever since then it was weird jealousy maybe she was my husband I don't know maybe she will see me I'm not afraid to say it jealousy yeah

[00:42:40] man it's just like so many weird like little things like that like pop up in my brain and it's just like it was just weird it was a weird vibe weird vibe she needs people to worship the ground

[00:42:55] that she walks on and I don't buy into that life like that's not me like um I maybe this is my problem I don't know I look at people and I see us all as equals um that being said like if Bob Iyer were

[00:43:15] to walk into a room yeah I would sit up a little bit straighter right like it is like that's a little different right or even like you know my VP or like a director or something like yeah I'm gonna

[00:43:26] I'm probably gonna change my posture a little bit you know um but at the same time like it's about how you treat people right right like that's how I'm letting them see me is

[00:43:38] like I sit up a little straighter for Bob Iyer sure but like every person that I work with regardless of their title regardless of their department deserves respect and she did not grant

[00:43:52] anybody beneath her that except for like the the the managers that were on her team there was this one guy that we we always said like oh well wait till you see him walk on water because like

[00:44:05] he can't do any wrong and he does nothing for his job like he just shows up and everyone's like oh wow and it's like do you do nothing like but like truthfully though I will say

[00:44:18] that's how they treated him truthfully I'll say though like I like Tim as a leader like he was very low-key and I did like working with him so nothing against him at all everything against her

[00:44:29] though right he wasn't good for him for like having her treat him the way that she did you know that works for you man you know it makes your life easier if your boss likes you clearly my

[00:44:44] boss did not like me I'm telling you man it's jealousy I think it's just because I wasn't like the intern that was like oh yeah that's a great idea like I just came from public affairs

[00:44:58] you know like I just came from public affairs and at that time so when I worked at Disneyland Josh Damaro was the president of Disneyland and when I was in this job he became the chairperson of

[00:45:16] Disney Park's consumer whatever the heck it is Disney consumer product whatever the heck it is is that what is Disney Park's consumer product you know what I'm saying he became the chairperson

[00:45:26] of that okay so so they were doing the National Geographic show which I like got to work on which is really cool because my son loves it too so it was just like so cool that like now I get to like

[00:45:38] see why I had to go through all that because he loves it um but I remember he is so big on cast members and he loves the cast members doesn't matter what line of work you are in especially the

[00:45:53] front line cast members he loves them and there were aspects of the show that they were viewing to us that I kind of thought painted them in a bad light or at least didn't make them seem

[00:46:04] like they were experts like it was just being edited very strangely so I did say something a little too harsh was like they were like oh blah blah blah that's great and then I was like

[00:46:13] I think he might hate it a little like they're like everybody stopped and just stared at me and I'll say this was in just our team meeting it wasn't like with higher ups or executives

[00:46:23] or anybody else on any other team this is people that we work with all the time so I thought like oh I could tell them how I feel um and having worked on videos and other productions

[00:46:32] that he had viewed um and other things that like he was working on I mean I created the template for launching his Instagram account right so like I know I know him you know what I mean like I know

[00:46:46] him so when I said this they all like stopped in turn looked at me and it was just like I was like well you know and I kind of said but I was like the cast member thing like he loves cast

[00:46:54] members and I feel like we need to just be painting them in a little bit of a better light um and it was one of those things because I didn't just sit there like it's amazing that everyone was like

[00:47:03] nobody likes somebody with an opinion unless it's the same as theirs but at the same time no one likes to kiss ass either and that's what they're a bit I know it's a balance so like I'm like sitting

[00:47:13] there like okay this is just from my experience working with that's the other thing too that's what's hard too and it's just how it is my director at Disneyland and my VP gosh I loved them they were

[00:47:27] amazing they wanted to hear it because they need like laser focused and they need people that can see the layers of what could possibly go wrong um because that's public affairs man public affairs isn't looking for what's going right they're looking for what's gonna go wrong um public

[00:47:48] public relations is the fun stuff they're the ones that get to talk about the good stuff public public affairs literally has to just look at everything and like be so like nitpicky with it

[00:47:58] because anything can be flipped around anything can um and the team that I was kind of working on I kind of like it was kind of like explained to me as like they're basically public affairs for

[00:48:10] like animals um but not so much I guess everybody just wants praise not feedback well then while we're wrapping up almost here I wanted to ask you something about because with all the Disney news that's coming out with the new dash pass system and everything

[00:48:33] what's your opinion on that because I for one am a little peeve that is in a way yeah I feel like it's really confusing too right um and I so we use dash pass because my son is autistic

[00:48:50] and I will say this I'm glad that my husband did the intake call or whatever it was like the little zoom thing that they did because the questions that they asked felt very like I don't know

[00:49:07] wrote this stuff that they're supposed to say but as a mother to a child that is autistic it angered me beyond belief um because one of the questions was like oh like why do you need them like why do

[00:49:16] you need this totally fine totally normal question um and it was like my son's autistic and he had a really hard time waiting in line so I'm like okay well what happens okay well that's also I feel

[00:49:24] like a totally normal question to ask um so like we told him like sometimes like he just freaks out and he'll scream and sometimes he'll start like punching me or biting me or whatever he has to go through

[00:49:35] to like help him and the next thing was like well what tools do you give him to help him through that and I'm like okay now that seems like a little um intrusive um because honestly I'm gonna be

[00:49:50] real with you Maximus has a processing disorder uh sensory processing disorder too so like while he used to wear headphones he hates them now um and like we have to he actually really feels comfortable

[00:50:03] in his wagon uh or like his stroller but like we don't have a disability pass for it so it's like these tools that they're asking us for I'm like um what like anyways also not very

[00:50:17] neuro affirming right like some parents don't have any tools for their kids because they don't believe in that so like I just felt like that was just very intrusive um and I feel like that's

[00:50:32] the thing that bothers me with this stuff it's like they they always preach inclusivity but it's like did you talk to an autistic person when you wrote this script like did you talk to anybody

[00:50:42] that might need this and how they might feel about this before you just put it out there or did you just assume that this was okay well there's not even that but it's just like because my friend

[00:50:54] saying who she has a lot of problems that like he needs to desk he needs to because he can't be around people like physically or else he will get very very sick like he has like an

[00:51:09] an I think an auto auto immune disease or whatever and like and his kidney hasn't woken up yet and like he he can't be around people he just can't be around

[00:51:24] people or else he'll be exposed yeah and and lines are like made for that and I that's the everything too that I don't understand it's like if there are like medical concerns like

[00:51:39] if you're sitting here asking me like what my son does to help him with it like if you're going to offer desk then offer it right if you're going to offer it then offer it don't sit here and

[00:51:48] I kind of I felt I felt the way that it was being asked and maybe it was the cast member that was doing it I don't know maybe she was just asking it in a weird way but it made me

[00:51:58] feel like she was like I don't know shaming me as a mom for like not like for his behavior and I'm like but he's autistic like like he has a hard time being around people so like if you're going to

[00:52:15] do desk then do desk don't like it and I get people were abusing it I get that but find those people and weed them out sure but why are you punishing the people that need it

[00:52:30] like I shouldn't feel shamed when I'm telling you about my son and his disability you know what I mean like right I that's the thing like he has a disability like it's and that's what it is

[00:52:41] autism is a disability right and well what are you doing to help you know what I mean like right what tools do you have in place to help us do you have a quiet room that we can go to

[00:52:53] when he starts to feel overwhelmed like and that's another thing too is I don't understand I feel like this new death pass system while I'm I'm all for it being for for people what would for kids and

[00:53:08] not and people with autism but where does that lead us other disability yeah and and I totally agree with that I think that there should be like maybe different levels you know or different

[00:53:23] types of passes if that's what they want to do but like that isn't it's not inclusive if you're excluding a group of people that don't have the right type of disability right and you know

[00:53:38] I talked to my sister about it and she was like and she was like well they kind of need it way more because they can't fit like they aren't able to like mentally be okay with being in a line and you

[00:53:56] know yeah and I will say so how it works is like we get a time return so we are waiting in the line but we're not waiting in the physical line right you know what I mean so it's like if if we

[00:54:13] wanted to go ride jungle cruise and we selected a time the time would be whatever the timing of the wait time is so like if the wait times 45 minutes we would be waiting 45 minutes but not in the

[00:54:28] physical line so that's that's the one thing that is like I think a lot of people don't understand too is that like it's not a fast pass at all we are still waiting we are still waiting

[00:54:41] it's more of like a virtual queue and then when we go and we scan in like this is another thing I've had I who it's more so like this is where I have issues with guests we go to scan the pass

[00:54:56] and Maximus's card has to be scanned first because they have to like approve that it's like dash pass and like the timing is there then we can scan in our cards and until that cast member

[00:55:08] clicks clicks that thing then other people are coming in and like scanning their fast passes and scanning their fast passes and like we are like this like group of like you know kind of like

[00:55:16] what it's two of us because he's holding max and I'm holding Finn so there's really only two people but there's four of us and then we have like these large groups of families that like

[00:55:25] keep scanning their cards and then we go and then they all get mad at us for walking even though like they kind of just like cut us off right and like then the instead of like letting the you

[00:55:36] know two people with the two small children get in front of them uh they all make sure that all of them and like I mean this just happened and it was like 15 people they make sure that they

[00:55:46] all know like we they go in front of us and I lost it I was like literally we don't have fast pass we have a disability pass and you are making this harder on us so that's something

[00:55:55] that I actually do not like about the pass um I kind of wish it was like you go to the exit of the ride and somebody was there helping because if like that happens then we're still waiting in a

[00:56:07] line and then max doesn't understand he doesn't understand why all these people are cutting in front of him and then he starts to freak out so that isn't really helpful either and it happens every single time every single time we go somewhere because like he has to scan

[00:56:22] his card first and then like it has to process through a cast member approving it then we go um it like the people that are coming in the line have fast pass right and honestly I'll say too

[00:56:33] like we do the we do the hero pass at Legoland and it's the same thing because it's like fast track and um their hero pass and it's like sometimes the lines do get long and he can't wait that long

[00:56:48] and then he goes into a meltdown like that just happened this weekend and we ended up and we drove an hour and a half to go to Legoland and we ended up having to leave because he couldn't

[00:56:55] recover from it so I wish there was like a different way to get people who have dashed pass into the line without interfering with the fast pass people because everyone just assumes if you're in the little or I'm sorry lightning lane if you're in the lightning

[00:57:09] lane everyone just assumes that you have lightning or genie plus or whatever and it's like like no like I just wish people would just be more kind you know yeah and like that's when I get mad

[00:57:21] because and I'm like I'm saying like be kind but I'm gonna get mad at you but like I get mad when people aren't understanding of other people like they're just these grown adults are in

[00:57:30] such a rush to get on the freaking little mermaid that they don't even see the family of four that are like waiting patiently with their two very young children I'm glad that genie plus

[00:57:41] changed but also the new genie plus is kind of more confusing to me than the I don't even know anything about it I'm gonna be real with you whenever we go anywhere I just let Mike do everything

[00:57:53] I don't do anything you like I take care of the kids you take care of everything else like you that's my stress that is my stress I don't get it and it changes too much

[00:58:05] you're like do you deal with that I deal with this yep yep I get the easy job because I don't get the easy job go right to the DAS pass real quick like

[00:58:17] my friend and you might know him uh St. Hooch on TikTok uh yeah he got denied and he needs this fast the the DAS pass because of his you know auto auto immune the disease and stuff you know like yeah and yeah that's the thing I just for

[00:58:46] for us like how it works for us is I like it but I wish there was a different way to where like the scanning thing was different um I understand why it has to be like that but then

[00:58:57] then you know what if the cast member has to pause somebody they need to be speaking up and pausing the next party from scanning because my son doesn't understand that and you're still like

[00:59:07] pushing him into a meltdown like you're trying to help and I appreciate the help that is helping so we don't have to like we don't have to wait in the physical line we're waiting

[00:59:17] in a virtual line um but to constantly let people keep going is still a hurdle that we have to get by so I told Mike from now on I'm just gonna stand on the other side I'm gonna block it

[00:59:29] because I'm not getting into it and if somebody wants to fight me on that one then please be my guest because I am doing this for my kid and I can't that's the thing I'm so sick of just

[00:59:37] constantly being the nice person all the time like you know I can't anymore and I think that's why I mean I think that's why I have Maximus is to help me like get out of that you know

[00:59:50] I can't remember I think it was like last slide or like the the life before but I like I kept rooting for you to be like the the mama bear like you're a mama bear just go ahead

[01:00:01] yeah yeah I mean I will say there I have we went to we were on and I have issues with like travel I have issues with travel right now um because of how like just it's not inclusive um and

[01:00:16] like between hotels and airports like there are such tiny little changes they could make to make it a thousand times easier for people who are autistic right like early check-in at a hotel

[01:00:33] you want to tell me that they don't have rooms available at like 11 a.m after people check out they start cleaning you know what I mean if they had rooms set aside just for people who are autistic

[01:00:45] it takes Maximus hours to get acclimated to a room so his bedtime is eight okay if check-in is at four and we finally get into the room and we get settled he doesn't go down to bed until like

[01:00:59] midnight because he is so amped up and it takes him a long time to get used to that environment and not charging people for early check-in either you shouldn't have to pay for having a disability

[01:01:10] and I know you can relate to that yeah airports it would be so easy if you just had a want like a quiet room you know what I mean like it's just like these small simple changes that would

[01:01:22] just make it a more like because that gives a thing people say accommodation all the time like it's like this word that can be thrown around accommodation isn't a want it's a need

[01:01:33] yeah and that is what really needs to be focused on when it comes to being a more inclusive everything you know and I do want to point out something I said or something I said or this isn't me

[01:01:48] being like you know screw Disney you know they're not you know accepting of me and blah blah I don't use the dash pass okay I don't have that's past because I just never think to get it

[01:02:01] and I I do fine without it I'm more so talking about my friends that need it yeah and the people that do need it that aren't able to get it and are getting denied because of the stupid changes

[01:02:20] do they not have like a um a separate pass or is it just a dash now it's just a don't even have like a medical one no no just that's yeah and some of and I've heard stories too I've

[01:02:38] seen like stories on tiktok um about like people talking about their experience with the online like the zoom poll interview and they're so like and he and I'm not saying this we mean

[01:02:58] to be mean or anything because like they're just probably just training and stuff so I understand that that they don't know everything but the way that they like they just don't they feel like they

[01:03:12] I don't like they that like the the the people on the tiktok sort are like they don't seem to know anything yeah I mean I feel like if the woman that was asking us the questions understood what she

[01:03:28] was asking um I don't think I would have been upset about it yeah but like you were literally asking parents what they do to help their child through an autistic meltdown when like

[01:03:42] like what tools do you give them like I'm sorry like what right do you have to know that and a lot of people in a lot of people I've seen too on tiktok are saying like it just makes me

[01:03:55] not want to go to disney anymore because I don't feel like and I'm gonna cry because like I feel bad because you know I don't want to also feel like that yeah um but um like they're not as accepting

[01:04:13] of us anymore as they used to be if they ever were I don't know yeah it's hard because like yeah they had the new key of inclusivity right yeah um and I feel like they're trying hard

[01:04:30] to make a point of being inclusive but I don't think that they have the right people sitting at their table to make it more inclusive if that makes sense yeah um because I will say when I um

[01:04:45] I mean before I was um an autism mom um I didn't know anything really about about it you know and like even like I did read like some of the people like who work and the I don't know if they still

[01:04:59] call them bergs or whatever like the the disney groups with the cast members that come in and they say things um there are people who um identify with different disabilities that are on

[01:05:10] those that they are consulted with okay so they do consult them for things but I do wonder like if any of them especially are any of them autistic or are they just speaking from somebody who

[01:05:23] they know like they have a brother or a cousin who is autistic that's why they're on this you know right like how many times like are we actually consulting people who are living the

[01:05:34] experience um rather than just assuming right right and it's just oh I hear my baby screaming I might have to go soon okay um just one real quick point and then you know and then we can

[01:05:54] wrap it up uh you know you're fine just you know they disney should really look at like you know people are going online now and say in like saying like I don't want to go to disney anymore because

[01:06:08] of this because I don't feel seen anymore I will say so we go to a lot of theme parks okay we live in Orlando so like we go to disney we go to universal we go to seaworld we go to

[01:06:22] lego land um and for the most part in terms of like for us and our needs as a family for having a child that is autistic um disney does a really good job of making sure that our trip is

[01:06:41] as seamless as it can be um there are other theme parks that like say that they're autism friendly and then don't act that way um and it really does I feel like at the end of the day come down to

[01:06:56] like training and how the cast members that are working handle situations right because even if you have these people that are like having like higher up speaking decisions and stuff like

[01:07:07] you still have the front of the line cast members that are like basically saying the the rules right um I our experience I feel like has been so positive that we are able to go to disney

[01:07:20] every single weekend and for the most part have a good time um but it is still challenging um but it also does depend on like which cast members you come in contact with when you

[01:07:32] have what I like to tell tell say to my kids like everyone is an every every place is an autism friendly center until you have somebody that is having an autistic meltdown and that really shows you which place is actually inclusive yeah unfortunately that's true

[01:07:52] and it's sad but that's our reality yeah and it's you know it is helping me though because it helps me be more um advocating for max and other children and adults like him um because

[01:08:09] they they deserve to be seen they do and they deserve to have experiences just like everybody else yeah I mean and they even say that about like you know about wheelchair wheelchair front laid places everywhere is wheelchair friendly until it's not yeah it's true and honestly

[01:08:29] like um where were we just at I think it was like a land the amount of times that like they don't have like uh automatic door opener is crazy to me um that it happened and they can do

[01:08:44] buildings too yeah it is crazy to me especially with like the with the ADA law like yeah it's a law you got to do that but you're not doing it yeah yeah but I do notice that I I do notice that and it is

[01:09:04] I should sue yeah yeah I probably lose but I should sue I mean hello who you talking to oh well thank you Ashley for coming back yeah of course yeah I really enjoyed you having you back

[01:09:24] because I really really loved our last our last interview when I really wanted you back so well thank you for your patience and scheduling and like thank you for letting me go again because he is very unhappy right now yeah yeah uh well thank you everybody

[01:09:43] for watching and we will see you next time bye guys