I have had cast members reject our pins for the following reasons:
- "It doesn't have the Disney copyright" - which it clearly did but she couldn't read it since the pin was so tiny.
- "You're not 12 years old" - which my sons were at the time (but not anymore) and tried to trade off the teal lanyard.
- "I can't trade with you, only those 12 and under" - because I can't tell the difference between teal and blue anymore.
- "It is not an authentic pin..." - which is fine, we just give them another acceptable pin.
- "This pin used to have a name on it..." - which I didn't know when I traded for it off the cast member's lanyard.
- "I don't have any good pins on my lanyard...the good ones are in my pocket and those are my personal pins and not for trading on the lanyard" - as told to my sons. Yeah, right, and you carrying them around in your pocket when you're working
- etc.
Usually, I just try to give them another pin by holding out my hand so they can pick one that they find 'acceptable'. Sometimes, we have to listen
to the 'sermon' of why they won't trade but like the others, we just move on to the next person. Unfortunately, when they do that to my kids and
I'm not standing there, my kids usually get embarrassed and walk away in shame not knowing how to reply. But if I am there I usually am able to help them
finish the trade by giving them something else. I remember being embarrassed by adults when I was a teen and it's not a good feeling. Sometimes, the cast
members don't speak respectfully to teens when the parents aren't around but usually when I'm there they act appropriately.
I'd actually rather trade with the cast members than those professional pin traders who told me that: (1) The cast members only trade from their books
'today' since it's a GWP day. That's a lie. (2) Traded me the the one-armed ghost and never told me it was defective and (3) Told me that
they'd trade me any of their scrap traders if I wanted to trade them any of my hidden mickeys on my lanyard - they're so helpful, I've never met
such nice people!!
I also try to put the Hidden Mickey pins I am not collecting back on the cast member lanyards hoping that someone else will want it. I did that trading with
an Indy person in front of the fast pass line. I traded his 'mystery' pin which was a pirate pin from the set currently sold in the stores. I gave
him a Hidden Mickey and he thanked me for giving him something 'good' to trade.
When in these situations I always believe in karma!
