I've got a hot take on the CM backpack situation that no one asked for.

But I'm going to be gentle. Because I honestly hate seeing anyone lose their jobs for any reason. Even if they're at fault.

I definitely think it behooves Disney, and other major entertainment operators with huge masses of frontline employees, to be more forgiving in situations like this.

I get that Disney and Universal both have decently strict social media policies that are somehow both "cut and dry" and "full of gray area" at the same time.

I'm going to sidestep here for a second and tell y'all that I was fired from Universal Orlando in 2008 for selling comp tickets. That's an extremely cut and dry rule to violate. There is no mercy in this situation.

I was, however, baited by security with mercy. So I basically made it as easy as possible for them to term me with every ounce of helpful information I could. Which honestly, I deserved. It was a sting operation. I paid them back and everything.

Separating myself from the situation, I will say that everyone at Universal treated me with empathy and dignity. It's policy that you get trespassed for one year when you're fired with cause like this, and they let me escort myself out.

I was allowed to appeal and I did. What a massively stupid and embarrassing thing to do.

This was 2008. Good people in good standing were being fired left and right for no reason other than the company couldn't afford them.

And yet, there I went, marching into Deb Buynak and Elaine Hinds offices, begging for mercy.

I told them how I had been bounced around from project-to-project, didn't have a steady paycheck, and had extreme difficulty making ends meet, facing eviction. All of it true.

They didn't relent. And good on them.

But in the process, they also treated me empathetically and with dignity, and Deb told me some things about myself in that appeal that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

I wish I had been shown mercy and forgiveness, but when you think about it, how would things be for theme parks and guests if that rule didn't exist?

There'd be an entire little blackmarket ecosystem of employees selling tickets, resulting in massive lost revenues, shitty guest experiences, and a general aura of shadiness around trying to buy discounted park passes.

The reason that rule exists isn't because they're jealous you got the money for the ticket and not them. It exists to prevent that blackmarket from becoming a thing.

In that same vein, the social media policies are in place to prevent guests who choose to sound off on Twitter (or facebook... or whatever) from being verbally accosted by employees of that company as some bizarre form of retribution.

Imagine a world where that policy didn't exist and @drunkatdisney complained about his drink not being strong enough, and the bartenders hopped onto #DisTwitter to "clap back".

Imagine a world where that policy didn't exist and @AtDisneyAgain was upset on Facebook about his lobster dinner aboard DCL not being the right temperature, and the cooks hopped onto his feed to "drag him".

I get that the tweet in question from @Schmoofy offended people. But there's always gonna be another Twitter member with another hot take. Today it's Bret. Tomorrow it'll be someone else.

The social media policy at Disney is, in my opinion, too harsh, and I hope these CMs are able to appeal and be shown mercy.

But you need to be able to separate yourselves from the situation and see why the rule exists in the first place.

If you want to be on here and contribute to the dialogue in impactful ways (which may include being extremely sassy or snarky) you need to HIDE your employer information. You cannot represent Disney or Universal on your social media and then drag guests. You just can't.

So if a guests' Disney Parks hot take offends you, and you're obviously a Cast Member online, you've just got to learn to ignore it and move on. Which I concede is REALLY difficult. But you've got to do it, or know yourself well enough, and HIDE your employer.

I feel awful about what's happening and it bums me the eff out, but no ones hot take forced anyone to respond on social media in any way, positively or negatively.