The sense of entitlement that some people have just makes me shake my head. We’ve written about some of them here:
- The complaining business class customer who got what was coming to him
- What happened to the pushy woman who arrived 30 minutes before her flight
And even more of them seem to go to Walt Disney World:
- This woman’s inappropriate wants for Disney to “make it up to her” when WDW closed in the early days of the COVID pandemic
- And my favorite, the Disney “expert” who refused to tip her server because she thought the food cost too much (that one, at least, had a happy ending)
So it shouldn’t be surprising that another person with a sense of entitlement recently made the papers.
Walt Disney World closed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic but reopened in July with lots and lots of new health and safety procedures in place. Many of the protocols are for Disney workers to take care of, such as cleaning, means for social distancing, and decreased touchpoints. However some, such as submitting to temperature checks before entering the parks, and wearing masks nearly all the time when on Disney property, are guests’ responsibility.
Disney has made it very clear that temp checks and mask use are both 100% required and you will be asked to leave if you’re not compliant on their website and via signage at the parks. But that doesn’t mean some people won’t try to bypass the system.
Case in point…
Kelly Sills, 47, is a resident of Baton Rouge, LA. He was staying at Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, a Disney-owned resort, and was entering the Disney Springs shopping and dining area near a restaurant called The Boathouse.
Before entering the area, all guests are, of course, required to get their temperature checked. Sills managed to bypass the temperature checking area but was quickly noticed. He then refused to return when requested by staff. Members of the Orange County Sheriff Department were nearby and when Sills continued to refuse to get his temperature taken and refused to leave the premises, he was arrested.
“I spent $15,000 to come here,” Sills was quoted in the Orlando Weekly as he was being removed from Disney property. “Do you know how much stock I own in Disney?”
So I guess Sills thinks that the more money you spend at Disney, the less you have to follow the rules?
Ummmmm…..no.
Here’s the video from the Orange County Sheriff Department’s body camera as Sills was being arrested:
Most Disney guests are compliant with the rules Disney has established to keep them and the park’s employees safe. The same is true at Universal Studios, down the road.
However, Kelly Sills is one of a handful of people who have been arrested for grossly inappropriate behavior when refusing to follow the rules at the theme parks. Members of law enforcement had to get involved when guests have spat at theme park workers, pushed them, screamed in their faces and cursed them out, among other infractions.
All because they didn’t want to wear a mask or get their temperature taken in places where it’s been made clear that it’s a requirement.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
Theme park-goers don’t want to be told what to do in a society where “we’re more prone to think about ourselves than about the welfare of those around us,” said Gregory Webster, a psychology professor at the University of Florida.
“They’re thinking about it in terms of having their free will repressed instead of making a very small and trivial sacrifice for the betterment of the whole,” Webster said of the COVID-19 rule violators.
Truer words were never spoken.
Sills pleaded not guilty on a charge of trespassing.
He was trespassed from Disney property, as per his arrest report.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
3 comments
I think that it is overly presumptuous to reach such a strong conclusion (especially re: entitlement) based on a statement by one side of a dispute and an abridged and edited video clip issued by the same side of the dispute. The arrest was for trespass yet presumably he had a valid ticket, and so a trespass charge seems like a stretch. The allegation is that the guy refused a temp check, yet at the end of the video he asked for a temperature check. Arresting him for trespass seems like an abuse of the criminal justice system. At most, I could see tossing him out and invalidating his ticket.
You don’t need a ticket to get into Disney Springs. Getting a “trespass,” in this case, means that he’s banned from the property.
The guy can’t follow simple directions… And has no qualms about being a potential COVID-19 spreader. The self-entitlement, selfishness, self-freedom loving actions of this d-bag is on full display.
Seriously, going to a place that has clear policies and procedures, and then actively try to circumvent it, and demand everyone respect his “rights” while putting others in harms way. Privilege beyond belief.