Please Don't Abuse us, We're Volunteers!

[disykat]

And don't forget that the Dis Moderators are all unpaid volunteers!

LOL - Good point!

 

[Magic Mom]

It's the same way with Scouting. It always cracks me up when parents rage that we need to "hire" more leaders. Hello?

Yes! Yes it is! I can't believe how some parents treat me and my co-leader. I had one woman tell me that if her daughter got sick from a winter hike we took, that I would be responsible for all the medical bills and her lost wages....
This year I actually told all the parents at the first meeting that i was a volunteer. Two were very surprised at that.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

Work retail for a day, and I guarantee this will seem like nothing.

Signed, your friendly neighborhood retail manager

Heck, work retail during CHRISTMAS and these people will seem like angels.

take her girls out of GS and enroll them in the same pack with her boys.

Can you do that?
Man I wish I'd know about that when I was in GS..I hated it. My brother (who was a BS) was always doing things that were way more fun. His pack got to go to museums and on REAL camping trips with REAL tents and things. WE had 'camping trips' with giant tents that were permanent structures that had wooden floors and cots and everything. WE had to learn how to properly arrange furniture and pick out outfits that looked good.

 

[sha_lyn]

Man I wish I'd know about that when I was in GS..I hated it. My brother (who was a BS) was always doing things that were way more fun. His pack got to go to museums and on REAL camping trips with REAL tents and things. WE had 'camping trips' with giant tents that were permanent structures that had wooden floors and cots and everything. WE had to learn how to properly arrange furniture and pick out outfits that looked good

That is the fault of the troop leaders not the organization. GS can go on "real" camping trips, rock wall climbing, white water rafting etc. The eladers ahve to be willing to not only do the activities with the girls, but to take the required training.
Oh and yes, due to a lawsuit many yrs ago (30+ I would guess) Boy scouts has to let girls join.

 

[AprilShowers]

Actually, our PTO did get a credit card machine just for one or two large fundraisers. Costs us money to have, but makes it easier for the big-ticket donors.

I understand that some organizations will benefit from having a CC machine, but truly there is no need for this project. It is held every-other year, nothing costs more than $20 (most are $10 & under) and we take checks.

I realize we are turning into a cashless society, heck, I've used my debit card at McDonald's before! BUT I wouldn't abuse a volunteer if I couldn't!!

 

[Disney Doll]

I think people are geenrally more angry and entitled today. Plus I think all these electronic forms of communication make it less personal so that people are actually forgetting HOW to communicate.

A while back at work, I admitted a new patient...a lovely lady. Her son accompanied her. I walked into the room, said to the patient "Hi my name is Patty & I am going to be your nurse". The sone immediately stands up pointing his finger in my face and says "I want to go on record as saying that if anything happens to my mother while she is here, I will hold you personally responsible and sue everyone" in this very angry voice. I just looked at him and said "You know, sir, you don't even know me and you are yelling at me. I have said less than 20 words to you, and you are yelling at me. Why would you want to alienate the only person who stands between your mother and death?". He was a bit taken aback, but I stopped him in his tracks.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

Who knew that the dance crowd was so rude?

Just kidding. Don't let a couple bad apples spoil your experience. You are needed and appreciated by many.

 

[tonilea]

Remember: "No good deed goes unpunished".

That was my first thought when I read the first post!

 

[DevilDuckie]

Work retail for a day, and I guarantee this will seem like nothing.

Signed, your friendly neighborhood retail manager

Actually, the abuse I've taken as a volunteer is *much* worse than anything I ever got working retail.

 

[Freyja]

I´m glad you´re already feeling better. Vent away!

 

[Camicar]

Last year we left our long-time church over this kind of crap. My dh and I had given up countless hours of our time to benefit the church. Countless. When I think of all those hours, which were apparently a total waste of time, I could just hurt myself.

The final straw was in serving on the board and facing the third year of record deficits. I suggested that we make it clear to the congregation that if we didn't find a way to increase income our only option was to cut programs and positions. It's pretty obvious, after all.

Another board member, whom I've known for nearly 20 years (and who my dh has hired for several jobs solely out of the good of his heart) sent around a VERY nasty email to me, copied to everyone on the board, telling me how I'm an evil, hideous, money-grubber who would kick people out of the church for not donating more money (HUH? What? Who said that? NOt me), how he hates everything about me and that I have no sense of how Christians should behave (Yeah, Irony check moment). It went on and on. It was truly the most horrible email I have ever seen in my life. It was so bad and so crazy that at first I thought it was a joke. When I realized he was serious, I started to cry and in the last 20 years, I've only cried 2 other times, so that' how bad this nastygram was.

As if that's not bad enough: NO ONE spoke up to my defense or tried to intervene or sympathized with me. Everyone -- including the pastor -- shut up and pretended that nothing happened because they did not want to get involved. I was advised to 'let it go' for the sake of the church.

That was it. I was done. My only regrets are the hours I can't get back and the new level of cynicism I possess.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

That is the fault of the troop leaders not the organization

I didn't know that then, but thanks for the info. My mom forced me to join GS because she didn't know what else to do with me, I think. I hated selling cookies, I hated the little uniforms, I wasn't really friends with the girls in my troop because I was shy and didn't have the kind of money they had so my clothes were always a little out of date/fashion. I also didn't particularly care for the lessons on decorating, putting outfits together, etc.

The worst part? The homemade rootbeer! I swear, the same moms would always volunteer to bring snacks and they always brought their own special homemade rootbeer which was flat and tasted awful. I would rather drink a glass of cold spit than have to drink homemade rootbeer ever again.

 

[Amlee]

Heck, work retail during CHRISTMAS and these people will seem like angels.

Right out of high school I worked the toy department at Wal-mart the summer and Christmas season. OMG!! I will flip burgers, pick up trash, and be a gyno at the health department before I would go back to doing that!!

What do you mean my perfect angel can't play with the toys while I shop? Or the fights! OMG the fights! It was when the Power Rangers was all the rage and the fights over those blasted figures were awful!!

But my all time favorite is the people who bring their kids to the front door, drop them off to play in the toys, while they go about doing other things around town. WTH are people thinking! Are they thinking!?

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

I worked retail for a number of years and I HATED Christmas with a passion. For several years, I worked at a local mall and it was just amazing how trusting the parents in that town (and the neighboring ones who came to shop there) were of their kids. It was not uncommon in the summer time for parents to drive up on their way to work, drop the kids off with a pocket full of cash and then not return until sometime in the evening when they got off.


It was also a destination for school 'field trips'. When I saw kids who SHOULD HAVE been in school, I would always ask them why they were at the mall instead of in school. Almost every time I got the answer of 'it's a field trip'. I wish we'd been able to take 'field trips' to the mall when I was in school.

The fights you mentioned cracks me up and reminds me of the time I saw two GROWN WOMEN, probably in their 30s or 40s, dragged out by security for fighting over the last Game Boy Color. :lol: And the frequent 'Do you have those talking things? You know? Those talking..things. Look like bats, only without wings. They talk. You know. Talk and..stuff. My kid wants one and I HAVE to have one!".
I think they were called Furbys or something.

 

[barkley]

i suggest having t-shirts made up that read:


DANCE "VOLUNTEER"*


*"volunteer" because you could'nt pay me enough to do this job!

you could probably sell quite a few

 

[stamper]

Well, one nice thing about being a volunteer is you don't have to stand there and take stuff like that as you would if it was your job.

I would simply tell them, your volunteering to help, your either doing the best you can, or you had no input as the case may be, and that if they don't like the way that things are being done, they are more than welcome to step up and volunteer their time in the future. I have found that 99% of the time that will get said person to shut up. The remaining 1% would complain that if you gave them a million dollars in gold because it was too heavy to carry home.

I have said or emailed this very response a number of times. I am a volunteer for our national dog club and there are people who are NEVER happy!!!! Either something isn't done the way they would like it or not in the time frame they expect it to happen, etc. So, I remind them that I am a volunteer and I have a life outside of the club (as does everyone of the well of a 100 club volunteers) and maybe they should volunteer themselves if they think it should be done differently! Usually, that ends it.

 

[sha_lyn]

I didn't know that then, but thanks for the info. My mom forced me to join GS because she didn't know what else to do with me, I think. I hated selling cookies, I hated the little uniforms, I wasn't really friends with the girls in my troop because I was shy and didn't have the kind of money they had so my clothes were always a little out of date/fashion. I also didn't particularly care for the lessons on decorating, putting outfits together, etc.

The worst part? The homemade rootbeer! I swear, the same moms would always volunteer to bring snacks and they always brought their own special homemade rootbeer which was flat and tasted awful. I would rather drink a glass of cold spit than have to drink homemade rootbeer ever again.

LOL about the rootbeer
There was a poster a couple of yrs ago that complained that her DD's troop was basically just a social club. Turns out they live pretty close to me. I suggested she contact the the service unit and ask about other troops in the area that might be a better fit. I never did hear anything else. I do hope they found a better troop. I have a feeling her DD's troop is the same one a friend put her DDs' in at the beginning of the yr. The girls were in our home-school troop, but went back to PS this yr.

 

[Mickey&Donald]

Actually, the abuse I've taken as a volunteer is *much* worse than anything I ever got working retail.

Really! How about this - in the past two weeks, I've had a woman call me a "stupid b***h" in front of a store full of people, another woman let her daughter drop trou and urinate on our floor, a girl vomited three times in three different locations in the store before she thought it might be a good idea to leave, another woman who paid absolutely no attention to her daughter, until her daughter climbed the Mickey Mouse statue in our store (oh yeah, did I mention I managed a Disney Store?) and BROKE part of the statue, and WE had to find the mother to let her know what happened... then the woman threw her merchandise on the ground and told me I was rude and a "b***h" (people seem to love that word around here) and THEN had her husband come in TWICE to berate another manager about the situation.

All of this in addition to the daily ice creams left to melt all over our merchandise, Starbucks on shelves, the idiots who let their little ones run off to destroy fixtures while they chit chat with their friends, etc, etc, etc.

Even though I get paid for this gig, it's not nearly enough, believe me.

Our Disney Store closed Saturday (one of the 90 closing across the country) and while I was really, really sad (we all cried a lot), I was SO HAPPY that I won't be seeing any of those mean, cruel, insensitive, repulsive people anymore!!

 

[wnissen]

Last year we left our long-time church over this kind of crap. My dh and I had given up countless hours of our time to benefit the church. Countless. When I think of all those hours, which were apparently a total waste of time, I could just hurt myself.

Forget loving their enemies, sounds like that church has trouble helping its own members to love each other. Just because it is Christian to forgive doesn't mean we should go around tacitly encouraging rudeness.

I volunteered with a local arts group, and we had a similar problem. Certain members of the board would complain in very sharp tones about other members of the board, policies, etc. I could never understand why they would stay in an organization that made them so unhappy.

Walt