Quote:
Originally Posted by michael5402
One of our biggest problems this year is our mentors not wanting to stay and letting us work on the robot. We have had several times where we asked them to stay later and we are told we are done when they want to go home. We only have three mentors and two of them rotate days to watch us. We have all so had days where we did not have school, not weather related, and we asked them to come in and they wouldn't. We currently have the robot in the bag not completed that we bagged around 6 o'clock yesterday because they did not want to stay later. Several people on our team feel like they are there to just baby sit us. Any time we have tried to talk to them it seems like the response always is you will do what I say and usually is in a raised tone of voice.
I was just wondering if any other teams have had problems with there mentors and them wanting to stay. I know it is hard on three of them but they knew what they signed up for.
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Take a step back for a moment. The life of an adult (mentor) is quite a bit different than the life of a student. The last thing you do to a volunteer who is spending their own time to help is to tell them they aren't doing enough. I don't want to come down hard on you, but you seem pretty thankless toward folks who just spent 6 weeks devoting all their free time to helping you.
While 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or even 1 hour may not mean much to you, that's the difference between seeing my kids and wife or not seeing them (I get home 15 minutes before their bed times). Likewise, as an engineer, I have to be in at work at hours that blow most team members minds. 1 hour is the difference between getting some sleep or continuing to accrue a sleep deficit that ends up with me getting sick at least once a season.
Take it easy on your mentors. Make it fun so they come back, and try to develop MORE of them so you don't burn out the ones you have.