Terrible Volunteer Experience

[JohnSchneider]

I must first comment to say that next to all of the volunteers I encountered at Championships were friendly, helpful, and pleasant to be around. Truly embodied gracious-professionalism. However - there was one in particular I as both a mentor and a FIRST participant had a serious issue with.

There was a particular woman outside of the pits - where they had the extra pairs of goggles. On the first day I didn't have my own set to get into the pit with or use for the day. So I asked very politely if I could sign them out for the day - and instead of trying to work something out I was met with the following dialogue.

Me: "...May I sign a pair out for the day"
Her: "YOU NEED TO HAVE A MENTOR SIGN THEM OUT"
Me: "Sure. I'm a mentor. Ill sign"
Her: "IF YOU WERE A MENTOR YOU WOULD HAVE SAFETY GLASSES OF YOUR OWN"
Me: "I don't pack the equipment - I actually travel to my team from college..."

and here's where is really got me fired up:

Her: "WELL THEN YOU AREN'T A REAL MENTOR."
direct. quote.

I must comment to say: WOW. How any volunteer with FIRST could say such a thing is beyond me. That was probably the rudest thing I have ever heard at a FIRST event - And these are the people we let deal with our guests...but it gets worse.

I borrowed a pair of glasses from another team member for the remainder of the weekend(Scouter). On Saturday morning - I was putting them on as I walked into the pit and they snapped in half right down the middle. The same woman was present and not wanting to go through that again I sent one of my students in to get me some gorilla tape so I could attempt to tape my glasses back together. Sadly the bridge wouldn't seem to stay on my nose - and so reluctantly I had to ask to borrow a pair.

I explained my story and showed her the broken glasses and after a brief exchange of trying to get her to compromise she said -

"FINE. take the D*mn glasses"

and reached towards the bottom of a filled bucket to find the ugliest, oldest, dirtiest pair she had.

I filed a complaint both days with the other volunteers - but obviously nothing was done to correct it. This thread is not to jump on one person but to hopefully promote an interest in finding a solution to the problem. It is partly my fault for not owning my own pair - but to be met with this sort of hostility at a family event - and to have my integrity as a mentor questioned...that is unforgivable. While volunteers are donating their time, I think FIRST should try a little harder to find some graciously-professional people. Not like what I had to experience. Or at least provide a channel so that we can report incidents like this...
/end rant