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

[Christopher149]

Wow, you really got chewed out. I empathize with you as a college mentor, as there have been instances of the "not a real mentor" mentality, though not like this.

There have been some volunteers with whom there has been friction (mostly queuing staff) but never to the level of profanity.

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

Wow, you really got chewed out. I empathize with you as a college mentor, as there have been instances of the "not a real mentor" mentality, though not like this.

There have been some volunteers with whom there has been friction (mostly queuing staff) but never to the level of profanity.

I usually sympathize with the queueing staff, especially during the early quals. Their frustation is pretty understandable, but the safety glasses people really don't have the same stress on them. Still, behavior like this is just entirely inexcusable.

[KevinGoneNuts]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

Wow, you really got chewed out. I empathize with you as a college mentor, as there have been instances of the "not a real mentor" mentality, though not like this.

There have been some volunteers with whom there has been friction (mostly queuing staff) but never to the level of profanity.

The only questions I got where about my age. (I was the main contact for my team at the time) and she wasn't sure I was a mentor, but I finally had to show her my ID. Then she laughed about it. I guess glad that I was helping.

[Andrew Y.]

i had an issue with one of the safety Judges...


One of my students was standing on a 2ft crate so I was holding the crate and standing next to him just in case he fell. A safety judge walked up and said "if your going to be an idiot and do something stupid, back him up" and grabbed my arm and placed it on my students underwear and made me grab it...

needless to say it was an awkward moment and I removed my hands which didn't go over well with him...and it ended up with him walking away shaking his head. I understand safety, but I dont need to be putting my hands there

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by Andrew Y.

i had an issue with one of the safety Judges...


One of my students was standing on a 2ft crate so I was holding the crate and standing next to him just in case he fell. A safety judge walked up and said "if your going to be an idiot and do something stupid, back him up" and grabbed my arm and placed it on my students underwear and made me grab it...

needless to say it was an awkward moment and I removed my hands which didn't go over well with him...and it ended up with him walking away shaking his head. I understand safety, but I dont need to be putting my hands there

Whoa!

You'd think judges and volunteers would have more common sense than this... most do, but this sort of behavior IMHO is unacceptable. This kind of crap is NOT what FIRST is about.


On a side note, from what I have been reading the past few days it seems like there was a higher level of hostility at champs this year... cursing volunteers, sketch-touch safety judges, and even fistfights over scouting seats... If it weren't for what I have seen elsewhere I'd say FIRST's GP level is slowly slipping.

Bottom line: People, if you aren't already, USE COMMON SENSE!. It matters.

[IKE]

It is unfortunate whenever you have a bad experience with a volunteer, but it is a life experience none the less. It is hard to say why the volunteer reacted the way they did. She may have had a bad day. She may have been a parent expecting to get a field reset job and instead was sent to be on safety glasses patrol.

At the Volunteer coordination meeting right before things opened up, they reminded us that have volunteered before to be as cheerful and positive as possible. They also reminded us that many of the volunteers may have never volunteered before, and to try to keep an eye out for this sort of stuff.

I personally would hate to be the safety glasses person. Not because I think handing out glasses is boring, but because of the thousands of people coming through the door, many do not have glasses with them. A fair amount of those people like to argue about the necessity of "needing" safety glasses.

My guess is this particular volunteer had a very strict view on who was to receive safety glasses. This coupled with a few arguments on the need likely lead her to be more abrasive than desired.

You did the right thing by reporting the volunteer. On the outside, we can only guess if/or what action was taken.

The brain is an interesting thing. Often conflict will inact a fight or flight portion of your brain that can lead to irrational behaviour. Some folks are more prone than others to have this area tripped. Being the "Safety Glass Police" likely encounters a lot of conflicts/stress and she was probably in that state of mind most of the day. Learning how to recognize when you or someone else is in this state of mind and how to counteract it is a great skill to master. As a mentor you will encounter many many many more situations similar to this, and your ability to deal with these situations will be a role model for your students.
I know when I get that way, my face will get warm and red. It doesn't happen often, but still more than I would like. You might have some sensitivity over the "real mentor" comment (which is a pretty rough comment), and may have been more argumentative than you realize. That doesn't excuse the other persons behaviour, but I hope it might explain it a bit.

[Chris Hibner]

Originally Posted by Andrew Y.

i had an issue with one of the safety Judges...


One of my students was standing on a 2ft crate so I was holding the crate and standing next to him just in case he fell. A safety judge walked up and said "if your going to be an idiot and do something stupid, back him up" and grabbed my arm and placed it on my students underwear and made me grab it...

needless to say it was an awkward moment and I removed my hands which didn't go over well with him...and it ended up with him walking away shaking his head. I understand safety, but I dont need to be putting my hands there

Wow, you passed up a chance to hand out a major wedgie, and you could have even said it was in the name of safety! You're a bigger man than me.

[Yipyapper]

FIRST could have some people that the volunteers don't know interact with them to test their integrity, and these volunteers could be dealt with accordingly. Even if it is a volunteer job, it's preposterous to be so rude, and hopefully this way they can be replaced by another person if they are so unruly.

[JRuegsegger]

Something similar happened to me last year in St. Louis. My team was moving through the pits to go outside (I forget why) and I was the only one with no glasses. They wouldn't let me use a pair because I was a team member, and I had no way to contact any team members or mentors to get me some.

After ten minutes one of the volunteers kindly went to my pit to notify a mentor of my problem and I finally had a pair of glasses with which to make my 15 second trek through the presentation booths and out the back door.

I've never encountered anyone at a FIRST event that swore at people or were anything but the nicest people on the planet. I hope she didn't have the opportunity to talk to many people, because I would honestly have left the stadium and never came back if I were a spectator, sponsor, or anyone else like that.

[JohnSchneider]

From what I was told by one of the people I reported her to, the had apparently received lots of complaints. That is bad because

A) that means she encountered lots of people.
B) Because nothing was done to try and fix the situation (But I guess that was the theme this year).

[BigJ]

Originally Posted by animenerdjohn

B) Because nothing was done to try and fix the situation (But I guess that was the theme this year).

Do you really think this is necessary?


Anyway, sorry you had this bad run in especially if you were as polite as reported and she was really yelling at you. Pack your safety glasses

[JV2073]

I love that you are a metor that also helps the future be bright. In this situation I would see a point that FIRST should buy saftly glasses to lend. I think if many teams and students should send emails and call their regional director and FIRST staff to make them aware of this situation.

[JohnSchneider]

Originally Posted by JV2073

I love that you are a metor that also helps the future be bright. In this situation I would see a point that FIRST should buy saftly glasses to lend. I think if many teams and students should send emails and call their regional director and FIRST staff to make them aware of this situation.

FIRST does have safety glasses to lend...there were boxes of them...I believe they are for "visitors" - but when you have several boxes of them I don't see why an adult cannot sign out a pair for the day. I would've gladly traded in my license for a pair. Compromise is fine - unwillingness to isn't.

[MarkoRamius1086]

Wow. I must consider myself lucky at this point, as most of my experiences with FIRST volunteers have been very pleasant, and none of them hostile anywhere near this extent.


I do have to say on the other hand, atleast it wasn't a FTA or Robot Inspector you had to deal with.