Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Crappy people & you

I've had this on my mind for a little over a week now and I've talked myself out of posting it. I'm just so ticked about it that I have to get it off my chest.

*Warning: Major whining and complaining ahead. Turn back now!*

I volunteer at the Aquarium here. VOLUNTEER. I do not work there. I do not get paid. I spend one day a week(9 hours) busting my butt for them. I've been doing this for a few months now and I've really enjoyed it. Except for last week.

I understand people have bad days. I understand that some days you're just not in it. But I do not understand a paid staff treating a volunteer like crap for no good reason. This was the second time I've worked with this trainer, the first time being my first day when she "trained" me. She was nice the first time. Not warm and fuzzy, but nice. Last week? Not so much. The day started with her making a snide comment to me about standing there when she walked in.....HELLO I always wait until the TRAINER gets there, moves the birds so I can go in and clean(since I can't go in when the birds are in there. it's against the rules)......apparently me waiting for 2 min wasn't ok, I needed to FIND something to do. Whatever, I get it. So I went on to do the other things that needed to be done. At one point she made a comment about how I should just know what to do(and what she wants done. like she expected me to do something I have NEVER done before and got mad when I said I'd never done it. HELLO lady, i'm not a mind reader!)

The day went on and a few more comments were made. Not big nasty ones but enough to get under my skin a little bit. The big one came right before lunch. Everything was done. All she was doing was writing in the log book. It was 10 min until we went to lunch so I was waiting to see what the game plan would be after we got back since I hadn't really worked with her before and I wasn't used to how she liked things done. She decided that she didn't like that and sent me out to scrub the beach. Now, normally I would be fine with this....BUT the birds hadn't been outside in two days due to the weather being too bad, so there was NOTHING to scrub! I knew it was time for lunch so I went back inside(from the 15 degree cold) and washed the brush so I could go. She looked at me, rolled her eyes and told me to go back out! I just looked at her! Whatever. I went back out for the nest 30 min until she came out to get me. She then asked me if I saw what she told me I needed to scrub, when I said no, she looked around and said "Oh. Well I guess there is none today. You need to make sure you stay on top of it. You can go to lunch now. Make sure you're back by 1 to prep for the feed. I'll be a little late".  By the time I got my food I had 20 min to eat when I should have had 60....then she showed up almost 40 min later then me! So she got a full lunch break but I didn't AND I had to do all of the prep work by myself.

The rest of the day went on fine. For the most part, I was up there alone so I didn't have to deal with her. I'm mad though. I did 95% of the work. Besides feeding the penguins and writing in the log books she did nothing. At one point she said she had a feed so I had to wash the bucket(She walked the bucket down(decent walk) so she could go to a feed at 2.) I walked down at 230 to wash it and she was sitting with her friends BS'ing. Then I had to make the hike back to the room to finish what needed to be done. She later told me the feed got pushed to 245. She didn't wash the bucket, she talked with her friends instead...she could have come back to help me!

Now if I was paid staff I would suck it up. BUT I'M NOT! I don't volunteer to do her job for her! AND I SURE AS HECK don't volunteer to get treated like crap.

I would have walked out if it weren't for two things 1) I had things in the back room I needed. 2) we are staying at the aquarium for my birthday this weekend and I don't want to see people if I just walked out. lol.

I called in sick this week since I didn't feel great and I needed a break. I think I'm going to talk to the volunteer coordinator this week and tell her how I feel about it. I don't mind bad moods at all, but I do mind how I'm talked to and treated. It may sound petty, and I bet I will think so when I cool off.

But for now. I'm ticked.

10 comments:

Just Another MilSpouse said...

I would absolutely be ticked off if I were you. That is just amazing that that woman thinks she can treat you like that. It wouldn't matter if you were paid staff or not; nobody deserves to be treated like that. The fact that you so generously donate your time just makes the whole thing worse. I think you really should talk to the coordinator because other volunteers may not put up with as much as you did today; they could lose good people. Not to mention the fact that you won't (shouldn't) put up with it much longer. That woman needs to be put in her place.

Just my opinion.

KK said...

Thank you. I feel bad complaining but I'm so sooo angry about it all. lol.

I just cried to my husband and he told me volunteering should make me happy not cause me more stress, thats what a JOB is for.

Mrs. B said...

I agree with J... It should make you HAPPY! I sure as heck would NOT take that from ANYONE! It shouldn't matter if your a volunteer or not..

Brittney said...

You have every right to be mad!! I have a really rude supervisor at work and her little comments often get to me as well. Some people like to put others down in order to make themselves feel better, just try not to let her ruin something you enjoy doing. I would talk to the volunteer coordinator and tell her how unprofessional and rude you were treated by that lady. If they want to keep their volunteers they need to stop abusing them. Good luck!

Jenny said...

Man you kept your cool I would have went off on her lol. Bad day or not you don't treat people like dirt that is not right at all.

I would talk with the coordinator and tell her about how the trainer treats you. Maybe you can get moved to a different day with a different trainer?

KK said...

I love you all. Thank you. I felt so silly writing this.

Jenny- The trainer isn't really the same each week. I've worked with 4 trainers total and this was the 2nd time with this one. What I'm going to tell the coordinator is that if it ever happens again I will walk out. I don't care if I said I would stay for at least a 6 month commitment, I won't deal with it again. I bit my tongue for the first time in EVER....lol. I never let people talk to me like that and I think J was shocked that I did. I just didn't know what to say. I feel I'm still too new to really know how to stick up for myself.

Amanda C. said...

do you volunteer at Mysitc aquarium?? I used to love it there.

Anyways, you are a stronger woman than me, that lady would have gotten a bucket upside her head! She has absolutely no right or reason to treat you like that. She should really be reported to someone about her mistreatment of volunteers.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Amanda. Report her ass. She has no right to treat anyone like that, paid OR volunteer. It's abuse either way.

Sorry that this upset you. It's not petty, she's just down right being a bitch.

KK said...

The weird part is that I'm soooo not a door mat. I stand up for myself in everything...EXCEPT this for some reason. J says it's because it's my first job like thing and I'm still a little insecure about the "professional world". I don't even know what I would have said to her "Please don't be so mean to me"? "No thanks, I'll pass"? When it really comes down to it, I have no idea what I could have said beside "*F* You, I'm gone".

Anonymous said...

"Excuse me, but are you having a bad day or something? You're being incredibly rude to me. I'm not a doormat and I will be speaking to the volunteer supervisor about this." lol