Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006
Payback is a Bitch
Here is the letter that I am sending to the President of the Museum today:
Dear [Ms. President],First off, I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to the board members who purchased the table for the youth program participants, as well as donated money for the girl�s gowns and shoes and for A�s tuxedo. The group of five kids that we selected to attend, this year�s Youth Advisory Board, was excited beyond belief to learn of this opportunity, especially since they had never been to an event like this one or ever imagined that they would really get to attend one of these things. I, myself, have never been to an event of this magnitude, so I can only imagine how they felt to be invited.
That said, I was very disappointed and disturbed by the turn of events that took place the day of the gala.
I understand that the planning of the gala is a large undertaking. However, I can�t help but feel that the people responsible this year dropped the ball on several elements. To begin with, the youth program was not informed that a table had been donated to us until January 20th, a week before the actual gala. I was asked to go as a chaperone, which I didn�t mind in the least. I even came in on my day off to take the girls shopping for their dresses.
The day before the gala, I was shocked to learn that my name was on a list to be a �spotter� at the gala. I had no idea what that meant and was concerned because I was never contacted by the person(s) who created the list. When they realized their faux pa, seeing as several people on the spotter�s list were not informed that they were in fact spotters, an email was sent out by [A.S.] thanking us for �volunteering� for the position. Being team players, the people in my department agreed, although it was very last minute. On top of that, no one from the gala committee wanted to take responsibility for not letting us know ahead of time; blame was deflected from person to person.
Regardless, we were then told that we had to be at the hotel dressed and ready to go for a spotter training session at 5 on Saturday. This was not possible seeing as the youth program staff works Saturdays and this Saturday was particularly important because not only was it the last Saturday of our 1st academic session, but several of the students who were attending the gala were taking their SAT�s that day as well. There was no way for us to get around this. We told [A.S.] that we would make the 5 o�clock meeting, but we wouldn�t be dressed, including our kids, because we�d be coming straight from the Museum. She not only said it was fine, but that there would be rooms available for us to get ready in.
Saturday afternoon, after working all day at the Museum, we arrived at the hotel 5:00 pm on the dot, only to learn that the spotter training session had been pushed back to 6:30. No one bothered to inform us, although all the other spotters knew of this change in events. I guess we just weren�t important enough to be notified.
We let it slide.
[VP with Head up Ass] then asked our kids to get started on working on getting the gala tables assembled. We let her know that our kids were not there to volunteer, that they were in fact guests. Then we asked her where we could take them so that they could begin to get ready, informing her that we were told that there would be rooms available for this purpose. She promptly said that there were no rooms, that our kids needed to get ready in the bathroom, and walked away.
The look on those kids faces when they heard this was heartbreaking. We didn�t want this experience to be ruined for them, so we did the best we could to try and resolve the situation.
When [A.S.] arrived a few minutes later, we brought it up with her. She acted as if we didn�t have the conversation the day before, asked why the kids weren�t dressed in the first place, and said they would need to get dressed in the bathroom since the rooms were not available.
This greatly upset me, especially since, as I mentioned before, our department met with [A.S.] and she told us that it would be okay for us to come as we were as there would be a room for us to utilize. Now, all of a sudden, she has amnesia and she�s telling us that we just need to deal with it. I was livid, but it wasn�t worth ruining our kids� night, so I told them to go ahead to the bathroom and start getting ready while we saw what could be done.
At this point, the �Dorm Essential� baskets (for the scholarship donations), which were to be displayed during the silent auction, had arrived. We asked [VP�s equally snotty assistant], who was in charge of the silent auction items, which table to place them on. She told us that they were not on her list and that she �didn�t have space for our little baskets, anyway.� I was shocked, not only that she had the gall to say that, but that she had the nerve to say it in front of two of our kids.
Jay-H was able to arrange for the set up of an extra table to display our little baskets. However, there were no signs or bid sheets prepared. We asked several people for these things and we were told that there were none, although, as we learned later, there were many blank bid sheets in the staging room. During the silent auction portion of the gala, the guests had no idea what the table was for and just thought it was part of the decoration. Because of this, many people were placing their empty glasses, bones, and other trash on this table. It was appalling.
We found out through the grapevine that there were in fact rooms available. We decided to approach [A.S.] and [VP with Head up Ass] again. [A.S.] was now singing a different tune, saying that she never told us that there weren�t any rooms. [VP with Head up Ass], on the other hand, said that we were not only being �inflexible�, but that we were also inconveniencing her. Then she magically produced a key and grudgingly handed it over, adding �and make sure they don�t mess up the room.�
I promptly asked them to return the key to her. We didn�t need her room, since it was an �inconvenience�.
How dare she say that we were an inconvenience to her? The irony of that statement is beyond my compression. We were an inconvenience? We, who found out that we were to attend the week before? We, who found out only the day before that we were spotters? We, who were not told that the 5:00 meeting had been cancelled? We, who had to get ready for a black-tie event in a hotel bathroom? We, who only found out our spotter duties 2 minutes before the live auction took place? We were the inconvenience??
I don�t care what her title is, but [VP with Head up Ass] (and the rest of her team) had no right to talk to us that way, or treat us that way. After all the concessions that were made on our behalf for this event, the least she could have done was treated us with a bit of respect. This was supposed to be a special night for our kids, but after the events that took place, they felt as if they weren�t really wanted there. It made us feel that our kids were disposable; that just because they weren�t as rich or famous as some of the other guests, they weren�t as important. However, the reality was that our kids were invited guests. That night, they were not supposed to be volunteers or [Special Program that I work for] �kids�, but instead young ladies and a gentleman. Instead they were treated like second-class citizens.
I hope you take into consideration all that I have laid out here. Too often, situations like this happen, yet no one is ever addressed or no course of actions are ever taken. If it were only myself who was treated that way, I probably would not have bothered. But because the actions of these few had a direct effect on the students in our program, I feel, as the program coordinator, it is my duty to speak on their behalf.
If there are any questions or disputes to anything I have written above, please don�t hesitate to ask me directly.
Thank you for your time and willingness to hear me out,
[Summer]
It�s kind of long, but I needed to make sure nothing was left out and that the people who were involved were clearly named.
Let me know what you think.
summerroll at 1:27 p.m.