Twice this week I have showed admirable restraint.
One of the volunteers in Zac's spoke to a customer/guest in a way that was less than respectful. The ethos of Zac's is: everyone is welcome, regardless. (Assuming they're not a danger to anyone.) I didn't say anything at the time but then thought I should. But I didn't.
If I could have been sure of her response to me, that it wouldn't rile me, I would have done but knew I could just as easily get angry. So I restrained from saying anything. If it happens again so obviously I will though.
We're going to be inspected by Environmental Health. We've been serving food since the start of the pandemic so it was inevitable that eventually they'd get round to checking us. Our last visit from them was in 2004 so we are due.
In order to get the kitchen at least into a state that might just pass muster Stu, one of our leaders and employed Building Manager, planned two volunteer weekends, so everything could be repaired, repainted, cleaned, sorted and generally made acceptable.
Yesterday three of us turned up. Stu, me and Stu.
Now we have several able-bodied men* who come along to Zac's and could quite easily have done a bit of cleaning or painting, nothing too strenuous, and I was just a bit miffed that no-one showed. My fingers teetered over the keyboard as I thought what I would like to write on Facebook.
But again I restrained.
I am proud of me. I am learning.
* A few weeks ago I opened up Zac's and let people in. On entering, said able-bodied men discovered the tables and chairs hadn't yet been put out (we have to clear them away for food service). Blank looks and eventually someone said, "Do you want us to, um, put out the chairs?"
I smiled sweetly. "Yes, please."
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| Stu doing something to doorstep. |
P.S. I shouldn't be surprised by the lack of response from Zac's people. By its very nature Zac's attracts the . . . fill in your own word here.
7 comments:
Congratulations, Liz. Well done.
Does Zac's have a formal volunteer coordinator? If so, you could speak to them about the rude volunteer and they could deal with it by offering more training to the volunteer. A volunteer coordinator could also solicit greater volunteer participation for tasks. Any organization that depends so heavily on volunteers would be wise to create/pay for a volunteer coordinator position.
I often encounter rudeness/mistakes on the job, but of course, we are paid. A lot of the nastiness tends to be toward older people, which upsets me greatly, but it's not only because I am an older person. I worked in a nursing home. I know more about how to deal with older folks. It sometimes takes a lot of restraint for me to keep from correcting my co-workers, but I make my share of mistakes and I don't want to be known as the person who will criticize everyone instead of sticking to her own work. 'Tis a conundrum. I'm sure it's even more difficult with volunteers because you don't want to drive them away.
Love,
Janie
Good for you showing constraint. It's a skill I am learning but have yet to master it.
Speaking up is hard but sometimes I’d rather deal with it than have it on my mind about not speaking up.
Debra, the volunteer co-ordinator has spoken to this person several times and each time she says, "Yes, of course," and then carries on in the same way.
Thanks all.
The chair issue disturbs me a bit. Maybe they don't feel empowered to do things unless asked?
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