Location: Navy Pier
Date: Saturday, May 21, 2016; 4:00-7:30 pm
I really was not in a mood to go and thought about cancelling
several times. There was a 1000 piece
jigsaw puzzle that I had been working on and while that is not an excuse, my
heart wasn’t in volunteering and that would make everything pointless. But despite several excuses that I had come
up with - including wardrobe malfunction and dry cleaners misplacing my pants -
go I did. I took an ‘Uber’ to Navy Pier and it was a gorgeous day, meaning lots of
people were outside. I arrived a bit
after my check-in time and went upstairs to the break room. As I did so, I saw that the registration
training was already underway.
I got my shirt and came down and sure enough, the training
was over and I was left to fend for myself. I was waiting with some other volunteers, some
of whom were “floaters” or “registration support”, meaning that they
would be called when required or else were asked to escort the “VIP guests” to the party on the terrace.
Eric, who is a nice guy and someone I
keep running into during these events, was the “captain” for registration volunteers along with a lady named
Cindy. The registration tables, like
last year, were arranged as per last name and I told one of the support
volunteers – it was her first time – that I should pick someone with name starting
with “A-F” since they were used to
being called first all through school and so would show up early!
 |
| The registration screen that I had to work with |
Captain Cindy asked if I knew how to use the registration system
and I said that while I had seen the training video and had worked it last
year, I could do with a refresher. So
she said that she would pair me with an experienced volunteer – another lady
called Cindy. My partner and I took the
last names starting with “G-L” and as
I sat down, I learned that while my partner was a lovely lady, she was just was
just as bad as me when it came to using the system. Experienced indeed! A guest came and Captain Cindy peered intently
over my shoulders. We were required to
swipe the guest’s credit card for a faster checkout at the end of the evening. As
I had expected, the swipe did not work and they took away that device, meaning we
had to now physically enter their credit card information. So much for preparation!
As we waited, I mentioned to my partner that since we were
using “surface tablets”, why not send
people out in the crowd with them so as to hasten the process – like the way ‘Potbelly’ does it at their sandwich
shops. They could even have a “swipe device” attached to the tablet –
like cab drivers have in their cars.
Even better, ask people to pre-register and skip the lines. Cindy said that many people prefer lines to which
I said, “really”. Has anyone asked them? Are we just assuming this? I mean how
difficult it is for people who register online and oh by the way can submit
bids online – something MAW is proud of – to also do this. Arrogance is the enemy of progress and if
this isn’t old world arrogance, I don’t know what is.
People started coming in and some of them handed their cards
while some didn’t – claiming that they would do so at the end of the night; though
I seriously doubt that. One gentleman
asked if it was secure and I said that it was the same for everyone who’s doing
it. He asked if I was going on the “Odyssey” with his card and I suppose it
was a joke. Well, I wasn’t in the mood
and politely said I wouldn’t even know how since I had no idea what that was. Another issue was with the tickets that we
were handing out, which had their bidder number and table number. These also had special magnetic stars for “Board Members” and “Wish Ambassadors”, something that they could wear those on their
lapel. Good idea, but it was causing all
the tickets to get stuck together and then pulling them apart meant that some
magnets were getting dislodged. My partner
said that they had provided feedback on this issue last year, but nothing had
been done.
Speaking of “Board Members”,
most were just going straight for their pictures rather than stopping by to
check in. A couple came in and I
saw that their phone number began with “860”. I recognized it as being from Connecticut and
I mentioned to them how I had spent a lot of time there. Some young “committee members” came and I couldn’t locate their card. With a drink in hand the guy mentioned that
he was with someone and should just be directed to their table. I said that
there was no way to tell the table number without the card. He seemed a bit arrogant and I am sure that being on
the committee was just a way to add to his resume, without doing any semblance of work. Fortunately a staff member took him off my
hands. One girl came and I asked if she
wanted to leave her credit card number and she said that she was a staff
member, insinuating that she couldn’t afford to bid on anything. At least she was being honest.
The crowd was increasing and there were long lines for names
beginning with “A-F” – maybe my
theory was right. Captain Cindy was bringing
some of the cards to me and then escorting those people to our section. The problem with people was that after
checking-in, they were hanging out near the table and blocking others. I told Eric to get one of the “floater” people who were just standing
around doing nothing to help escort them to another location. In any case, these support people weren’t
that attentive when it came to “VIPs”
and we needed their help to take them to the party. At one stage I forgot to add a zip code to a
card I had swiped – oh the machine was back – and gave the guests their the card back. They had just left, when I realized that the
system wouldn’t let me proceed. There
were a couple of other helpers who probably worked for the software company that
we were using and I asked one of them to go chase the man down and get the zip
code. He didn’t make much of an effort
saying that it would be odd.
We had a lot of cards remaining in the end, but at 7:15 pm I
told Eric that I had to go. The dinner
was about to start anyways and anyone who was to come was here. I went back to volunteer room to get my
jacket and saw that all the volunteers were having
dinner, but I was ready to leave. I
should have stayed and watched the 30 year celebration where all “Wish Ambassadors” would be brought on
stage. Plus we had the “Wish Mom” story and if it was like last
year, it would be amazing. But I had a
bad attitude about all of this and it was better to leave. As I did so, I was certain that I would not
return next year. Not when volunteers are treated like expendable sweat shop workers rather than partners.
No comments:
Post a Comment