Jeff Ream Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said: Sounds again like a situation where an org bit off more than they could chew with volunteers. It's the same with expecting donors to break down the doors without having an effective donor cultivation strategy in place. Plenty of inexperienced nonprofit admin who cut their teeth in for-profit settings make both mistakes. That said, did a quick web search on both "handling disrespectful volunteers" and "how to keep volunteers happy and engaged" and was flooded with free resources. Seems like my fellow Texans didn't do their homework and expected volunteer utopia. It's really easy to underestimate the strategies needed for a healthy npo if you've never done it well. hell hath no fury like a band mom that thinks they have power. No matter how much you try to work with them 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 4 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said: hell hath no fury like a band mom that thinks they have power. No matter how much you try to work with them Parents are the reason I left youth education with bells on after years of dedication. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said: hell hath no fury like a band mom that thinks they have power. No matter how much you try to work with them My favorite band mom moment was sisters last show at regionals in Westminster, MD. Another bands (different group) volunteers come out to set up and I knew a few from corps. I yelled “way to go (names)” and band mom in front of me whips around. “You should cheer for YOUR band.” My response “I will but now cheering for my friends”. Few hours later the drum tech for another band walks up the aisle looking for a seat to watch his group. I know the guy (spoiler alert it was Jeff’s dad) and I had an empty seat next to me on the aisle. Sooooo…. my folks and I had a quick chat, he watched his band and left. And I got the 😳 look from band mom from hades. 😈 Edited March 6 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KVG_DC Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 Our best band mom story from high school: My senior year, after we got back from ISSMA state finals at dark-thirty, the band director awoke the next morning to find his house TP'd. He. was. ######. There was group of guys he suspected, called into his office, read them the riot act, etc. even though he didn't have proof. And it was largely thought that, "Yeah if anyone was gonna do it..." among the band and parents in general. I mean they were a collection of low brass and drummers....so.... Long story short, it was heated between them and him for a number of weeks, with like threats of going to the principal, the principal saying 'lay off them there's no proof' etc. Rumors FLYING around the band which were all idle speculation and the guys earnestly pleading innocence even though they (and the rest of us) were rather mirthful about the fact someone got the band directors house and on the night after Finals at that. We get all the way to the Band Banquet in late November (about a month after ISSMA finals). There's a recognition ceremony for just about everything. It's a nice event. The Band moms come up to do their awards for students and such and call these boys to the front. The band director is glowering still about them while the rest of us begin to pick up on "ummm...something is happening." They're up there and the band moms lay into the director DEMANDING he apologize to them in front of the whole band because he doesn't have proof. He's caught off guard by the public confrontation of it, it was sort of out of character for them to be that public about it. Some of us students start cluing in seeing some of the band moms start to crack grins....we're "NOooooooo waaaaaay." Then the band moms pull out toilet paper rolls and toss them at the band director.....yup. THEY did the TP job. Pandemonium in the banquet hall for a solid 10 minutes. Finally they get everyone settled down. The band director is torn between angry at the moms and apologetic to the boys and laughing at being had. His wife is still falling out of her chair laughing at it. Next morning he apologized to them again to the Concert band (seniors and juniors mostly) and while he took it in stride it was clear he expected his house to be off limits for such shenanigans still. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Guess who never attended a band booster meeting? 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterGibbons Posted March 6 Share Posted March 6 My soph year in high school we finished (gasp the horror) 4th at MBA (aka BOA) Grand Nationals, winning two captions. I recall sitting on the bus waiting to leave the parking lot after finals when a volunteer came on the bus and chewed us all out for not doing better. Said something to the effect that we should be ashamed, and that we obviously didn't appreciate all the work the volunteers like this guy did for us that season. 😠 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terri Schehr Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 2 minutes ago, PeterGibbons said: My soph year in high school we finished (gasp the horror) 4th at MBA (aka BOA) Grand Nationals, winning two captions. I recall sitting on the bus waiting to leave the parking lot after finals when a volunteer came on the bus and chewed us all out for not doing better. Said something to the effect that we should be ashamed, and that we obviously didn't appreciate all the work the volunteers like this guy did for us that season. 😠 That’s completely out of bounds. Hence why I never joined the band boosters. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Guns Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 5 hours ago, Terri Schehr said: Guess who never attended a band booster meeting? Comment of the week! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sh0uldN0t Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 21 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said: I'm sure there are "bad volunteers" but it's the job of the nonprofit to fully explain the scope and responsibilities of the roles. And then follow thru with dismissal if those standards aren't being met, not just keep negative warm bodies around. If they don't have the capacity to do all of that, welp they shouldn't bring on volunteers. To reduce the critical feedback of any volunteer is both completely on par for this activity and exacerbating the ongoing challenges it faces. Being insulting is totally on par too. Fully explain. Follow through with dismissal. All those adult volunteers neglected and abused by an incompetent, possibly malicious drum corps system that can't help but exploit us. How could we be so gullible? And complicit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scheherazadesghost Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 45 minutes ago, Sh0uldN0t said: Fully explain. Follow through with dismissal. All those adult volunteers neglected and abused by an incompetent, possibly malicious drum corps system that can't help but exploit us. How could we be so gullible? And complicit? The scarcity mindset. That's how. The plethora of anecdotal evidence on reddit, and in this thread from reliable, honorable posters shouldn't be ignored. But lots of bad goings on get buried in this activity. Keep pulling the wool over your eyes all you like though, I can't stop you. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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