Rudeness from souvie booths/staff/members

[tubamann]

Phantom, I'm guessing. Or maybe Cavies? Probably Phantom though.

Back in the day, a certain corps from N. Central Illinois was NOTORIUS for being "bad sports", and they wern't bashful about it either.

[liebot]

Unfortunately I failed my "Illinois Cities and Waterways" Final Exam in 8th Grade at Newtown (Connecticut) Middle School, so I had to use mapquest to figure out which corps you were talking about.

[DrumCorpsFan27]

The only time was in Denver when I was collecting signatures for pro-accoustic drum corps. The Cadets souvie people heckled me each and every time I went by their booth. They were the only booth to do so. Finally, one of the ladies yelled that she could get more signatures than me. Instead of taking the bait and getting into an argument with her, I sincerely and politely invited and welcomed her to do so.

They never said another word to me.

True story.

[gottalovit]

One experience of mine happened a few years ago-I think it was 98. I was with one of my best friends who had marched a top 12 DI corps in colorguard. She was a larger size girl. SHe had always been a huge fan of one corps guard in particular. We were at an area show, and we went up to that corps souvie booth and she found a colorguard t-shirt that she really loved at the time. She only had a few dollars with her(she worked a job that didn't pay very well) and asked if I would loan her a few dollars so she could buy this shirt. Of course I loaned her the money.

When she asked if they had that shirt in a XXL or XXXL, the girl working the stand looked down her nose at her, and replied in a very sarcastic voice-"We don't have anything THAT huge" and turned to wait on another customer. Neither one of us shopped at that booth for the next 5 years.

It was really sad in my opinion-my friend was willing to spend her last $15 on a shirt from this corps-who she absolutely loved, and they made her feel horrible about herself. Not cool.

I have brought this story up on here before, and I also will not mention the name of the corps, and their souvie people seem to have gotten better over the years, so I have started supporting them again. I do wish that I had contacted the corps to complain at that time though.

[cantgetenoughcorps]

Phantom, I'm guessing. Or maybe Cavies? Probably Phantom though.

I have to say Cavies has always been one of my favorite stands to visit, although they are usually one of the busiest, they are always very polite. One year I had purchased several items from their stand. In trying to get out of other customers way, I grabbed my Cavies souvie bag and accidentally forgot my camera sitting on the ledge of their booth. I went to the next booth over to shop, and on my way back past, the people working in the booth yelled to get my attention to give me my camera back. This was a very expensive camera too. So a very big thank you to the Cavies souvie people.

And to Gottalovit, so sorry to hear about your friend. It's a shame people have to be so rude to others. I really think looking around, some of the booths would be wise to stock 3X and 4X shirts. It would also be nice if they would be able to find venues that are a little more heavy set friendly.

[RBarron10]

I worked last year selling souvies for a Division I corps--let’s say they wear green. Let me tell you about WORK! In the souvies business there are two BIG waves of sales, one just before the show and two after the show. I happen to work last year for what I called the big three regional shows, San Antonio, Murphyfreesboro, and Indianapolis. Souvies crews are usually about 3 or 4 dedicated people that keep those trailers stocked, get smart real quick on what everything costs, and have some general knowledge of the history of the corps and organization we’re working for. There is no selling school we attend, instead we learn by fire about the products we’re selling and what everything cost. When that post show rush hits anything can happen and when business is good, you’re be working like you’ve never worked before in the span of 30 to 45 minutes. Oh and did I mention we’re volunteers too that drive ourselves to and from shows sometimes driving 10 hours a night.

Souvies crews are volunteers - they are parents, alumni and drum corps fans. Sometimes parents come in and will help out and work one show supporting their child and the corps by dominating their time. Trust me we welcome those parents with open arms, and by nights end, they know what a DVD cost and the names and prices of every t-shirt in the inventory.

I’m not a parent nor am I an alumni of any drum corps I’m just a fan. At the end of a long day and night in the life of a souvies person I was tired, and yes sometimes irritable. The customer didn’t care how long the next drive was; how much restocking and inventory had to be done; or the fact that the corps was pulling out in 30 mins and the trailer still had to be tore down and hooked up - the customer wanted to see that smiling face behind the counter and hoped their favorite shirt was still in stock in their size. I know the crew I worked with last year we all strived to do that and if that shirt the customer wanted was out of stock in the trailer but, was in a box in the back of the truck the extra effort was made to ensure the customer got the souvie they wanted.

One thing I’ve learned in 12 years of volunteering for corps, is that when you’re wearing that badge and it says Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Blue Devils, Cadets, etc., you are the corps public relations/image and all you say and do is representative of that corps you’re working for. There have been times I disagreed with the judge’s decisions, but I smiled and kept my mouth shut around the general public.

The phrase “gracious loser” is sometimes hard to grin and bear. Everyone working for a corps driving, cooking, selling, teaching, etc are proud of that corps they represent - we wouldn’t put ourselves through this type of punishment if we didn’t love our favorite corps. Try working 18 hour days and sleeping on the floor every night in some strange place. You do it because you love drum corps.

I’m sorry you got to see the human, ugly side of drum corps. I’m happy the director of the corps you were speaking about wrote you and I hope you decide to keep supporting this corps and keep purchasing souvies. This summer is going to be one where souvies sales are really going to make or break a corps. Especially with gas prices over $3.00 a gallon and diesel approaching $3.50. I hope everyone needs a few T-shirts and maybe a DVD, because all corps are going to need ever penny this year.

I think this year you’ll be hearing from a lot of corps - Sir/Maam - Which shirt would you like? What size will that be? Thank you and come again!

[liebot]

Sometimes parents come in and will help out and work one show supporting their child and the corps by dominating their time.

Haha, I'm not calling you out for making a typo, but that one turned out kind of ironic.

[MikeD]

I worked last year selling souvies for a Division I corps--let’s say they wear green. Let me tell you about WORK! In the souvies business there are two BIG waves of sales, one just before the show and two after the show. I happen to work last year for what I called the big three regional shows, San Antonio, Murphyfreesboro, and Indianapolis. Souvies crews are usually about 3 or 4 dedicated people that keep those trailers stocked, get smart real quick on what everything costs, and have some general knowledge of the history of the corps and organization we’re working for. There is no selling school we attend, instead we learn by fire about the products we’re selling and what everything cost. When that post show rush hits anything can happen and when business is good, you’re be working like you’ve never worked before in the span of 30 to 45 minutes. Oh and did I mention we’re volunteers too that drive ourselves to and from shows sometimes driving 10 hours a night.

Souvies crews are volunteers - they are parents, alumni and drum corps fans. Sometimes parents come in and will help out and work one show supporting their child and the corps by dominating their time. Trust me we welcome those parents with open arms, and by nights end, they know what a DVD cost and the names and prices of every t-shirt in the inventory.

I’m not a parent nor am I an alumni of any drum corps I’m just a fan. At the end of a long day and night in the life of a souvies person I was tired, and yes sometimes irritable. The customer didn’t care how long the next drive was; how much restocking and inventory had to be done; or the fact that the corps was pulling out in 30 mins and the trailer still had to be tore down and hooked up - the customer wanted to see that smiling face behind the counter and hoped their favorite shirt was still in stock in their size. I know the crew I worked with last year we all strived to do that and if that shirt the customer wanted was out of stock in the trailer but, was in a box in the back of the truck the extra effort was made to ensure the customer got the souvie they wanted.

One thing I’ve learned in 12 years of volunteering for corps, is that when you’re wearing that badge and it says Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Blue Devils, Cadets, etc., you are the corps public relations/image and all you say and do is representative of that corps you’re working for. There have been times I disagreed with the judge’s decisions, but I smiled and kept my mouth shut around the general public.

The phrase “gracious loser” is sometimes hard to grin and bear. Everyone working for a corps driving, cooking, selling, teaching, etc are proud of that corps they represent - we wouldn’t put ourselves through this type of punishment if we didn’t love our favorite corps. Try working 18 hour days and sleeping on the floor every night in some strange place. You do it because you love drum corps.

I’m sorry you got to see the human, ugly side of drum corps. I’m happy the director of the corps you were speaking about wrote you and I hope you decide to keep supporting this corps and keep purchasing souvies. This summer is going to be one where souvies sales are really going to make or break a corps. Especially with gas prices over $3.00 a gallon and diesel approaching $3.50. I hope everyone needs a few T-shirts and maybe a DVD, because all corps are going to need ever penny this year.

I think this year you’ll be hearing from a lot of corps - Sir/Maam - Which shirt would you like? What size will that be? Thank you and come again!

Gee, you had to go all the way to Kuwait to get away from the frenzy!

Pretty strange when you have to travel towards a war zone get some R&R!

:P

j/l

[cantgetenoughcorps]

I’m sorry you got to see the human, ugly side of drum corps. I’m happy the director of the corps you were speaking about wrote you and I hope you decide to keep supporting this corps and keep purchasing souvies. This summer is going to be one where souvies sales are really going to make or break a corps. Especially with gas prices over $3.00 a gallon and diesel approaching $3.50. I hope everyone needs a few T-shirts and maybe a DVD, because all corps are going to need ever penny this year.

I am definitely going to continue supporting this corps, after the nice response from their corps director. One of the reasons I started this thread is so that all the wonderful souvie people and staff will realize that sometimes their comments can be very offensive. And this (as in the case of me not buying souvies from this corps the last 8 times I saw their show) can also be very costly. So at a time when the corps need the extra sales to help support their fuel costs, it wouldn't be wise to make rude comments to prospective customers.

As a retail owner, I can also tell you, it doesn't take any longer to be polite, than it does to be rude.

[Ben]

never had anything but helpful cheerful people at the souvie booths. especially last summer when i had a chat with a lady at the SCV booth about how we had driven all the way to wichita to see them :)