I had a high school volunteer once who could not understand why I would not
let him take objects home to show his family.  After three days of
discussions and his refusing to even listen to my reasons I fired him.  He
would not guarantee to me that he would not remove objects from the
building.  His mother, who had pushed him to volunteer so he could have it
on his resume for college apps, then came in with him the next day, pleaded
with me to take him back, forced him to apologize in front of the lab crew,
made him ask repeatedly to be allowed to come back, and in general created
an extremely humiliating experience for the poor guy who was in tears
through most of the final episode.  While he had an interest in the project,
it was his mother who created the horrific volunteer situation by refusing
to accept my decision.  Eventually they understood that I was not going to
change my mind and left but it was a very bad experience.  While I felt
sorry for the kid, I could not jeopardize the security of the collections
and there was no other non-collections place for him to volunteer at that
time.



-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Young <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sunday, January 31, 1999 3:36 PM
Subject: volunteer horror stories


>I am presenting a session at our state museum conference on dealing with
>difficult volunteers.  I'm looking for real examples of real problems
>you have encountered with a difficult volunteer, plus how you solved the
>problem!
>
>Regards,
>Susan Young
>Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
>Springdale, Arkansas
>