Yes, it was a hard-learned lesson. The rest of my volunteers certainly
made sure I learned it well and it shant be forgotten (is "shant" really
a word?).
Jane Sproull Thomson wrote:
>
> Robert, one thing in your story really hit home, as I've learned the lesson
> from hard experience and lots of soul-searching once or twice during my
> museum admin days. The lesson is: when you have a problem with one employee
> (or volunteer), never NEVER send out a blanket memo correcting everybody. It
> may seem the most expeditious thing, and may help avoid a confrontation
> (initially), but it offends a whole bunch of people who did nothing wrong
> and sometimes totally misses the intended recipient. Hard as it may be, you
> must deal with such incidents one-on-one.
> I don't mean to lecture you Robert - you seem quite in control in your world
> - but there's bound to be one up n'coming person out there who might
> remember this at a key moment.
> -Not surprisingly, the rule also applies to your relationship with your kids!
>
> At 08:56 AM 02/02/99 -0600, you wrote:
> >Forgot that we were relating volunteer horror stories. Here's one:
> >
> >An older male volunteer was serving as a docent in our main exhibit when a
> >group of high school students were visiting. When a smaller group of those
> >students who were black entered the exhibit, he turned to another docent
> >and said "keep yours eyes open to make sure they don't steal anything."
> > One of the students heard him and reported it to her teacher who, in turn
> >contacted me. She was somewhat irate to say the least, as was I.
> >
> >Rather than conduct a lengthy investigation to confirm who said it, I sent
> >a message to all volunteers relating the incident and reminding them that
> >such comments were unacceptable.
> >
> >A bunch of the other volunteers then came to me to protest that my message
> >suggested they made the statement and that they were offended. I assured
> >them that this was not the case and that I had taken a short-cut in the
> >hope that the offending party would find that the shoe fit.
> >
> >I then went to the high school and apologized to the whole class,
> >explaining to them that the comment was totally inappropriate.
> >
> >What surprised me was the reaction I got from a Board member who pitched a
> >fit over my having apologized to the students. He asked if I would have
> >done the same if the students toward home the comment was targeted had been
> >white. I of course, said that I would. He expressed his doubts, then went
> >on to rant about how tired he was of playing up to "these minorities:, etc.
> >etc.
> >
> >Needless to say, I found out real quickly, who the red-neck on my board
> >was. The incident passed. We did not invite the particular volunteer back
> >and the incident was soon forgotten. Things were pretty touchy for
> >awhile, though.
> >
> >
> >------
> >Robert Handy
> >Brazoria County Historical Museum
> >100 East Cedar
> >Angleton, Texas 77515
> >(409) 864-1208
> >museum_bob
> >[log in to unmask]
> >http://www.bchm.org
> >
> >----------
> >From: Heleanor Feltham[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> >Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 1999 8:39 AM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Volunteer horror story
> >
> >The key thing about my volunteer horror story, I think, is that if you
> >read it carefully, you will probably realise that we had all the usual
> >things in place, training that included multicultural awareness, visitor
> >sensitivity, presentation skills, working with children, dealing with
> >difficult visitors (I would recommend the John Cleese training films on
> >difficult customers); assessment, counselling procedures, alternative
> >employment options, warnings, even firing procedures but in the case of
> >our little old dragon lady, NONE of it worked!
> >
> >We interview potential volunteers just as we do potential staff, and our
> >volunteer coordinator has developed an excellent and very detailed policy
> >document which covers practically everything (except dragons). We have
> >over 170 volunteers of very varied age and interests; some work behind
> >the scenes, some with visitors (taking tours, running touch trolleys,
> >helping schools etc) and 99% of them are a joy to work with.
> >
> >Heleanor Feltham
> >[log in to unmask]
> >
> >
> Jane Sproull Thomson
--
˙WPC7
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