I got cajoled into setting up a stage and a rig yesterday. The guy who had the job copped out and double booked his self so somehow I got "volunteered" to use my Van, run the crew, do the load in and set it all up.

The gig was a festival benefit and a bunch of musicians were lined up to have a good show, so someone had to make something happen. I said O.K.

We set 80% of it up and the rest was waiting for the owner/operator to show up to show us what his inaccurately labeled, dedicated custom cable bundles plugged in to.

I could have easily set up a rig from scratch but these "prewired" rigs can be more confusing because everything is arbitrary and it is all just how it is... you can't effectively use your skills to make wild guesses about what someone hid inside a custom bundle job.

I was feeling good and satisfied that this old guy (me) had kept the event moving along on time... and then the "sound guy" shows up, late of course, and does that "I'm a sound guy" horse's arse stuff that I've heard people say that all "sound guys" do.

I waited till we had sound up and running and then I split out the back to escape to places where people are nice to each other.


Sometimes I wonder...

Anyways, just blowing off some steam.


best regards,
mike

Leaving was probably your best move.  I hope the benefit was for a good cause.  

I think it was for a good cause.

I've often felt that benefits were ineffectual at benefiting. It seems, to me, like a straight forward round of passing the hat is far more effective at delivering resources to an intended recipient.


Thanks Jan, yes... I felt that there was no need to see stay and see how far the drama could be taken before we broke on through to honest discussion... so it seemed like I'd been as helpful as I could be and that was all I could accomplish in that scenario. Any further discussion about how to have a discussion would not have been helpful.

I'm still a bit shaken by the incident... as I have become so accustomed to working on teams where everyone knows how to demonstrate a desire to work as a team.




I guess I should focus on the idea that I'm lucky to think good team work is normal.


best regards,
mike

Team work is often hampered when I start thinking I'm the one that's in the right, and then throw my toys out of the pram when folk are not listening to me because they have valid ideas too.

It's a fine line.

Putting on an event should be a way of attracting more people to pass the hat round to.  Certainly if you can't manage that then give directly, then bless the rest of the team for managing a success without you.  If you only ended up ferrying gear then rejoice that your input helped toward that success.

If giving expects some reward or accolade then it ain't truly giving.

Yeah the discussion wasn't about good and bad ways of doing things... the discussion was more basic:

Q: "Glad you're here... can you tell me what these 8 XLRs on this bundle coming out of that rack plug in to?"

A: "I'll do it myself"


note: the real answer was 1 from the rack goes in to 13 on the stage box with a reversal adapter from the bag hidden in the rack. 2 goes in to 14... etc. etc.



Re: Benefits... I guess it makes more sense in bigger towns where everyone doesn't actually already know everyone already.

I think about the real cost of all the volunteer work and think about what a production would actually cost without volunteers... and then I think about how much revenue could be generated by substituting all the volunteering with minimal cash donations... and I end up thinking that very few small town benefits seem effectual... they seem more like parties to me. The thing is, I'm usually one of the volunteers wondering how effectual our efforts are rather than one of the folks partying. :-)


best regards,
mike

Jonbouy


If giving expects some reward or accolade then it ain't truly giving.

Agreed.


Now taking on the other hand (such as taxes and fees ), that's a horse of a different story, roight?

"If giving expects some reward or accolade then it ain't truly giving."

Back in our bicycle shop days we used to, year in, year out, give a friend of ours a bike that we paid $200 for to raffle off at his annual fundraiser.

He used to come back and brag that they got $100 for the bike.

We weren't looking for an advertising outlet... we were looking to help.

Eventually we stopped the madness and started donating the $200 directly, sans bike, so he couldn't squander $100 of our money on an annual basis.

True story. Heartless charity at it's best. It really frustrated us to give him $200 and then see that only some fraction of $100 made it to the actual beneficiary. I've never felt the slighest bit of guilt about changing up the game and simply forcing him to accept $200 from us as a direct donation. Sometimes good charitable deeds do come with strings attached. :-)


all the best,
mike

bapu

Jonbouy


If giving expects some reward or accolade then it ain't truly giving.

Agreed.


Now taking on the other hand (such as taxes and fees ), that's a horse of a different story, roight?

Ya, that's dues.  Although you should still give freely and without question.

 I hate those types of situations where there is no teamwork charity or not.

  One way I have dealt with it is to simply say, It's all yours Jimbo,have at it. I would have been tempted to say,"While you're at it might as well load all of this equipment when you're finished". See ya, have fun!

 I would not have said it but I would have been tempted.

 I totally agree with your views on charities Mike. Isn't it about maximum benefit to the charity recipient? If a community wants to have fun and needs an excuse to have a hoopla then there are plenty of excuses. 

 Unfortunately the only way many people help a charity is if there is something in it for them.Would the Girl Scouts raise any money without cookies? Probably not as much.

Thanks Starise.

I do like those cookies!

:-)