One Rotton Egg Can Ruin An Entire Company

Today's experience volunteering at the Japanese Cultural Center sucked, to put it mildly. On a day that should've been fun (since it was an exhibit opening), it was instead extremely off putting.

First of all, the set up for the day was hectic because they had two separate events prior to the actual opening. The first was a special movie screening, which started at 8:30. Then, there was the annual membership meeting, which started at 10:30. The exhibit opening ceremony was scheduled at 11:30.

With so much going on you'd think they'd have everything set up and with people knowing what they were supposed to do. Instead, when I arrived at 10:00 for my normal shift, no one was even there at the front, and no one briefed us volunteers as we started to arrive. There was no instruction whatsoever. The only thing left for us was a memo with times and descriptions of events . . . and it was buried beneath all this other crap on the front desk.

A few minutes before the group at the movies exited, one of the JCC executives marched over to the three of us at the front desk (all volunteers mind you) and proceeded to rudely ask us why there were so many people wandering around the exhibit. How should we know? They could be attending any of today's three events. No instructions were given to question each person gestapo style or make them walk through an airport body scanner.

She then instructed us to take the registration list for the movie and pass out a CD to each person. When we said ok and didn't move, she became even more irritable and told us to go around the front and be more proactive with them. Well, if she had said, stand by the door and ask them on their way out, we would have done so. Apparently clarity is not her forte or else she believes people can or should read her mind.

One of the other volunteers and I went and stood in front of the doors (blocking the walkway) and stood waiting for these moviegoers. Well, apparently most of them already had a CD, which was given out in the theater. Ten minutes later the exec comes back and states the obvious with a shrug. WTF lady?!?!

This woman epitomizes the kind of rotten egg that can ruin an entire company. Just because you're stressed out doesn't mean you should take it out on others, especially those who are here giving their time freely. We're not receiving one cent from you to volunteer here, and you're lucky we choose to work for your organization and not the numerous other worthy nonprofits out there. To be so rude and ungrateful is unforgivable, and it gives the entire company a bad reputation. If you're looking for someone to reprimand and verbally abuse, take a look at your staff. They're the ones who are completely unorganized, and they're the ones on your payroll.