Fund-raising rant!!!

Tweet

I tried not to say too many bad words!! i hate how little respect is given to people who bust their a$$es for said people. Last night we had pick up for our first fundraiser. At the last minute i had a few ANGELS come forth and volunteer to help me. (I love ALL of them very much!!!) 5pm the delivery guys and Robin (fundraiser organizer) show up which is what we had planned for. At the same time about 3-4 people show up wanting to pick up their fundraiser orders. I told them that the last two notices I sent out said that pick-up was from 6-8pm and that we had to unload everything and the orders had to be counted before anyone could pick their stuff up. Had some b*tching. Wanna help? No? Then F*CK OFF! I explained that almost no one volunteered to help me and since no one wanted to help I had to work with what I could do and what the people who were helping me could do and it that was a problem then sorry!! Had to listen to them all b*tch the WHOLE time my helpers were unloading and counting and I was preparing everything and making sure it was as organized as possible. A few of them even stood at the end of the hallway, arms crossed staring us down like that would make us go faster or something. Once again...Want to help? No? Then you know what to do, don't you... Finally everything was ready. We only had a hallway and a part of another hallway to use which seemed to be ok at first. Two tables were set up in the short hall, one for checking in and one for checking out. The long hallway was set up with pizza products on one side, pretzels and cookies on the other. Everything was in the exact order that it was on the order sheets so it would be easy to find it all. Robin and Adrienne were at the checkout table. I was at the check-in table. About 10 minutes into it, Dawn came to help me at the table. I had 3 people with the orders ready to pull as each person brought back the paper that I had given them. I started and was sending people back. I told them to go back and one of the helpers would get their order, then they were to take it all to the checkout table to make sure everything was correct. Before they left they had to sign their paper, stating that they got what they were supposed to. Apparently adults are just as bad as kids when it comes to listening. They were going back and when everyone was busy helping other people they took it upon themselves to start getting everything on their own. That just caused a BIG mess! Some of them were trying to get by without getting checked too. So one of the volunteers came up and told me what was going on and said that everyone was saying that WE told them to do it themselves. SOMEONE wasn't listening very well, were they? All I could think was that somewhere orders were getting messed up regardless of the fact that we were double checking and people were supposed to sign stating that they agreed with our check. Once again...PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE! After that we made everyone stop at the paper stop sign hanging on the wall that is used for the students to know where to stop (funny that the parents still need it...). We told that they were to wait there until one of the volunteers came up to take their paper and grab their order. Our line started to get big so I decided I would help pull orders and that Dawn could check in alone. Melissa had to leave anyway so I was needed more back there. Wonderful woman! Absolutely love her and appreciate her help so very much. She gets free food now. I took people back with me because for the most part I can't get very far with carrying everything. Some of it is a little heavy, especially the big orders. I was still lifting way more than I probably should have. Greg, Adrienne's husband shows up now. Wonderful man! So now there are 4 of us wonderful wonderful, hard-working people (some of which also have FT jobs to go to but are still helping anyway...and losing sleep to do so). We are pulling orders as fast as we can and it seems to be going really well. Eventually the other two helpers (I keep forgetting their names but they are getting free food too because i love them) had to leave because she had to take care of her son and he had to go to sleep so he could get a few hours before having to work. Then the end comes. (Oh yeah...we never really got a break. We were all sweating and dying and at least I was having intense back pain. Yeah...did I mention that I am 34 weeks pregnant with my third child?) Because of the huge mess all of the people at the beginning caused, we are missing orders. I KNOW we counted the orders right. We checked everything at least 3 times each. Most of it was checked more than that. I guess we could have messed up once or twice. Not 5 times though. Remember how people were trying to do it themselves at the beginning and everything was really hectic? Yeah...a big F-YOU VERY MUCH to those people for making my job that much more difficult. We were also left with a few orders that weren't claimed. Once again...wonder how that happened? Maybe a few people could answer that question for me. One person says "my order is wrong". She shows me her paper and shows me what she has in her hand. They are the same. She says, "no, I marked THIS on my order form." What she had marked on her original order forms was indeed not the same as what was on the summary sheet. Sorry, but I only use the summary sheet to collect orders. Otherwise you are making my job 50 times more difficult. And I won't have that so I ONLY use the order summary sheet. That is why I sent it home with you and that is why I asked you to fill it out correctly and carefully. She leaves but her husband or whoever he was comes back and starts yelling at me that someone else wrote it in wrong. No, hun...that was ALL you. Thank you and come again:D Another person signs off saying that she agreed with the order and everything was right. Then close to 8pm her husband comes back and says that he got the wrong things. Maybe they did and maybe they didn't...BUT...you signed off saying it was all good. Why would you do that if you didn't make sure??? Oh, she was one of the people trying to do it herself instead of patiently waiting for help? I understand now. So anyway, we are at the end and calling the people who forgot. Some of them show up and some don't. 5 total are missing 1 thing on their order. We attempt to arrange something for them. Robin will be dropping everything off at the school today and the plan was to send it home with their children on the bus. Uh oh! No good. Found out today that bus drivers don't allow that. Their kids are REALLY bad and they have had some REALLY bad experiences with things like that so it's a no go. Unless it can fit in their backpacks. Unfortunately 4 out of the 5 orders are extra large pizza boxes. Shoot. Now I will have to call each of them and figure out a new way to get it home to them without me having to drive around delivering it to them. I don't have money to be spending on gas like that. I happen to work more for free doing fundraising crap than I have time to work and actually get paid for it. So we are on the brink of being a welfare family and now I'm making home deliveries? No thanks. And there are the people who never showed up. I have already dealt with two of them. With one I had to make one of those lovely home deliveries. Carrying 8 boxes that are kind of heavy when you are pregnant. I almost fell down the stairs and that wouldn't have been pretty. The other one met me at the school. I guess since I already had to be there it worked out ok. Wait...I didn't really have to be there. I did it to be nice. There goes $2 on gas. I also had to go into the sub-zero freezer to pull these orders. I think I almost died because I was in there for a good 5 minutes with wet hair. Now I get to go back and do it again. And figure out what I will do for the ones who were supposed to get it by bus. I just really wish people knew and understood what we go through to do what we do for their kids. They get mad and yell and complain about times or complain about this or that. Try helping out once and you will never complain again, I promise.