Social Question
Am I out of line to get my back up over this situation?
I volunteered to work at the local Bluegrass Festival. It was 4 hours a day, Thurs., Friday, Sat. I worked in the Mercantile, where we sold the artist’s CDs and other merchandise of theirs.
There were 3 full time women who work behind the “counter”...behind folding tables. They work every year. They’re kind of the bosses of the place. They have comfy office chairs and carpet laid down over the concrete..
There are 3 floor workers. We are out on the customer floor assisting customers and answering their questions. I like it. I often get to me the sometimes-famous artists and get to know bits about Bluegrass I didn’t know, although Bluegrass was a huge part of the reason I moved to this town from the city.
The customers come in in waves. They come in after the end of a performer’s set, looking for their CD. We’re busy for 15 to 20 minutes, then we’re dead for 15 minutes
We floor workers are not high school kids. We are not teenagers. I’m 59, and I was the youngest one out there. As one lady said, “I’m closer to 80 than 70.” The third worker was a guy who was every bit of that, and had recently undergone dialysis.
Here is the problem They expect us to stand out on that concrete floor without sitting down, for 4 hours, so we can be ready to help customers at all times.
In recent years I’ve developed some back issues, and my back really starts hurting after 15 minutes and I just need to sit down for a minute, inbetween rushes. I need something reasonably comfortable that supports my back.
I KNOW the other workers are in pain too. It’s obvious, and they told me. They’re standing, but pressing their backs against one of the sturdy, round, steel temporary fencing they put up to delineate our space, to ease the ache. The old guy couldn’t even stand up straight.
When I came in yesterday, one of the workers I was relieving, who was about my age and somewhat over weight, was trying to sit and rest on a 4 X 4 wooden rail thing that runs along the length of the wall in the barn, where they tie cattle and stuff up during the fair. It was about as wide as a balance beam, and had NO back support because it was made for cattle to be tied to, not humans to sit on. She was just desperate.
Well, fuckit! I brought in a splendid camp chair and put it in an out of the way corner on the floor.. Maybe you can’t tell from the picture, but it in no way impedes the people who are in line to pay for their stuff, and when customers were there no one was sitting in the chair. It doesn’t impede anything.
Well, I was told that that was “frowned upon,” by some unknown Bluegrass official. I was told if I had to sit down they allowed as how there was a bench near our designated spot, but not in it, and we could sit on that. They didn’t mind that, they said. A fucking, hard ass, slat bench with a hard ass, slat back. Yeah. Does wonders for the back.
Well, I left that camp chair where it was and watched my coworkers sink down into in relief for a few minutes once in a while. It’s not like we’re kids who don’t know how to work hard, or have to be told to get up to tend to customers!
I saw several customers sink into it gratefully too. Bluegrass is a lot of hours of walking from place to place to place, and no place to really sit, except at hard picnic tables.
And all this is in conjunction with walking a thousand fucking miles from where they made us park, on the other side of the fairgrounds, to get to and from the building.
I told them (the three gals,) as I was getting ready to leave yesterday, that I’d leave the chair there until the next day, when they started closing shop at about 5:00. They just nodded mutely.
Was I wrong to put my foot down? I just can’t believe they didn’t take our ages into consideration with their dumbass, useless rule.
So should I write a formal letter of complaint, or just request a different venue for next year and leave it be? I love working the mercantile, but I just need to be able sit down in between customers without feeling like I’m going to be hauled off to jail.
It’s not like the festival is over run with volunteers. Show some damn respect, man.
One thing I’d like to clarify. The three women, in their comfy chairs with the carpet, are working from opening, at 9:30 a.m. to closing at 11:30 p.m. Looong 4 days. They’re up and down, and they work their butts off before and after Bluegrass too, so I certainly don’t begrudge them their comfort. But somebody understands the need for people to have some place to sit down sometimes. Somebody knows that people can’t stand for infinite hours at a time.
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