Would you please give me your opinions and suggestions for this letter of complaint I've composed?

For some background see this question.

My biggest concern is I don’t want to get other people in trouble, or black listed. The gals who told us about the sitting were just passing information down from on high.

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To Whom It May Concern,

I am extremely upset over the lack of consideration and respect that was given to the volunteers who worked the floor of the Mercantile, especially the elderly, who volunteered their time to help this festival run smoothly. All of us have worked hard all of our lives. None of us were teenagers who needed to be directed and told when to sit and when not to sit, or when appropriate times are to take a break or how that break should be taken.

I volunteered to work at the Mercantile last year. My duties included entering sales in the computer, and occasionally going out on the floor to help customers. I enjoyed it and volunteered for the Mercantile again this year. They scheduled me for 4 hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

About two hours after I reported in on Thursday, things seemed to be crowded behind the counter and I asked if I could bring a 4th chair, a camp chair, in the next day. At that time I learned that my sole job this year was to work the floor and not to run the register or work behind the counter. I was also told that sitting while working the floor was frowned upon. I was told that if we had no customers, and I needed to sit down, I could sit on a bench, outside of the Mercantile, around the corner. It was a hard, uncomfortable, wooden bench.

I went out on the floor for the last two hours, and quickly realized how very painful it became to stand out there with little relief. I am 59, I have never had any physical or health problems, but in the last 4 years my sciatic nerve sometimes acts up. In recent years I have also become prone to upper back pain.It’s just the kind of thing that happens when you have too many birthdays.

Friday and Saturday I was exclusively on the floor.

On Friday I brought my camp chair in. I thought I could set it up next to the far end of the hard wooden bench outside in the hall. It is comfortable and provides support for my back, although putting it there would put me even further away from the Mercantile than I was comfortable being.
However, I stashed it under the bench instead because a coworker I was relieving showed me that she had put a hard, folding metal chair in a little nook by the cash register. It fit perfectly and it was well out of the way. She had also placed one at the other end of the shelf. She and I had not discussed this issue before this but I guess she had the same problem.

On Saturday, when I went in, I noticed both of the folding chairs were gone. The coworker who had set them up was trying to sit on the 4 X 4 railing that runs along the wall that is used to tie horses and cattle to during the Fair. She was just trying to get some relief, without leaving the floor, but her seat meant she had to be hunched over to stay on the board.
I became a little upset for her and engineered a small protest. I pulled out my camp chair and put it in the nook by the register. I showed it to her, and she sank into it, gratefully. She only needed to sit for a few moments to recover, before she got back up and finished her shift.

The two coworkers I worked with that night were elderly. At 59 I was the youngest one on the floor. They were about 80, and they were having a very hard time with the circumstances, although they weren’t complaining. It was obvious. The older gentleman has diabetes and had recently undergone dialysis. He could barely stand, but he bravely stood his ground, leaning against the temporary partition that was up, pressing his back into it, for four hours. The older woman also spent a great deal of time pressing her back against the partition. Neither wanted to break the “rules.” Neither did I, but my conscious said that these rules have to be modified. I felt like they were my elderly parents and they needed help and no one was listening. However, they were reluctant to take advantage of the chair I set out, as sitting down is frowned upon.

I would like to point out that several customers also took the opportunity to rest in something other than hard, unyielding picnic tables. They, too, are on their feet for hours.

I would like to stress that I am speaking only for myself. My observations were mainly that, observations, personal experience, and commonsense. I don’t wish anyone to experience any negative fallout from this complaint. The others were not complaining outwardly and I doubt they will in the future.
I will also say that sitting was not prohibited, just frowned upon. It was made clear that we could sit on the bench if we “needed to,” but none of us felt comfortable being outside of our station so that sense of responsibility effectively left us with no option.

I would like to volunteer again next year, and the year after that. I would prefer to work in the Mercantile, but if this situation can’t be remedied I respectfully request to be assigned to a venue where reasonable accommodations can be made. This would be, for example, the craft venue, or driving a Gator, rescuing otherwise able bodied people who simply can’t walk 10 miles from where they park, to get to the festival and vice versa.

Attached is a picture of the chair in question so you can see that it in no way interferes with the customers or the employees on the floor.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Me.

Chair