Volunteering 2023

[March Hare]

16 hours ago, stuie said:

It was as good as it could be for the format of a webinar. Andy is a lovely guy and gave a great delivery (he actually presented part of my last in person training in London too) but it’s just not the same as the pre covid world of all getting together to train and chatting and going for drinks after! 

I agree with that. Probably a mix of cost and the sheer volume of people they need to get through. If there was a f2f I would attend.

The optional supervisor training was f2f last year

[March Hare]

18 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

What are the supervisors like though ? 😄

A delight if it was me. I brought three different types of biscuits to each shift.

[March Hare]

18 hours ago, Havors said:

I've always had good supervisors tbh at 3 different festivals. Last year supervisors for our last shift were legends tbh on ped gate C 

Wait a minute, were you on ped gate c when the angry chef turned up?  

[JezzaBelle]

1 hour ago, March Hare said:

Wait a minute, were you on ped gate c when the angry chef turned up?  

I feel I need to know more about 'the angry chef' 🤣

[March Hare]

59 minutes ago, JezzaBelle said:

I feel I need to know more about 'the angry chef' 🤣

It’s was all over nothing in the end. He was getting fed up of being scanned in and out constantly. Kicked up a fuss, got scanned anyway, went in. We were perplexed 🧐

[Losing my hair]

21 minutes ago, March Hare said:

It’s was all over nothing in the end. He was getting fed up of being scanned in and out constantly. Kicked up a fuss, got scanned anyway, went in. We were perplexed 🧐

Was this him?

Edited April 30, 2023 by Losing my hair

[stuie]

3 hours ago, March Hare said:

I agree with that. Probably a mix of cost and the sheer volume of people they need to get through. If there was a f2f I would attend.

The optional supervisor training was f2f last year

I’ve emailed asking about the supervisor training as although I was a supervisor last year I’ve not done any training. 

I’d like to maximise my chance of getting it again this year as I enjoyed it and like you, think I was a good fair fun supervisor! Also, it would mean I qualify for priority next year 😂

[Havors]

3 hours ago, March Hare said:

Wait a minute, were you on ped gate c when the angry chef turned up?  

Hahaha yes! They crazy angry chef who had been in the hospital all night apparently 

[philipsteak]

12 minutes ago, stuie said:

I’ve emailed asking about the supervisor training as although I was a supervisor last year I’ve not done any training. 

I’d like to maximise my chance of getting it again this year as I enjoyed it and like you, think I was a good fair fun supervisor! Also, it would mean I qualify for priority next year 😂

If you've done it before and ticked the box to say you want to do it I'd be very surprised if you weren't a supervisor. They're need so many at Glastonbury. 

[Havors]

14 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

If you've done it before and ticked the box to say you want to do it I'd be very surprised if you weren't a supervisor. They're need so many at Glastonbury. 

If it gets me a place I'll do it haha they should have an extra option on the drop down 🙂

I've got the stress of trying again in Tuesday... very worried they places will go in seconds like February.

[stuie]

2 hours ago, philipsteak said:

If you've done it before and ticked the box to say you want to do it I'd be very surprised if you weren't a supervisor. They're need so many at Glastonbury. 

There was a lady on my team last year (bit gobby type) who was mega pissed off that I was supervisor and hadn’t supervised before or done the training and she’d done both and was placed as a steward!

Someone did say to me that reading between the lines there must have been a reason for that decision! 😂

[incident]

43 minutes ago, stuie said:

There was a lady on my team last year (bit gobby type) who was mega pissed off that I was supervisor and hadn’t supervised before or done the training and she’d done both and was placed as a steward!

Someone did say to me that reading between the lines there must have been a reason for that decision! 😂

There might have been, but equally they do make an effort to give that experience to new blood where possible.

I've both supervised people with far more experience than me, and been supervised by people with less and not sure I'd read anything into either scenario. Though yeah some people do get uppity about their perceived status.

[March Hare]

4 hours ago, Havors said:

Hahaha yes! They crazy angry chef who had been in the hospital all night apparently 

That was me that walked over from exit to try and sort it out! 😂

[March Hare]

1 hour ago, stuie said:

There was a lady on my team last year (bit gobby type) who was mega pissed off that I was supervisor and hadn’t supervised before or done the training and she’d done both and was placed as a steward!

Someone did say to me that reading between the lines there must have been a reason for that decision! 😂

I went to Shambala later in the year as a regular steward and was fine with it. If they need me, I’ll do it. If they don’t, it’s a win because I don’t need to engage my mind for 8 hours 😂

 

22 minutes ago, incident said:

There might have been, but equally they do make an effort to give that experience to new blood where possible.

I've both supervised people with far more experience than me, and been supervised by people with less and not sure I'd read anything into either scenario. Though yeah some people do get uppity about their perceived status.

The status thing is a mystery! We’re all volunteers trying to get to the end of a shift and to the party. Who really cares?

[mazola]

6 hours ago, March Hare said:

It’s was all over nothing in the end. He was getting fed up of being scanned in and out constantly. Kicked up a fuss, got scanned anyway, went in. We were perplexed 🧐

This was the worst part of my Oxfam stint a couple of years ago. Was on a vehicle gate (D I think) pretty busy but everyone I'm scanning in is a delivery driver, worker or security. A good proportion of who seemed to just be permanently pissed off, like it was me who had come up with this whole scanning in and out caper. Especially people coming in and out multiple times, you would think they would understand I have a job to do and I'm gonna do it.

At least on a pedestrian gate the people coming in are happy and want to be there, must be a much more pleasant experience.

[Havors]

1 hour ago, March Hare said:

That was me that walked over from exit to try and sort it out! 😂

Cool! I remeber you, good to know youre on here!

It was quite mental he was literally foaming at the mouth hand in a sling and moaning about being scanned but hadn't even let us scan him 🤣🤣 Told us all about his injury and the hospital and his life story very angry haha 

[philipsteak]

By far the worst people I've dealt with while stewarding have been crew and traders. 

[amfy]

11 hours ago, philipsteak said:

By far the worst people I've dealt with while stewarding have been crew and traders. 

Absolutely true. The only people who tried to muscle past us when we were limiting venue capacity at Boomtown. Treated us with total disdain and seemed to think that somehow being crew exempted them from causing, or being in, a dangerous crush, & that they were above being instructed by us to do anything.

(Tbf a few of the punters were also dodging past us occasionally but they weren’t dickheads about it!)

[Isaaclk]

@amfyWhat time and what venue were you limiting capacity for?

Edited May 1, 2023 by Isaaclk

[VisionOfLove]

Does anyone know with Oxfam spots coming up tomorrow if you get through are you only able to reserve a spot for yourself or can you put a friend who’s registered down too? 

[incident]

14 minutes ago, VisionOfLove said:

Does anyone know with Oxfam spots coming up tomorrow if you get through are you only able to reserve a spot for yourself or can you put a friend who’s registered down too? 

You'd need to log out as yourself, and then log back in as them. By which point odds are all spots are full.

[philipsteak]

2 hours ago, amfy said:

Absolutely true. The only people who tried to muscle past us when we were limiting venue capacity at Boomtown. Treated us with total disdain and seemed to think that somehow being crew exempted them from causing, or being in, a dangerous crush, & that they were above being instructed by us to do anything.

(Tbf a few of the punters were also dodging past us occasionally but they weren’t dickheads about it!)

That's the thing, it's the dickheadishness. Nearly everyone tries it on in some way at a festival. I know I certainly have. And sometimes it works, but when it doesn't you accept it with grace and move on.

[amfy]

1 hour ago, Isaaclk said:

@amfyWhat time and what venue were you limiting capacity for?

Scrapyard from about 10pm. We act on instructions from security so it’s not our judgement, although it is part of our role to alert security if we can see a problem developing. The scrapyard is built from shipping containers so it’s not like a tent with stretchy sides & lots of ways out in an emergency.

In this case, we were told that our door was an exit only, so that numbers coming in could be managed at one door so that it didn’t overfill quickly from several points. One thing we did do was go into the venue and ask people to move from the back to the front a bit as it was looking fuller than it actually was at the entrance end of the venue.

So no one could come in through our door, but crew thought they were special. The punters would beg, usually accept that they would need to queue for a bit at the other door, occasionally dodge under an arm or behind your back as someone came out. We did have a moment (When Gold Dust played), when every passer by wanted to be in the area and it got a bit hairy but other than that, despite being off their faces, the public were lovely. Crew would physically barge you out of the way and could be really vile.

Edited May 1, 2023 by amfy

[Isaaclk]

11 minutes ago, amfy said:

Scrapyard from about 10pm. We act on instructions from security so it’s not our judgement, although it is part of our role to alert security if we can see a problem developing. The scrapyard is built from shipping containers so it’s not like a tent with stretchy sides & lots of ways out in an emergency.

In this case, we were told that our door was an exit only, so that numbers coming in could be managed at one door so that it didn’t overfill quickly from several points. One thing we did do was go into the venue and ask people to move from the back to the front a bit as it was looking fuller than it actually was at the entrance end of the venue.

So no one could come in through our door, but crew thought they were special. The punters would beg, usually accept that they would need to queue for a bit at the other door, occasionally dodge under an arm or behind your back as someone came out. We did have a moment (When Gold Dust played), when every passer by wanted to be in the area and it got a bit hairy but other than that, despite being off their faces, the public were lovely. Crew would physically barge you out of the way and could be really vile.

Yeah i was oxfam volunteering at boomtown last year too, just wondered what venue cuz none of the places i went to was there ever a queue to get in. The micro venues are the best anyway

[March Hare]

14 hours ago, philipsteak said:

By far the worst people I've dealt with while stewarding have been crew and traders. 

With you on this. Punters get frustrated because there is an unknown they have to deal with. Some crew and traders make business as usual jobs harder.
Lucky for them I am very condescending and slow moving