[Sca-cooks] Volunteering in a feast kitchen

[Phil Troy / G.Tacitus Adamantius]

On Apr 3, 2007, at 7:55 PM, Vitaliano Vincenzi wrote:

> I attended an event within the past 3 months and volunteered my  
> services
> in the kitchen of the Feast Steward. Initially I was welcomed by other
> kitchen staff and was given a few tasks, which I did willingly.  
> However,
> later in the day when the real work started, I was basically  
> ignored and
> made to feel as if I didn't belong, so I left the kitchen upset.
>
> Now, I saw that they had things well at hand, and I understand if they
> didn't need my help. What upset me was that I was simply ignored in  
> the
> kitchen as if I didn't belong there. A simple "thanks, but we have
> things well at hand" would have left me feeling a lot better, but I
> didn't even get a "get out of my kitchen."

I know I sometimes find myself with people standing there, looking  
for things to do, not sure what they can do, but either simply  
concerned about the possibility that this could change at any second,  
making me wish I could get the person back again,  or just so busy  
that I acquire a form of tunnel vision.

It's rare, and I'm sort of clutching at semi-positive straws here. I  
doubt it was calculated rudeness or anything, but I can certainly  
understand your feeling a little hurt.

> My question to this group is am I wrong for feeling hurt by this?

Only in that I'm fairly sure no harm was intended, and many cooks are  
so intent on their work that they may not be aware of what happened,  
so your being hurt isn't doing anybody any good, if you follow me.  
Better, perhaps, to ask some of your local cooks how they'd react to  
such a thing, putting it in very theoretical terms, at least at first.

Or who knows, maybe you were doing something silly that you were  
unaware of...

> I know
> that when I have worked in other feast kitchens there was plenty to do
> and I was more than willing to help. And when there wasn't anything  
> left
> to be done, I left and enjoyed the rest of the event. Personally, I
> would never leave someone hanging like I was at that event, but I  
> guess
> that is just me.
>
> Am I wrong here? What are your thoughts on this?

Not wrong, but there may be some pretty innocuous reasons for this  
happening, or conceivably even some (more or less) reasonable ones.  
Probably these people should be tactfully (ah, the great strength of  
so many SCAdians!) made aware that their behavior is not completely  
conducive to volunteers of help from some quarters.

Adamantius





"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread, you have to say, let them eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04