Ten years in & need to vent.
For ten years I've been defending my council & advising other leaders to focus on girls & troop experiences. But, now I'm upset & I just need to vent.
Like, I've had some prior disappointments...
When my kids were still pretty little they were suddenly waitlisted for resident camp with no notice. Customer Care tried saying girls had been on wait list since sign up... but I had receipts/evidence proving otherwise. There were several weeks with openings so we just transferred them to different date. It made me feel very awkward that they flat out they lied, but they apologized & it all worked out in the end...
Later I earned council recognition in a specific area of scouting & was to be formally recognized at our annual event. Bought a new outfit and maybe even bragged a little to some family. Months go by & event is getting closer, then I get an email saying that they had to make some changes & my recognition would be handed out at a service unit meeting that fall. I felt like I shouldn't be upset because I don't do any of this for awards or applause, but couldn't help but feeling a little upset, then I felt guilty about that. The annual event was located almost three hours from me and I decided to not make the drive. BUT guess what? They DID recognize me at the event!!!! I started getting texts with pics of my freaking name on a giant screen & people asking where I was & why didn't I come. Someone in my SU later even told me it was disrespectful of ME not to even bother showing up.
There's more, but on to the present day-
Was driving & recieved a voicemail that I won a volunteer appreciation raffle & to call them back for more info. It's some pretty nice swag, stuff I would never buy myself in shop... so I'm excited!
I called back immediately, employee in charge of raffle is in a meeting so I leave message. Several days go by & I haven't heard back, so I call the office & the employee is in meeting again. Give my info & was told employee would call me back. Repeat that again x3. Last week I told them they could just email me if that was easier.
Crickets.
It has been weeks now, and I'm starting to feel like a pest? Apparently no one else has any info on the prize other then I need to speak to the specific unreachable employee. Council is over an hour away & open weird hours. I reallllly don't want to take time off only to drive there & find out they just shipped it to me. Sent an email early this morning & included some other employees I know... maybe I will hear back tomorrow? If not I guess it was free stuff, so I can't really be that upset about it.
...but THEN-
This afternoon I received an email that they canceled my youngest daughter's camp session. "Low attendance and new restructuring of summer programming"... but the session was full when I looked at openings for a troop member a month ago? Email said they are excited to register her for a new session. But that was only week specific session/theme was offered & she has no interest in others. No info whether session is being rescheduled to another week or what exactly the "restructuring" is... and no mention on refunds for total cost or price difference. Im sure they will refund us, but I would like to have seen that mentioned in the email. Supplies have been bought, schedule has been cleared, physical has been done, conflicting invites have been declined, sister & friends are still going to their sessions, and my daughter is MAD! This would be her fifth consecutive year at this camp. She's a teenager & it's hard to keep her excited about scouting, but she considers resident camp to be a tradition & was genuinely looking forward to it.
Whatever. We can't always get what we want, & I guess this is a teachable moment in how to handle disappointment?
Still... I can't help feeling really disrespected. I know there are probably things going on that are out of their control, but it just always feels like disorganization & a lot of covering their own butts. I give them grace time & time again, but am starting to feel like a doormat. I put a lot of time into this organization, then have to give up even more for their "volunteer appreciation" prize? My daughter works hard to sell cookies with a specific goal in mind, then that is canceled just weeks before?
Okay, it's off my chest. Maybe I will feel better about the whole thing in a few days? I do love Girl Scouts, just wish I could get back some of the same effort & energy from council that I put into my troop.
(I tried to tweak it a little for annomity, but I may have been a little too specific, so if you're reading this & think you may know who I am... shhh! no you do not! lol)
*edited for spelling & errors, then I gave up.