Frustrations

Well folks, today I experienced working at Pioneer Day Camp. It's a yearly camp run by the museum I work for every Tuesday in June. The kids - ages 7 to 12 - do a variety of "pioneer" activities, such as fishing with bamboo sticks and cork bobbers, candle dipping, sewing quilt squares, playing games, cooking and making ice cream.

Today I joined the Education department out at Beaver Creek Nature Area east of Sioux Falls to help staff the camp. I got a cool green shirt (my favorite color) to wear and keep so that was a plus. My duty, along with the Collections intern Alicia, was pioneer games and apparently last week the kids really liked croquet (which is old, but not exactly what one thinks of when one thinks of pioneers, buy anyway...) so that's what we played. Most of the kids really enjoyed it and the ones that didn't played card games, button games and pick up sticks.

I really enjoyed the groups of kids and did not have any behavioral problems. The staff was another matter. It disturbed me how highly unprofessional and superior some of the staff acted toward the kids. One kid did not take ice cream and apples because he does not like apples and therefore he did not have a bowl. Later, when he came back just for ice cream he got yelled at for not having a bowl. I did not like the apples either and did not take a bowl with apples in it. Were they going to yell at me too? No, becuase I am a staff member. This kind of stuff kept happening throughout the day.

One staff member insisted on inforcing gender roles by telling the boys they weren't man enough if they didn't do certain tasks the whole day. He also kept making the kids say thank you to the staff "like they really meant it." Well, they probably didn't mean it if he had to force them to say it. No one wants to thank crabby, bitchy staff who are yelling at them all the time. A volunteer told kids he was going to kill them if they tangled up their fishing line. Another staff member found absolutely everything to yell at the kids about. It was really ridiculus. At one point there was lunch trash on the tables and she made the kids pick it up while all the staff was just sitting around. How fair is that? I know we are the ones in charge, but that never made us better than them or gave us the right to boss them around for our own pleasure. Those kids' parents paid for them to be there. Now if some of the kids had been out of line, I would understand a little more, but I never had terrible behavior problems at my station.

Another problem I had was just the general bad attitudes when the staff was all together during the parks department program and lunch. There was all kinds of camper bashing going on. What if those kids overheard some of that? Also, the bashing by some people led to bashing by other people and a whole atmosphere of pessimism. Nothing offends me more than people who think they are better than other people. We all have different skills, abilities, and levels of knowledge but that never makes anyone better than anyone else because where someone falls short, someone else suceeds. Treating people, including kids, like shit is unacceptable in my book. If I was a Pioneer Day camper, I'm not sure I would want to come back. Seriously people, get some customer service / public relations training! I feel like this stuff happens fairly often at work and I think if those staff members are that pissed off at the people they are serving in their jobs then maybe it is not the job for them. Look into something else.

Another frustrating thing that happened to me today was I found out my parents bought my brother a $15,000 car which they seem to be willing to pay for. I can't help but wonder what Nick has done to deserve this amazing pouring out of money on their part. If he tried a little harder to make money so he can afford the things he wants I would feel better about it all, but I have not witnessed him trying very hard yet. This last year he got a job mowing lawns in the spring, but before that he had work study jobs that amounted to about three hours a week. Nick lives at home during the summer and last summer barely worked at all. This summer he is supposed to work, but I'm not sure that has even started yet. None of this is a problem for me, until he thinks he should just get things handed to him on a platter.

My financial situation is fucking stressful right now. I got a second job to supplement my income and here Nick sits on his ass, barely works, does poorly at school and gets my parents to spend exorbitant amounts of money on him. It's crazy and it pisses me off. Mostly because my parents already have their own debts. They could use that money to pay off their own loans. In my opinion Nick does not need a $15,000 car at this point in his life unless he has the funds to pay for it. When he can afford it then he can have it.

On the bright side of things, I rearranged my room last night and it looks much more spacious. I would like to save up for an arm chair so I can create a fun reading nook. I am also very excited about my trip to Kansas for Jeanette's wedding this weekend. It will be great to see those college friends again.