No. Way. To Run. A Railroad.

[wolven7]

As I mentioned, earlier, I've heard nothing from Dragon*Con regarding the status of my application to be given a Guest Pass, at Dragon*Con. I applied on the 12th of June, well before the deadline, and followed up with a querry e-mail, Friday, the 17thof July. I still haven't heard back.

Now, @roxofspazhous suggested that I call the D*C offices, directly, which was seconded by mech_angel as a Good Idea, so I did it. Dear dark and nameless gods, I did it, and I did it while I was driving.

You see, apparently, the "Dragon*Con Contact Line" is Two People. And they were able to tell me the following: "Let me let you talk to my boss," and that final contact e-mails and phone calls regarding Guest Statuses may have been made. Or they may not. The people at the Contact Office? They don't know. There was no set deadline for the notification of potential guests as to the nature of their status.

The final Guest Services meeting has taken place, however; they do know That. The Contact Office's suggestion was to e-mail the GS people, and ask for a response. Told them I'd done that. When this was met with non-commital noises, and silence, as they said they had no further advice because everyone was a volunteer and working around their regular jobs, I realised that my yelling about the ineffectual, slipshod nature of this setup was not going to do any good. It was not this woman's fault, nor was it her underling's. But let me may a few things Crystal Fucking Clear:

1) I know that damn near everyone who "works" for Dragon*Con is a volunteer. Some of my very best friends in the entire world have worked D*C, since they were 15 years old. But!

2) These friends Care About Their Fucking Jobs. When something goes wrong, they don't just say, "Oops oh well nothing we can do, now," they try to Fix It, or find the person who can.

3) Being a Fucking Volunteer does NOT mean that you get to be blase about the quality of the work you do, or the grievances of those who come to you, especially when you are the only Point of Contact, listed on the Web Site. Take some fucking Pride in your work, for fuck's sake. You'd want someone to do it for You.

4) If you are being paid to do whatever the fuck it is you do, then the above goes quintuple, for you.

There is a level of professionalism that Dragon*Con needs to remember to maintain, if it wants to be considered anything other than an afterthought on the yearly PopCulture convention circuit, and a Standard Level of Courtesy and Prompt Attentiveness to any and all guests, patrons, fans, vendors, or people with whom they otherwise must deal is a part of this. Don't just fasttrack the big names; don't just suck up to the Big Pres. Not only can they smell the disingenuity, many of them have friends who aren't big names.

Let me put it another way: Many "Mid-Level" people have friends who are Huge Fucking Stars, especially in today's Internet-Connected world. And what happens to your reputation if a few people offhandedly mention, "Oh That con? Jesus, I had such a fucking hassle, with them," or something similar?

And all I wanted was a fucking Prompt Yes or No Answer to the question: "Has My Guest Application Been Reviewed And A Decision Made?" And I wanted this so I could figure out a way to pay for my pass, prior to it's price going up, a final time, on my birthday (same day, every year.).

So. This is not politick and this is not making Kissy Face at the largest convention in the South Eastern US. Because it needs to be said and heard loud, before anything will be done about it.

Some people I know have never had anything but awesome interactions with Dragon*Con. Great times, great memories, funny stories and drinks. But that number is shrinking, with each passing year. I can name a dozen people I'd love to see come to D*C, just off the top of my head. But I can also say that I can understand why they might not want to, and only be able to provide counterpoints to make it less bad.

I shouldn't be able to do that.

That is all.

Comments

[momentai.livejournal.com]

It's not necessarily that people in the middle, whether volunteers or not, don't take pride in their job, but that they are not given the resources and training to do anything better. it is quite possible that the upper echelon of Dragon Con's administration department never gave these volunteers any means to contact anyone above them nor the training or permission to try to find any other information or people who had the info.

That's the way it has been in retail jobs I have worked, and I would not put it pass Dragon Con's board to do the same, based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence of the way the show is run.

So, yeah. The Con needs a overall or everything you say about word of mouth will eventually kill it, along with it's other problems.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

it is quite possible that the upper echelon of Dragon Con's administration department never gave these volunteers any means to contact anyone above them nor the training or permission to try to find any other information or people who had the info.

And it is that very possibility (to be honest, Probability) that makes me SO DAMNED ANGRY about this. It is not hard to train your volunteers or employees to give a damn. It is only Slightly Harder to give them the tools and resources to do so, once you've trained them.

[flyswatter.livejournal.com]

They don't train volunteers except to yell at them when something isn't done right.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Now that? That's inexcusable.

[flyswatter.livejournal.com]

The first year I worked there, I went to meetings hoping that they would at least train us a little bit there but no. Anything I know about working there I figured out on my own, pretty much.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that needs to change.