Villainous, Vain, Vigilant, Vagrant, Virtuous or Virtuoso Volunteers!

I was just sitting in my own little world (recovering from my lovely agility weekend which DID include lots of volunteering), totally ignorant to the fact that the topic of volunteering has become apparently quite heated. 

My question is what is there to get upset about - either you do or you don't and everyone probably has their reasons and life goes on...does it not?

Upon further thought, however, I think my attitude comes from the fact that I hail from the incredibly generous and civic minded state of Minnesota.  Many folks I'm sure would volunteer regardless of monetary contribution, regardless of guarantees of entry in a random draw trial and regardless of a yummy free lunch.  That attitude seems to run rampant around these parts but for those of us who aren't quite as giving with our time, there are obvious things clubs can do to "encourage" participation:

*Kind and organized club and/or trial committee are key!  My past few agility trials have been of the wonderful type of volunteer experience -- appropriately scheduled jobs that agree with my running schedule, not an overwhelming amount of jobs, fun and friendly club members who are eager to help with questions and explanations for newbies, good lunch choices (don't forget your vegetarian helpers!), beverages available, proximity of kenneling area close to ring so you can just jump in an set bars if you are hanging out, easy-going yet efficient judges.  These things all make for a pleasant experience.

*Worker exemption for random draw trials!  This is a no-brainer.  If you are having trouble getting enough volunteers, do a random draw with some guaranteed spots for workers. 

*Vouchers are nice...however, not necessary.  It is unusual nowadays to receive vouchers for work for the most part.  They are great, but realistically, I tend to lose them or forget to turn them in with my entries, etc.  That said, still a great perk.

*Non-heinous judges.  I already mentioned nice judges, but it bears repeating.  No, I haven't had much experience with nasty judges but it really sticks in your mind.  Even if I love their courses, I'm certainly not going to push to work where they are judging.  Just silly things for example, as a scribe a few weeks ago, I had a judge actually give me a "test" of calling out the right thing when she stuck her hand up for a refusal, wrong course, table fault or what have you.  It was not really in a funny way and left me in a sort of pissy mood.  Yes, I probably overreacted, but simply ask the scribe if they are comfortable with all the calls and go from there - no need to put people on the spot.  Later in the day when I was bar setting, she made a big production of resetting a double I had put back up and said "this is how I want it done!"  Okay, one of the cross bars on the ground was seriously half an inch from where I put it.  Really??  Picky much??  That said, most judges are perfectly wonderful to work with and very appreciative.

Likewise, things that put me off are pretty much the oppostive of what I listed that I like.  I was at a trial a few weeks ago where two members were constantly bickering and yelling at each other the entire day.  It wasn't directed at me but it creates a very unpleasant atmosphere.  Remember why we are out there - the love of running your dog.  It is supposed to be a fun thing.  If I want to hear yelling and complaining, I'll go back to my day job! 

Clubs that are terribly disorganized (despite being full of nice people), are very exhausting to try and work with...not much you can try and do in those situations aside from trying to give some tactful advice and see if they'll take it.  No, I won't jump to volunteer for them and will take my chances of not getting into the trial.

Overscheduling - the worst offense!!  I'm not one of those sane people who only trial with one dog.  I have multiple dogs to exercise and I need to occasionally go to the bathroom and eat and drink and it would be nice to be able to chat a little with friends.  There was a trial years ago that literally scheduled my mom every second of the day that she wasn't running and even tried to schedule her when she was running!  Do you think she hurried to work for them again in the future - no!!  I've heard some trials hesitate to only schedule people for a few things during the day, preferring to load them up on individual days so they don't have to buy so much lunch.  Okay, not doing yourself any favors by pissing off your volunteer base - rethink your strategy!  Obviously I'm more than willing to do multiple jobs during the day but please use some common sense.  Yes, I'll stay late to work in Novice/Open when I finish running my own courses early in the day but don't do that to me every day of the trial.

Here are some situations that prevent me from volunteering:

*Out of town trial - things are already a little more stressful and I may be traveling with an entire van of dogs that need exercise or I don't know what to expect as far as lay out of the land.  Generally after the first time I go, I'll likely volunteer for the next time.

*Multiple ring trial when I'm running dogs in all different levels.  You know you will have conflicts, you know you will miss walk throughs and be short on time for walking dogs and it is sometimes tough to pitch in during these situation.  Usually though I'll get that Novice or Started dog into the upper level soon enough and will be back on the volunteering train.  Yes, I should sign up for setting up or tearing down in those situations...I'll work on that!

*Higher stress events - Nationals, Regionals, Invitational.  I need to concentrate on me and my dog and suck it up if the trial runs slower due to lack of volunteers.

That about says it.  My feeling on chronic non-volunteerism is that people are people and they will do what they do.  If I can't control it, I'll ignore it and worry about myself.  I've met people that are such stressballs they think they can't do anything but sit and obsess about their runs for hours on end.  Obviously, those people would do better to settle down and set some bars but they may need a few years under their belt before they reach that conclusion!