Hello dear friends...
I am sure I am going crazy at work, so I pose a question to you. In all of the places you have volunteered, how have they recognized you. Please, do not lump them all together, list like Hospital- Fleece vest in wrong size and thank you note, Church- Jello with nicely sliced carrots, lutefisk, and lefse, etc. I am genuinely interested in this...so I feel like if you answer I should buy you a drink the next time I see you...yes, a nice drink.
Also, did you feel adequately thanked?
Of course I have a mad volunteer who feels she has not been properly thanked. I will share with you the ways we have thanked her, but will do that in a separate post. I think we have been generous, but I could just need more education on the subject, so am opening up the above questions.
Thank you in advance for your time and participation in my study. I will THANK you by purchasing you a nice cocktail, mojito, margarita, etc. and THANK YOU PROFUSELY IN THIS MOMENT!
P.S. How does spell check not know three IMPORTANT words: mojito, lutefisk, and lefse...seems to me like spell check doesn't know what delicious is.
Nacole, I worked on cancer research (ironic no?) for FREE for over a year! No credit, no lunch, not even the wrong sized fleece that I was offered for volunteering at the hospital. I worked tirelessly on experiments, into 3 in the morning just to get data that sometimes didn't even work. I didn't get a thank you, I didn't get praised when I was able to get publishable data, I was just asked to reproduce it, and that is what I did, because I don't do it for recognition or praise. I do it to someday help someone suffering. Someone who is looking for answers and can't find them. In some ways I did it selfishly for the fulfillment of helping someone who needed it. I could have been paid but that was that many fewer experiments I could do, that many fewer people helped. You don't volunteer for your resume or so people bow down to you, you do it because people need you and it is the right thing to do. Your volunteer needs a reality check. Thank you in advance profusely for the margarita.
ReplyDelete-Naomi
Yeah- For everyone reading this, Naomi had the pleasure of reading the e-mail exchange. It's a doozy. In fact I have another e-mail from the person that I have not opened...she puts read receipts on it and I am limiting my stress for today! I still want to hear all your answers though. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo as a volunteer I am not sure I have received anything other than a verbal thank you, and I am completely fine with that. Why? Because I was a VOLUNTEER and did not expect anything from it. I did it for the good of the organization, and not for my own selfish good. I am so sorry you have to deal with people like that! It saddens me to see how people treat such hard workers doing good things for a great cause. Miss you! - T
ReplyDeleteHmm, when I volunteered for church...for YEARS... every weekend and lots of holidays (I was a reader) I'm not sure I really ever got "thanked". Though people would often tell me or my mom that they loved when I read and that I did such a nice job. I suppose that was thanks enough.
ReplyDeleteAt my unpaid internship at a crisis center/shelter for women and kids (I did get a grade for it) I got a certificate of appreciation and a dinner with the other interns.
When I volunteered as a companion to 2 women at a halfway house for the chronically mentally ill, I didn't get thanked, but again, it was rewarding by itself, since the women were so happy to have a visitor.
I think you volunteer for rewards that are not tangible. Sure, it can look great on a resume. A little gratitude and appreciation goes a long way, so if you've done that, I agree with Naomi. Your volunteer might need a reality check.