A Volunteer MVWJ
MVWD was a volunteer stint I did at a kid’s museum, which offered to let me come in for free whenever I wanted in exchange for helping out one day a week. My first day on the job went pretty well, compared to what was to come. The manager’s daughter was there all day, as I was told she would be every day. She was about four years younger than me, petite, and an absolute demon. Her mother had apparently told her I was allergic to peanuts, so she made an allergy joke I found offensive. I asked her to knock it off, she did so. Until next time.
Firstly, the door was locked when I got there (ten minutes late) so I went around back and got in through the fire escape. My boss and her little demon spawn finally showed up, and I was ordered to go scrub the fishtanks. The devil child tagged along to explain in detail exactly how much I was missing out on, not being able to eat peanut butter. Then I was sent to work the register for a while, with the devil child hot on my tail. She introduced me to customers as “The employee who can’t have nuts, so pity her.”
When I was told to go vacuum inside the maze I thought for sure she wouldn’t follow me. Unfortunately, she knew the maze by heart, got me totally lost in it, and proceeded to quite literally run circles around me, happily chanting “peanut butter” over and over. At the end of my shift I complained to her mother, who promised to have a word with the girl.
On my third day, the demon was home with the baby sitter and I thought maybe I could actually get some work done. My boss asked for some help moving a table; one of the legs collapsed and she was so surprised she dropped her end. The whole thing fell on me and bruised my leg so badly it could still be seen two weeks later. I resigned on the spot.
Too bad the kid knew the maze by heart. I would be tempted to lead her in there and leave her there.
Your third day seriously, does not sound that bad. I’ve had burns, cuts, bruises from work that hadn’t healed after a few weeks, but it’s not like they’re going to seriously harm me or anything. Your boss dropped something, in surprise. Totally a common reaction, I’ve done that before while moving things around with friends. It’s not as if she was doing it on purpose because she hates you or whatever.
Also, if you’re working somewhere with kids and can’t handle one child who’s really not altogether that bad compared to some kids I know, it’s probably better that you did quit.
I think the OP’s age at the time is key here. I mean the kid (4 yrs younger) was obviously still young enough to need a babysitter, so I’d place her anywhere from 8 to 12 – meaning the OP would be anywhere from 12-16. Plus, the OP still apparently enjoyed the kid’s museum, so I imagine she was still pretty young. And it is annoying to have anyone following you around bugging the shit out of you (although “the employee who can’t have nuts, so pity her” is a pretty good line.)
And having a table dropped on you at a volunteer job that left a large bruise would be pretty bad. I know now that I have worker’s compensation rights and all that fun stuff, but if I had been injured by someone else’s negligence at my first job mowing lawns at 14 yrs old, I’d likely not have stuck it out.
I agree with Tronner on this one. Seems the OP was young and I don’t think I’d enjoy some creepy little kid running around me chanting “peanut butter”. And having the table dropped on you would really suck. I think some people who comment on here forget what it’s like have been young and have your first job: you usually don’t realize your legal rights and have no idea what work places should be like.
An OFFENSIVE allergy joke? I am dying to know what that was…
@ Ted – Duh, it goes like this:
So, there’s this family who needs some money so they develop an old-fashioned vaudevillian routine and go to a talent scout, he sees this family, the mother, the father, the twin sisters, the adopted son, the grandmother standing before him and asks “What is it exactly that you do?”
….yada yada yada….
as they’re cleaning up the blood and vomit and other bodily fluids, not to mention chicken feathers and meat pie filling, the talent scout says “What the HELL do you call an ..ACHOOO!”
The father, coated in margarine, says “God Bless You!”
“Thank you, I’ve had horrible ALLERGIES as of late, anyway – what the hell do you call THAT?” The scout says removing a well-used handkerchief from his pocket.
“The Aristocrats” the family says in unison.
Nice.
the kid sounds like a horrible brat, that’s for sure….I’d be tempted to whap her one!
Tronner, please have my 20948th child, because I <3 The Aristocrat joke.
Meshell – it’s a deal.
At least you weren’t delivering for meals on wheels. I’d take a bratty kid over old Mrs. Johnson answering the door in her birthday suit any day.
huh? i don’t get the joke. sorry.
i would sure annoy me if a brat bugged me like she did to you, u have my sympathies.
never comply when a boss asks you to help moving something if you are not strong enough, my ex boss made me move a couch off of a wooden platform, calling me names like weak when it wouldn’t budge an inch. come to find out, it was nailed to the platform. i about pulled every muscle out of my back and all she said was “Oh.” trust me, its not worth it!
For a VOLUNTEER job seems like a real pain to me. Its not like they were paying her to be there and get taunted by some bratty kid for hours
For a volunteer job sure it sucks but I volunteer with three non-profit organizations and I’ve dealt with a ton worse than this. The girl does sound like a brat but really? That’s what kids do.
When I was 16 I was working nearly 30 hours at Target (finally I quit because of it and their evil management). Sorry OP but sounds like you need to grow up a bit before you enter the real workforce.
I don’t get it Tronner, now it’s gonna keep bugging me
Now I’m confused. I thought Tronner was just being absolutely ridiculous and essentially giving us two parts of a joke that when separated make absolutely no sense but because of how insane they sound it’s funny.
For the uniformed….
The Aristocrats is a very dirty, pointless, shaggy dog tail joke that has been around for years. The gist of the joke is that it changes with each teller – but mostly that each teller tries to make it dirtier and more offensive. They even made a movie/documentary with a lot of comedians telling the joke (including Bob Sagat, a mime and the kids from Southpark) I really can’t give an explanation that will do the joke justice, so just type The Aristocrats into Google and see what comes up.
Sorry to confuse the lot of you, but glad that some caught on