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So here’s the background:
We belong to an informal sailing club with interests in promoting both racing and cruising. The club is based at a state park, there is no club house or building to gather its members, and “pop-up” tents are often used at specific events. It is an all volunteer organization, with elected officers, each with his/hers own responsibilities.
At a recent club event, which as it turned out, was the biggest in club history, we could tell by the number of members who signed up. It was decided to contact to the local newspapers to let them know. They came with a reported and photographer. This was great promotion for the club.
As with many events involving food, a deadline was set for people to sign up by to insure the appropriate amount of food to order from the caterer. As usual, there were many who sign up after the deadline, resulting in having to change the food order a few times.
There were also 2 big party tents that had to be washed and set up ahead of time for the event dinner to be held under. There was a race committee and awards were purchased for the event.
The situation:
After dinner, now this is a very informal picnic, the club Commodore stood on a picnic table to hail the crowds attention: he 1) introduced himself, 2) mentioned it was the biggest event in club history, that the newspaper was there with a photographer, 3) thanked the officer responsible for arranging the event dinner and a round of applause was given, (no one else was thanked) 4) passed the “floor” over to the officer presenting the awards.
What is wrong with this picture???
Later that evening, the officer in charge of the dinner resigned their position, stating it was improper of the Commodore to introduce himself before thanking them for the job they did, stating it was not proper etiquette, they felt his thank you was “an after-thought” and felt that their efforts are not appreciated enough.
Now granted, this is an all volunteer club, but how high on a pedestal should ones efforts be place?
5 comments:
Caveat - i am not an manners professional
But I think that the dinner people should be thanked - officially.
I also think that if anyone got bent out of shape because of the manners issue than they probably should not be involved - because in this day & age, they are going to be upset more often that not.
Case in point, I am still awaiting a thank you from a December wedding - guess where the couple is going next month... Guatemala - In my way of thinking if you can afford (time & moneywise) to go to a foreign country, then you should have sent out thank yous.
What do you mean by "officially", they were thanked in front of the crowd.
I'm a little confused - the guy should have thanked the officer before telling the crowd who he (the Commodore) was? That's weird, in my opinion. Of course, if the introduction was a long-winded patting himself on the back speech, that's different. But a simple "thank you all for coming. I'm Billy Bush, Commodore of the Shipwreck Sailing Club, and I'd like to take this oppotunity, on behalf of everyone here, to publicly applaud the efforts of Officer A. Ranger, who pulled together tremendous crew and made this a meemorable day for us all. Let's acknowledge all their hard work - Patty Piemaker, Francis Fonecaller, Roger Reservationist..."
I'm not sure why the dinner coordinator got so bent out of shape. He was thanked, right? Publicly, yes? And he got a round of applause? So where's the foul? Am I missing something? My take is that event coordinator was in it for the glory, more than anything else, and his ego got a little less stroking than it wanted.
It took me a while to understand this concept but now I know it to be true. You do things out of the goodness of your heart and because you want to do it. If you are doing something just to be thanked or recognized you are doing it for the wrong reason. Don't get me wrong a thank you is always nice and appreciated but it should just be a bonus.
sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed or that someone had his life jacket on a little too tight.
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