Topic: An angry email not meant for the Asylum

This is not meant for anyone here. Its just if I do not vent to someone I'm going to be sending angry emails that will just cause more trouble then they are worth.

3 years ago I asked about running some gaming stuff at a local convention. Things did not work out then and they asked me to come back next year. I did and got the usualy we really neeed/want local people to come in and do stuff. That year worked out all right. This year I had planned to do some of the same. Admitenly I talked to them late, only a month and a half before the convention started (con organizers like you to be registered a good 3 monthes ahead of time.), but after not getting a hold of the right people for a month things get organized. All through this I get more and more of the we need more people to do more stuff, please do anything you can. One guy talked to me for an hour before having exhausted every option of things I could not do for hiim. I can run games, got it?

Then a bit over 2 weeks before the convention starts, just about 1 week after finally getting people telling that I can run my games, my mother asks me to come and visit for the Thanksgiving weekend and my grandmother will be very happy to see me. Of couse I say yes, but later I realize that the con is on that weekend.
So I have to back out of my gaming conmitments.
Letting the convention staff know about that leads to one of 2 email exchange (The only given method of contact) that happens in a reasonalbe time frame telling me to fuck off, stop wasting their time, and not bother them ever again.


I've worked with conventions enough to know that they really do not care about someone like me. They only tell me they do to try and get me to fill the empty time between the big names and perhaps catch a local celeberty while they are at it. But to have such a turn around form them still pisses me off.
I posted here because if I do not get this out somewhere I'm going to start yelling matches with people that will create more ill will then I really want to deal with.
But on the up side the low level of success at the conventions and the shitty organization have left me never wanting to deal with them or any other convention around here again at a time when I don't really have the time for it anymore. I've at least not made an ass of my self by giving everyone the finger on the way out.

__________________________
Eagles get sucked into jet engines and weasels are oft maligned, but beavers just make nice hats.
WCG|FA@H

I like pie.

There. I've said it.

Life?
Don't talk to me about life.
Millions of years of tortuous evolution and we still prefer killing to negotiation.


Those who look for monsters should look to it that
they do not become monsters. For when you gaze
long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

let me make sure I got this right...

You wanted to do a convention, the first year didn't work out. The second year did.

This year you were going to do the convention again but, "Admitenly I talked to them late, only a month and a half before the convention started"
Then "a bit over 2 weeks before the convention starts [you want to visit your parents and grandmother]" and then "later I realize that the con is on that weekend So I have to back out of my gaming conmitments."


With all this being said...I'm not sure what the problem is. I was not there of course so I am can't say first hand everything that went on, however, this is the way it seems to me :

You kick and scream wanting to get into this convention and then have to back out. You register late and get in. Then you back out at the last minute. They get mad and you get in a huff. I understand that you wanted to see your family ( I know the feeling, I haven't seen my family in over 3 years). But, this is what happens when you commit to something and then back out at the last minute. They filled a spot for you and you backed out at the last minute. Now, they have to scramble to fill it.

Later,

C:\

Yeah, to the con staff that is probaly how it looks. I had hoped that my post came across as this is how I see it and it probaly doesn't have anything to do with how they see it.

It just felt like they approached me so much and so often for this convention (I only ever contacted them first once) that for them to say I was wasting their time is a jarring turn around after they made it feel like I was doing them a favor by going out of my way to be there.

Thanks for the perspective everyone.
I also like pie.

__________________________
Eagles get sucked into jet engines and weasels are oft maligned, but beavers just make nice hats.
WCG|FA@H

(Edited by tj333 on 10-01-2008 15:09)

If you weren't doing them a favor they'd have to pay you since they're certainly making a profit and any entertainment is part of the service they provide. By making you feel like you're doing them a favor makes you forget about all that. Business as usual. Also works when they make you feel that they are the ones who are making you a favor.

In this case however you have to understand them too. Tension is probably high and they're taking everything seriously. They need some reliability from all their partners, performers and other participants for this to work perfectly. It's a huge pain if they have to consider the moods of every small fly. Because this is what it is: a mood. It's completely your fault for not planning your time better and thinking about Thanksgiving earlier. If you promise someone something like that you're making a commitment that should take priority over all possible future agreements if you want to look like someone they can trust and do business with. If you break promises and don't commit then it's really you who's being rude.