Convention Attention- Staff Griefers and Bad Staff

[Naveh]

Once again for the "free hug" thing lets put this in perspective, There is a girl at some con she is lets say 14 and she is cosplaying a character like Rikku from "Final Fantasy" and she was holding a free hug sign, you know for hugs and giggles 3nodding . Then some "much" older guy comes around and sees her. He finds her hot and sees the "free hugs" sign... well needless to say he takes advantage of that and wants a hug. She gives him a hug but unknown to her was that he was feeling her up and that means sexual harassment. Now this is just a story but this is what the directors of the Cons, Hotels, and centers fear of. They don't want a lawsuit and they don't want people getting hurt. I hope this explains it stare

As for the Paddles why don't you guys look at the other forum here where con goers talk about what people annoy them at cons, paddles are all over it. As for me I don't care for either I don't pay attention to that stuff at cons, I just want to get back on the subject about bad staffers.

 

[Tsuki Nushi]

Maruul

Tsuki Nushi

Maruul: Yeah those renta-staff can be down right annoying because they have no experience dealing with otaku. The only thing I think he kinda had a point on (but was still a jerk about it) was the vodka bottle. Staff does have to heavily enforce the no alcohol/drugs/smoking rule.

In the future, if you want to avoid any sort of conflict with staff because you have the bottle, I would recommend you not put any sort of liquid in it because staff may assume that it is vodka/vodka-laced. In fact I would recommend that you take off the bottle's label and replace it with a paper label that says "Vodka" and that you put something like sequins or something that is obviously not liquid in it so that won't happen again.

But it had glowsticks in it! And the liquid he mentioned was a couple drops of soda that hadn't come out. Not enough to even drink. And our Russia's extremely stubborn about cosplay. Several people suggested the label thing. "No way! I'm not turning my pretty bottle ghetto! ******** that! I'll just party outside!" And so we did. And several people joined us. ^^

It is not that big of a leap to assume that the liquid inside a vodka bottle is alcoholic, at least at first. I mean if you put orange soda into a juice bottle, aren't people are going to assume it's orange juice at first glance?

And the glow sticks probably didn't help. He probably assumed you just came from a rave or something where you were drinking. While it's not necessarily true, you can't say that if you saw someone walking around with a vodka bottle with glow sticks in it, one of your first thoughts wouldn't be "there's someone who just came from a rave"

As for your friend, it's kinda up to him, but I would point out that if he keeps the real one he runs the risk having it confiscated/being harassed by con staff. Not to mention that if police catches him outside with an empty vodka bottle, it could turn ugly.

But if the bottle has a paper label and is full of sequins or some sort of clear substance that is not a liquid, not even the most a**l of cops or staff can try to do something about it (unless there's a no-glass rule).  

[SakuraRico]

Naveh

Once again for the "free hug" thing lets put this in perspective, There is a girl at some con she is lets say 14 and she is cosplaying a character like Rikku from "Final Fantasy" and she was holding a free hug sign, you know for hugs and giggles 3nodding . Then some "much" older guy comes around and sees her. He finds her hot and sees the "free hugs" sign... well needless to say he takes advantage of that and wants a hug. She gives him a hug but unknown to her was that he was feeling her up and that means sexual harassment. Now this is just a story but this is what the directors of the Cons, Hotels, and centers fear of. They don't want a lawsuit and they don't want people getting hurt. I hope this explains it stare

As for the Paddles why don't you guys look at the other forum here where con goers talk about what people annoy them at cons, paddles are all over it. As for me I don't care for either I don't pay attention to that stuff at cons, I just want to get back on the subject about bad staffers.

Completely agree with you. My girlfriend has had some episodes like that, and we're aware that the con, at least 10% of people that go are sexual creepers. Sometimes it's the free hug people who go overboard though... Harassing you until you give them what they want.

We had in Kaisen 6, a girl that was "Hug me or I'll whip you". She had no sign, but her words were enough... You could even say it was a threat. This guy denied her twice, and when he turned away, she whipped him at the nape of the neck.

Now, we don't have rules against regular leather whips with a leather tip. And there's no way we can know what's someone's gonna do with that whip, but we have the rules outside at the entrance door that clearly states that violent behaviour, even if playing, is forbidden. Their loss for not reading the HUGE cardboard sign with the rules.

And I'm still thankful the paddles have not reached Kaisen yet O_O

Edit: About the vodka bottle situation, in Kaisen 6 there was a guy cosplaying John Hancock (by Will Smith), and he brought a glass bottle as well. But it got taken away at the entrance, because it's glass.

And I know a guy who in Kaisen 4 woke up drunk, we picked him up drunk, and brought the HUGE pile of booze he left in the car, and spent the whole con drinking. But he had a regular plastic cup (the ones used to drink coffee that act like a thermos), so there was no way to know it was alcohol unless you smelled his breath. He took it inside the con, and all. But at least as far as I'm aware, he didn't cause trouble for anyone.

Didn't help he was dressed as Italian Spiderman XD  

[Tsuki Nushi]

As for the Paddles why don't you guys look at the other forum here where con goers talk about what people annoy them at cons, paddles are all over it.

Tell me about it. "I want to be able to bring a paddle" Well do you want to be able to walk around with katanas, crowbars, or guns? Because a paddle is a weapon just like they are. I especially hate the people who say stuff like "oh I won't hit anyone with it" or "why can't I just sign a contract that says I can have it as long as I don't hit anyone with it" Ok, even if you won't hit anyone with it, it doesn't mean that no one else will.

In reality, you won't have it in your hands every second you're there. You will put it down in a panel, to take/pose for a picture, to go to the bathroom, to eat, to wash you hands, etc. And the second you do, somebody can take it and start hitting people with it. Theft is the Number 1 crime at cons after all. Not to mention those people who grab people's stuff as they run by.  

[RyanJakobi]

Sliding off the topic of blunt objects, have you noticed the trend of staff creating lines for events for NO FRICKIN' REASON?

Seriously, I spent more time in line at Otakon than actually doing stuff.  

[cuvier]

RyanJakobi

Sliding off the topic of blunt objects, have you noticed the trend of staff creating lines for events for NO FRICKIN' REASON?

Seriously, I spent more time in line at Otakon than actually doing stuff.

THIS. Or, they could put up signs for what you're standing in line for...
At a, you can call it a mini-con, one of the Pokemon game launch parties at nintendoworld, the staff sent me to a line, which I then believed was to get into the event. FAT CHANCE. t was to get the game, so I wasted an hour of standing in line for nothing.  

[Tsuki Nushi]

RyanJakobi

Sliding off the topic of blunt objects, have you noticed the trend of staff creating lines for events for NO FRICKIN' REASON?

Seriously, I spent more time in line at Otakon than actually doing stuff.

It kinda depends. Yeah there are some people who do it when it's not needed, but sometime you do have to make a preemptive line for things that a really popular to stop people from stampeding or over-crowding a room.  

[XxGin Ichimaru TaichouxX]

i think this is all very great advice, i read these to know peoples stories and what could happen, i will keep it in mind. I do have a little story, i was at anime detour 2010, i was being silly because it was my first con, my wig wasnt on properly (though we did find a way to put it on securely later in the con) and i was gin of course, i was fooling around and i see this tall con staffer, he was being funny of course, and i was being silly too. And im really short im 5'1 XD i was teasing him for fun with my plastic sword and poking him softly with it (That was checked, it was fine i wasnt swinging it around anyway, it was short too) cuz he was there being funny too then he took my shinsou playfully and i jumped up to get it and then my wig fell off cuz i tipped my head back too much, i was embarrassed lol but then when i got back i realized he held my shinsou wrong and the wood of the guard was coming loose cuz he grabbed it so hard, it was fine though afterwards but i was alittle bit freaked out cuz i thought he broke it lol. I will be more careful with my props next time lol XD i learned my lesson  

[Tsuki Nushi]

Yeah, it's not really a good idea to play with your props, even if everyone's in on it. It leads to breakage and black eyes.  

[Extreme Cuddler]

Ever notice that staff is very a**l at cons that are in new locations and such?
I don't mind them much because they are doing there job, but when they keep asking 2 check like your key card (small cons at hotels) it gets annoying especially if they just saw you like 4 minutes ago.  

[Tsuki Nushi]

Yeah that happens a lot.

It's very stressful working a new environment and the hotel, not knowing what goes on at your con or how your accustomed to run things, often neglects to give you what you need and forces you to abide by strict rules and policies that may or may not conflict with your work.

The con I work at was at a new hotel last time. The hotel didn't give us many rooms so we had to run the artist alley outside, the arcade and movie rooms were crammed into regular hotel rooms, they wouldn't let us set up a stage for the main events, they wouldn't let the vendors in the dealer's hall hang anything up. And of course we kept getting lost and we didn't know were to put our stuff. It was all very frustrating.  

[tokkitoria]

Tsuki Nushi

Yeah that happens a lot.

It's very stressful working a new environment and the hotel, not knowing what goes on at your con or how your accustomed to run things, often neglects to give you what you need and forces you to abide by strict rules and policies that may or may not conflict with your work.

The con I work at was at a new hotel last time. The hotel didn't give us many rooms so we had to run the artist alley outside, the arcade and movie rooms were crammed into regular hotel rooms, they wouldn't let us set up a stage for the main events, they wouldn't let the vendors in the dealer's hall hang anything up. And of course we kept getting lost and we didn't know were to put our stuff. It was all very frustrating.

It seems some staff become REALLY affected by it, though. And it shows through their actions. We all get a little edgy going to a new con environment, not just staff. It just annoys me when it gets taken out on me emo I mean, if they're pretty polite and say , 'Sorry about that, it's a new place this year and it isn't going as smoothly as we'd hoped' it's better than 'RAAAAWR RAEG' which I've had before >> Stan Lee was at FanEXPO last year so some of the staff were especially stressed out.

Speaking of FanEXPO, because of the different building last year I could tell maybe they were a little bit unorganized. If we're talking staff wise, I was a bit irritated. We got there uber early Friday to wait in line, and the whole day we got 10 different instructions on what to do. We have a nice line against the wall, then they move us into like four lines close to the doors. Then they're like 'you're too close, move back' but we can't because of the sheer amount of people. Then they're like 'We're raising the door, go back to the metal bar' Which they just put up, so people who were there later were at the front. We decided we weren't having any of that and just stood in front of the bar, because that's not cool There were people there earlier than us, it's not a surprise that con goers show up early to buy tickets. This should have been organized far earlier. D: The guy has been at Anime North both times I've gone, so I'm sure he knows, so maybe it was more the cons fault than his.  

[Tsuki Nushi]

We are pretty polite at first, but remember, we're only human. It's very hard not to get angry when you wake up at 6 and wander around for an hour trying to get an assignment, and when you finally do get told where to go, you either get reassigned, or you have no idea what you're doing.

And you only get angrier as time goes on because you keep getting reassigned, you keep getting new instructions because none of the departments communicate with each other, you have to keep explaining the same thing to people all day, you have to try and organize what is basically chaos at times because the attendees don't pay attention to what's going on around them or think that "hey this is a con, regular rules don't apply".

You're basically dealing with complete BS from the second you get there, to well-after you leave. There's a saying we have among staff: "We the Insane, do the Impossible for the Ungrateful" and it absolutely sums up the experience.  

[SakuraRico]

Tsuki Nushi

There's a saying we have among staff: "We the Insane, do the Impossible for the Ungrateful" and it absolutely sums up the experience.

Epic Win Quote for my book.  

[MadHatterzMouse]

Tsuki Nushi

There's a saying we have among staff: "We the Insane, do the Impossible for the Ungrateful" and it absolutely sums up the experience.

This is great, and really does sum it all up.

As for staff getting angry, you'll notice it a lot more towards the end of a lot of cons due to sleep deprived volunteers. I've noticed even I tend to get a little frustrated when I'm lacking in sleep, which has even happened earlier in the con that most are aware. I know some staffers who start Wed and go till the con ends with little to no sleep. This is more than likely due to poor planning on the part of the head of the convention, or (which I also know of happen a few times) the lack of any sort of communication from the higher ups until the week of the con. This makes things all the more stressful for the volunteers and even staffers. It's always made worse at some cons when the head can't take responsibility for messing things up.