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 Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 1:00 pm
I don't mean this to sound rude, I just needed a second opinion, but was the staff this year at Sakura Con a little a**l? I mean, more than the necessary? Of course not all of the staff was, but some of them... some of them just had some serious issue with everything. I just need to know if maybe I was being a snot, and it is entirely my fault that they were being a**l.
Also, don't you think they should fully explain the 'no soliciting' signs a little more clearly so people know exactly what they mean by it?
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 3:32 pm
I completely agree that some were WAY tight. I heard some were even physical with members (instead of asking them to move, dragging them away). I only saw minor issues and tend to nicely ask the staff member to not touch people unless absolutely necessary. Personally tapping them and asking them to move works 99% of the time...
I think the main thing is, there are so many new staff year to year (since we keep growing and need more) and they aren't always aware of the general rules of being staff and how to handle situations. I know some staff thing everything is their job even if it's not and take it upon themselves to direct people places or move them out of the way and yell at people to move lines etc etc. Sometimes it is ok to do minor things like ask people to move out of the way, but hijacking another departments job (unless absolutely necessary) or being physical in any way is normally not acceptable or appreciated. I do know sometimes I go into gray areas with my job. I tend to annoy a SAS here and there (thought I usually am just asking press to not get in peoples way... since I know all press wants the best shot, but disregarding the members and staff and other press in the process pisses me off and I WILL tell you to stop getting in front of the videographers and stop pushing other press out of your way just cause you want the shot they were getting or thinking you can do whatever you want because you "asked" someone if you could do something and they said "as far as I know you can do what you want" even though they have NOTHING to do with sas or press or main events or anything related to anything other than the fact they had a staff shirt on).
OK so that was my rant
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dragonacid16 Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 5:57 pm
The staff at Sakura Con gets more and more strict every year.
I had this chick yell at me as I was walking by Subway because my pass wasn't visible apparently(It was on my very visable utility belt)...just because it wasn't where she looked initially, doesn't mean it wasn't visible. It's not like I had something covering it. -___-*
ANNDD, when my boyfriend had to run to our hotel and back real quick, the security wouldn't let him in. He had to go and talk to their manager. He had his badge, it was like 11PM or something, they were just being dumb.
And once when I walked in from like a side doorway(Sort of near the food court area), I was already in the building and they made me walk out and come in through the front door. It was completely unnecessary.
I can't wait to see what crazy rules they can come up with next year.
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 6:36 pm
I was doing media coverage with epiem this year, interviews and all that fun stuff. And from what i've come to learn from my co workers is that since sakuracon is a non profit organization they're really strict about trying to sell your photos you take or other services not only do you get in trouble but they do as well. Last couple of years they did.. So they're kind of forced to be a** faces but this year was way too extreme. I watched one guy kind of leaning and on his macbook in one of the empty lounges get yelled at for leaning and not sitting up straight. He got SOOO pissed it was great. he eventually got kicked out because he got too loud at the manager but that whole situation was ridiculous on an extreme scale... Another person almost got kicked out cause her pass was tilted backwards...
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2011 11:18 pm
It might depend on who you run into.
This year I had no problem. I saw some convention staff (the green coats) nicely asking folks taking photos to move to the side a bit so they were not blocking the walkway. That's pretty usual. Another green coat asked me to turn my badge around. It was on a lanyard and had twisted around backwards. (also reasonable - they were quite nice about it.)
I had no gripes with Sakura shirted staff this year other than feeling they were maybe a bit under trained / uninformed. Thursday's pre-reg went much faster than Friday last year but I still felt the line moved REALLY SLOW for the amount of people ahead of me who supposedly had all paid, had their printed out bar codes and such. Another time I wanted to know if my wrist band would work for a particularly long line to an event. That staff didn't know and had to ask another, who asked another, who asked a third and I think a fourth (fifth? I lost count). They hemmed and hawed a bit and finally told me no.
In 2010 during the Friday registration there was a green coat with little man syndrome who was WAY too a**l about trying to keep people lined up against the temporary rails. And I'm not even talking about blocking the walkway. I'm talking about if the line 'aisle' between barriers was six or eight feet wide for some reason he wanted everyone to stand to one side of it. Um, 'okaaaay'. It was to the point we had trouble not smirking when he walked by.
The problem with volunteers is sometimes you get what you pay for. All the more so since Sakura did not have enough volunteers this year so I'm guessing they couldn't be too picky. I know there were also GREAT volunteers and I don't mean to offend. I just mean with any volunteer situation the 'vetting process' is a lot less or non-existent compared to a permanent salaried position.
It also doesn't help that any time you are working with crowds of thousands of people some of them act like idiots. Ideally someone working with the public will not let his/her frustrations with another individual make them act 'short' with you. IRL those people are human beings and don't always act in an ideal way. Long hours and the idiots before you may cause them to be overly 'a**l' with you.
Note: I wasn't a volunteer and I'm not 'in the know'. I'm just basing my comments on personal observation and comments from a couple of staff who said they were short handed.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 3:20 pm
0.0 I'm glad I am not the only one who thought that a few of the staff were being a little... well, rude, to be honest. The people the green coats tend to be really, rather nice. I've never had a problem with them and will often(since I tend to be a very nice person) simply wave at them to say hello.
A lot of the issue I had was the 'no soliciting' signs like 'free hugs'. I mean... what is wrong with a free hug? It wasn't for me particular, but for a girl I was walking with in a light crowd. She was dressed up as Gloomy Bear and had a sign saying, "Can Gloomy Bear Has Hug?"
A staff member told her she couldn't have the sign and had to take it down, or get rid of it.
A. Where was it asking for a price?
B. If a sign saying 'Gloomy bear' is soliciting, then 95% of us Con-goers are soliciting.
I understand now that the staff member must have just been new and didn't know any better. I think perhaps the upper managers should take the time to take responsibility to inform their people of the rules and what should be considered too far.... unless that was the problem in the first place and its just the managers taking things too far.
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Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 4:39 pm
Oh Looky! A staff member! Haha Joking, but really yes. I deal with most of the staff with what I do at con, MANY are new and no matter what we try not all are going to follow the rules. I personally saw Gloomy Bear, the sign was worded CORRECTLY! As long as it's asked as a question and is family friendly and free we SHOULDN'T care. I've found many of the SAS (Security) have their heads WAY to far up their butts. Not all. But most. Reg tried a new system this year with a new manager, considering such I think they did good. Sorry it took you a while still. I'm not going to rag on ANYONE when I say this but I feel all attendees should go out for staff just once, to really get that shoe on the other foot feeling. We had alot of staff, some come from other places than Washington, training 750 staff is NOT easy. Sorry for any misfortunes you may have had to deal with. As a personal note after closing Sunday every year is a panel called something like assault and flattery. It's a GREAT place to get your concerns answered, and it puts you face to face with the guys running it all.
Anyways that's all!
-Tai
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 5:17 pm
Rechained Rikku Oh Looky! A staff member! Haha Joking, but really yes. I deal with most of the staff with what I do at con, MANY are new and no matter what we try not all are going to follow the rules. I personally saw Gloomy Bear, the sign was worded CORRECTLY! As long as it's asked as a question and is family friendly and free we SHOULDN'T care. I've found many of the SAS (Security) have their heads WAY to far up their butts. Not all. But most. Reg tried a new system this year with a new manager, considering such I think they did good. Sorry it took you a while still. I'm not going to rag on ANYONE when I say this but I feel all attendees should go out for staff just once, to really get that shoe on the other foot feeling. We had alot of staff, some come from other places than Washington, training 750 staff is NOT easy. Sorry for any misfortunes you may have had to deal with. As a personal note after closing Sunday every year is a panel called something like assault and flattery. It's a GREAT place to get your concerns answered, and it puts you face to face with the guys running it all. Anyways that's all! -Tai I haven't staffed Sakuracon but I have staffed events with large amounts of people including dances similar to raves (except not supposed to be any drugs). People can be 'difficult' at times. The hug sign problem may have occurred due to different wording in different places. On the Sakura web site here POLICIES it says in part: While in convention space, please refrain from displaying or wearing signs that offer services.A sign asking for or offering hugs might be construed as a 'service' even though free. HOWEVER (grin) in the beginning of the printed schedule handout it lists various rules including signs and it used the hug sign as an example. As I recall the 'DON'T' sign said 'Free Hugs'. (not okay because it advertised a price even though the price was free. The 'OKAY' sign said, "I LIKE HUGS". Okay because it stated an opinion without a price. To me, a staff person reading only one of those two version of the rule (online version or booklet version) could come away with different opinions about whether what Grumpy Bear was doing was okay. On the up side I gave a hug to a girl who was standing around (no sign) saying, "I like hugs!" and no staff seemed to be bothering her. PS - To the person who commented about the 'badge on waist'. I just noticed the same polices also say badges must be worn at chest height. My guess would be past experience showed they had a hard time seeing them on the waist (or lower) due to arms, carried items etc.
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dragonacid16 Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 7:32 pm
Rakashael "Can Gloomy Bear Has Hug?" OK since the "no soliciting" was posted directly from the policies above... even though I'm not sas... This is my interpretation why this sign was not allowed. They were asking for hugs... It's the equivalent of "can I have a hug" which is a question/proposition rather than say the sign said "Gloomy Bear Likes Hugs" where it would be a statement not a question. I plan to talk to some of the directors about the "grabbing" and "yelling" at members I keep hearing about.
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