Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for arranging things so that my field of work doesn't put me in direct contact with entitled, rich, white women anymore. They are crazy.

Yours,
Delia Christina

A friend at work is dealing with a very rich, very entitled white woman who answers every email but my friend's, makes threats about my friend's work and has tried at least once to make my friend look bad to her boss. (Thankfully, our boss is a very cool sort of woman and has been getting copied on every emailed interaction.) This entitled rich lady is a volunteer.

Where the hell do volunteers for an organization get off treating staff like their servants?

I think I've just found my new side hustle: rogue volunteer whisperer for stressed out non profit fundraising staff.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like church.

Joy said...

Oh my. My oh my. Any chance this woman doesn't give money to the organization, and thus would be easier to jettison since she's clearly a batshit crazy, not-at-all helpful "volunteer"?

Mona said...

I know exactly what you're work friend is going through. Arggh, the pain of humiliation these passive aggressive volunteer wrecks hurl at development/fundraising staff is disgusting. There has to be an easier way to make a living, right?

Delia Christina said...

it's bad.
our new CMO is aware of what's happening and trusts how my friend is handling it, but if i was in her position, i'd be building a wall around my staff in a hurry.

and then i'd have a conversation to my lead volunteers about the appropriate ways to work with staff, how roles operate and what the orgs expectations are of volunteers.

otherwise, we get all these rich ladies who think we report to them. uh, i'm sorry; you do NOT fill out my annual performance evals - you are NOT my boss!

the nerve of these ladies who lunch.

Delia Christina said...

@ Mona -
this has already confirmed for my friend that she wants OUT of the fundraising business. and she's a newbie!!

how many women of color are there in development and fundraising? it's a shame that bullshit like this is making some of us say 'Nothing is worth being treated like a servant.'

Liza said...

Sounds like a museum docent.

In my first year teaching at my former institution (small, private, white) I had a very vivid dream where I was in a student's home and she kept treating me like her servant.