uniform pick up day...

This week, I’ve been busy with household chores.  And now that baseball season has begun, I have also been busy volunteering and helping at the baseball field.  

Yesterday was uniform pick up day.  When I got to the clubhouse, there were two lines forming from the clubhouse snaking all the way outside.  And of course, there were only three girls assisting with getting the children’s names, confirming that they paid and writing out receipts for those who owed still money.  And only a few guys helping out with making sure they saw their “paid in full” receipt to pass out the uniforms.  How hard can it be right?  When you have a mass of people and they are all bitching and complaining… well let me tell you, it got chaotic!  

Not only parents were getting frustrated because they had to stand and wait in line but others also complained because they didn’t have all the money and were told they couldn’t pick up their kids’ uniform (even though on the day of registration, they were told “all monies must be paid by uniform pick up day or you will not be given a uniform”).

I recognized a few people from registration day and others from my son’s team of previous years.  One lady looks up at me and smiled.  She recognized me from when we registered her son.  She pulled out her money but unfortunately was $5 short.  The person in charge of taking the money asked her if she had the $5 and the lady said, “I don’t have the $5, can’t I get the uniform now and I’ll pay you later?”  The girl responded.  “I’m sorry, but without full payment, you cannot pick up the uniform.”  The lady got upset.  “You mean for $5, I can’t get the uniform?” “Sorry, that’s what everyone was told, you must be paid in full.”  The lady’s face began to change from a friendly face to one of anger and disbelief.  “I can’t believe this, it’s ridiculous, for $5!  I want my money back!

If it were up to us…yes, we would probably have given her the uniform, but we couldn’t do it.  I told her in Spanish, “Señora, I’m sorry, but if we give you the uniform, we would have to do the same for the rest of the people waiting in line behind you.”  The people behind her were looking to see if we were going to give this lady a break.  She huffed and puffed and took her money and left.     I think I just lost a potential friend.

If you go to the grocery store and end up short in cash, would they let you take your groceries?  No!   And believe me, when we’ve given people breaks, it gets harder to collect the money later and/or everyone else will expect the same.  It just gets too complicated.  Oh well…you win some you lose some…

We had to explain (over and over) that if they were not paid in full, they could not pick up the uniform.  Some claimed that they were never told.  Others wanted to cut in line with different excuses as to why we should let them go first…they were waiting in line far too long… they had to leave soon… they couldn’t come back later, etc.    A few were complaining amongst each other and one lady actually cussed us out.  

I don’t blame all the parents for complaining, as it was a little disorganized but this is what happens when you only have a small number of people helping out.  And it’s always the same small group of people…there should be more volunteering.  Everyone got information either verbally or by mail.  They’ve all been told WE NEED more VOLUNTEERS.  But the reality is that the people who are the first ones to bitch and complain never step up to help out or volunteer.  

PEOPLE…this is a not-for-profit organization.  NO ONE gets paid to do this job.  The few you see working are taking time out of their busy schedules to volunteer and ensure that this program is up and running… it takes a lot of time and effort…we’re doing this for OUR KIDS!

Why can’t they understand that?