AniaR
06-22-2012, 06:16 PM
ugh So I worked an infuriating event today and I felt the need to share. 1 because I wanna vent, 2 because it gets so bad it's kinda funny, and 3 because maybe you'll see thats sometimes doesnt matter how prepared you are stuff just happens and you gotta ride with it.
So I did the same event last year for 3 days, it was wonderful, well organized, and a pure joy to do. I was looking forward to today and tried to be over prepared in case.
So, I got to my festival event location, and nobody knew at the 'check in' how to sign me in, where my performer bracelet was, and our parking pass. Not a huuuge deal at first since there wasnt much traffic thanks to coming super early. My bf found a spot quickly. This year I asked for a parking pass because last year we spent over an hour trying to find parking. Wanted to prevent that this year so I remembered to ask for the pass. Oh well. Didnt seem like a big deal, I was there 30 min before it opened and they were trying to get things together... shoulda been my first tip off into what Kinda day Id have!
We go to the location on the map I was told my tent, and then smaller private dressing tent would be... and there is NOTHING. To my left- a tent with a band inside it playing loud away, to my right... portapoties.... my contact person finally found me, apparently bewildered as to why there was nothing set up for me, not understanding quite how important it was I had a place to change like I did last year (was even in my contract!), annnd telling me there'd be no sound system like I was told/requested in my contract/like last year. I stare around blankly at the asphalt when they ask if it would be okay and tell me the first school group is coming soon...
So after minor freak out in my head, I take a deep breath tell them sure, thank God I brought my own chair, blanket, and yoga mat, and set to work setting up a little space. I have zero shelter, the busy loud road is behind me, and im told the band will be playing the entire time (all of 30 feet away from me). The organizer leaves telling me theyre setting up a 'back up space' (read: tent I was supposed to have) if it rains, and I ask for a tarp so kids diont have to sit on boiling ground.
NO PLACE TO CHANGE. Im not wearing a bathing suit, I am wearing my seashell top, with a thong under a skirt because thongs are way easier when doing dry events to get that sticky silicone tail up. The boyfriend decides to hold the tarp up over me and I'll change underneath it. I wasnt big on the idea since I need to see all myself and need a lot of space, the tail wont totally fit on yoga mat and I was worried about scraping it, and little light under tarp. I get one leg in, go to get the other and I fall on my hand. My nail on my middle finger rips totally OFF.There is blood pooling and squirting EVERYWHERE in my tail, on me, all over the ground. I was doing well with all the issues till that point when I looked up at my bf and choked out "first aid. now. PLEASE" so he takes off, lol me sitting under a tarp with nothing holding it up, blood totally going everywhere....
10 minutes pass.... no boyfriend. The organizer comes over apparently totally ignoring the bleeding and I ask her why my BF is taking so long, she says there IS NO FIRST AID KIT THERE YET. WHAT THE HELLLL. By LAW there has to be x amount of kits, AND EMTs working the event while people are there.
Another 5 min later poor bf finally came back telling me how utterly complacent and not understanding he actually wanted first aid the other event staff were. Get my finger bandaged which happens to be my right dominant hand, and lemme tell you it was HELL getting that tail on. I have a whole weekend of mermaid events and a birthday party in water. Cant use that hand very easily.
I finally get myself seated, everything is set up, and the kids are getting off busses. The guy from the band comes over and I can tell he's totally confused as to why they put me there. He tries to compliment me about the article yesterday but I was so off in my own world I feel bad now. My finger actually really hurt and throbbed in a you cant ignore me way (still is) and I was exhausted from the stress of the morning.
Anyway, the way the day was SUPPOSED to go was over the course of 4 hours Id have different classes visiting me. I had prepared diff things for diff grades. There was a schedule. Was it followed? Course not. Kids would be dumped in front of me then mid presentation new kids were added, then before it was done the first kids would leave and more were sat in front of me. I tried to adapt it as much as I could but I got stumped when while telling the grade 6's the somewhat gory history of sedna some 4 year olds were then placed in front of me.
I mostly got through it, but many teachers kinda checked out and kids started miss behaving. They couldnt hear me thanks to the traffic behind me and the band next to me. Though I asked frequently they not step on my tail they did it on purpose anyway and it sustained some damage, they ran off with handfuls of my rocks and shells when asked to choose ONE. I normally have my bf with me for extra support, but he had to go back to work. I dont blame the kids for being wild... something that was supposed to have order and structure didnt, and they couldnt hear me, and then IT STARTED TO RAIN.
Was I brought to this mysterious tent to get out of rain? Nope. Temp dropped to 12 degrees celcius and it poured and the last two groups had to stuff onto the tarp anyway with no shelter either. You think they gave a karp what the lady in a tail they couldnt hear was saying by this point? No way. I dont blame them. I started shaking I was so cold.
There was another performer a little way away from me who had two girls. In between things they would come visit me and were perfectly fine. For whatever reason during this last group (who also were really disrespectful but hey, I cant blame them given the circumstances) the two girls decided to climb all over me and dig trough my things which I had covered with garbage bags to keep dry (hello expensive camera)
Anyway, the 4 hours straight finally ended. I wouldnt even go back after all that except I have fans who have told me they're travelling and coming in for the open to the public (not organized school groups) tomorrow and sun. I've been told everything will be as I asked tomorrow, a tent, sound system, etc.
My finger kills way more than I thought it would, I am exhausted, getting sick from being left in the rain, and all my mermaid stuff is in a total mess after being piled up so quick. I dont even wanna THINK about getting that tail on and off the rest of this weekend. I tried to make the best of a bad situation and I think most of the kids enjoyed it. I even got the older boys involved. But wow.. made me realize how lucky ive had it to generally work with reliable staff and always have an assistant!
So I did the same event last year for 3 days, it was wonderful, well organized, and a pure joy to do. I was looking forward to today and tried to be over prepared in case.
So, I got to my festival event location, and nobody knew at the 'check in' how to sign me in, where my performer bracelet was, and our parking pass. Not a huuuge deal at first since there wasnt much traffic thanks to coming super early. My bf found a spot quickly. This year I asked for a parking pass because last year we spent over an hour trying to find parking. Wanted to prevent that this year so I remembered to ask for the pass. Oh well. Didnt seem like a big deal, I was there 30 min before it opened and they were trying to get things together... shoulda been my first tip off into what Kinda day Id have!
We go to the location on the map I was told my tent, and then smaller private dressing tent would be... and there is NOTHING. To my left- a tent with a band inside it playing loud away, to my right... portapoties.... my contact person finally found me, apparently bewildered as to why there was nothing set up for me, not understanding quite how important it was I had a place to change like I did last year (was even in my contract!), annnd telling me there'd be no sound system like I was told/requested in my contract/like last year. I stare around blankly at the asphalt when they ask if it would be okay and tell me the first school group is coming soon...
So after minor freak out in my head, I take a deep breath tell them sure, thank God I brought my own chair, blanket, and yoga mat, and set to work setting up a little space. I have zero shelter, the busy loud road is behind me, and im told the band will be playing the entire time (all of 30 feet away from me). The organizer leaves telling me theyre setting up a 'back up space' (read: tent I was supposed to have) if it rains, and I ask for a tarp so kids diont have to sit on boiling ground.
NO PLACE TO CHANGE. Im not wearing a bathing suit, I am wearing my seashell top, with a thong under a skirt because thongs are way easier when doing dry events to get that sticky silicone tail up. The boyfriend decides to hold the tarp up over me and I'll change underneath it. I wasnt big on the idea since I need to see all myself and need a lot of space, the tail wont totally fit on yoga mat and I was worried about scraping it, and little light under tarp. I get one leg in, go to get the other and I fall on my hand. My nail on my middle finger rips totally OFF.There is blood pooling and squirting EVERYWHERE in my tail, on me, all over the ground. I was doing well with all the issues till that point when I looked up at my bf and choked out "first aid. now. PLEASE" so he takes off, lol me sitting under a tarp with nothing holding it up, blood totally going everywhere....
10 minutes pass.... no boyfriend. The organizer comes over apparently totally ignoring the bleeding and I ask her why my BF is taking so long, she says there IS NO FIRST AID KIT THERE YET. WHAT THE HELLLL. By LAW there has to be x amount of kits, AND EMTs working the event while people are there.
Another 5 min later poor bf finally came back telling me how utterly complacent and not understanding he actually wanted first aid the other event staff were. Get my finger bandaged which happens to be my right dominant hand, and lemme tell you it was HELL getting that tail on. I have a whole weekend of mermaid events and a birthday party in water. Cant use that hand very easily.
I finally get myself seated, everything is set up, and the kids are getting off busses. The guy from the band comes over and I can tell he's totally confused as to why they put me there. He tries to compliment me about the article yesterday but I was so off in my own world I feel bad now. My finger actually really hurt and throbbed in a you cant ignore me way (still is) and I was exhausted from the stress of the morning.
Anyway, the way the day was SUPPOSED to go was over the course of 4 hours Id have different classes visiting me. I had prepared diff things for diff grades. There was a schedule. Was it followed? Course not. Kids would be dumped in front of me then mid presentation new kids were added, then before it was done the first kids would leave and more were sat in front of me. I tried to adapt it as much as I could but I got stumped when while telling the grade 6's the somewhat gory history of sedna some 4 year olds were then placed in front of me.
I mostly got through it, but many teachers kinda checked out and kids started miss behaving. They couldnt hear me thanks to the traffic behind me and the band next to me. Though I asked frequently they not step on my tail they did it on purpose anyway and it sustained some damage, they ran off with handfuls of my rocks and shells when asked to choose ONE. I normally have my bf with me for extra support, but he had to go back to work. I dont blame the kids for being wild... something that was supposed to have order and structure didnt, and they couldnt hear me, and then IT STARTED TO RAIN.
Was I brought to this mysterious tent to get out of rain? Nope. Temp dropped to 12 degrees celcius and it poured and the last two groups had to stuff onto the tarp anyway with no shelter either. You think they gave a karp what the lady in a tail they couldnt hear was saying by this point? No way. I dont blame them. I started shaking I was so cold.
There was another performer a little way away from me who had two girls. In between things they would come visit me and were perfectly fine. For whatever reason during this last group (who also were really disrespectful but hey, I cant blame them given the circumstances) the two girls decided to climb all over me and dig trough my things which I had covered with garbage bags to keep dry (hello expensive camera)
Anyway, the 4 hours straight finally ended. I wouldnt even go back after all that except I have fans who have told me they're travelling and coming in for the open to the public (not organized school groups) tomorrow and sun. I've been told everything will be as I asked tomorrow, a tent, sound system, etc.
My finger kills way more than I thought it would, I am exhausted, getting sick from being left in the rain, and all my mermaid stuff is in a total mess after being piled up so quick. I dont even wanna THINK about getting that tail on and off the rest of this weekend. I tried to make the best of a bad situation and I think most of the kids enjoyed it. I even got the older boys involved. But wow.. made me realize how lucky ive had it to generally work with reliable staff and always have an assistant!