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I spent most of last weekend volunteering at AVCon (http://www.avcon.org.au/). I was on the registration desk. I missed the ultra busy period that is the first three hours of Saturday morning because I had to work at my paying job. Onto the sucky/interesting bits:
-a lot of people thought they didn't have to buy a ticket for themselves because "animation and computer games are for kids".
-On Sunday, one guy wanted to upgrade his Saturday pass to a weekend pass. Even though when he bought the Saturday pass it was made clear he could buy a weekend pass then or buy a Sunday pass if he wanted to attend the Sunday. I could tell he wanted to start yelling and screaming but there were four of us at rego and only one of him, plus we had the power to throw people out of the venue (physically if required).
-I asked a security guard for help with an attendee who needed first aid. For the rest of the event, that guard seemed to think I was in charge.
-someone managed to steal a sword from the cosplay props room, even though there were two volunteers there at all times.
-other lost and found included of an umbrella, a jacket with an iPod in the pocket, and two small children. All were returned to their owners/guardians.
-one attendee came to the rego desk in tears over a lost bag. We managed to calm her down and get her phone number in case it was handed in. The bag turned up, somebody called the phone number... and the bag started ringing. She'd left the phone in the bag! (Half an hour later she stopped by again to ask if anyone had handed it in yet, so she got her stuff back)
-during one of my breaks I was in the vendor's hall wearing my bright red volunteer shirt (with "Volunteer" written on it) and a vendor said "Excuse me! Can I ask you something? Oh wait, I don't know why but I thought you were a volunteer..."
-one guy got physically thrown out by two security guards after refusing to buy a ticket... after being told to five times.
All in all it was a great weekend, although I'm still recovering from it.
-a lot of people thought they didn't have to buy a ticket for themselves because "animation and computer games are for kids".
-On Sunday, one guy wanted to upgrade his Saturday pass to a weekend pass. Even though when he bought the Saturday pass it was made clear he could buy a weekend pass then or buy a Sunday pass if he wanted to attend the Sunday. I could tell he wanted to start yelling and screaming but there were four of us at rego and only one of him, plus we had the power to throw people out of the venue (physically if required).
-I asked a security guard for help with an attendee who needed first aid. For the rest of the event, that guard seemed to think I was in charge.
-someone managed to steal a sword from the cosplay props room, even though there were two volunteers there at all times.
-other lost and found included of an umbrella, a jacket with an iPod in the pocket, and two small children. All were returned to their owners/guardians.
-one attendee came to the rego desk in tears over a lost bag. We managed to calm her down and get her phone number in case it was handed in. The bag turned up, somebody called the phone number... and the bag started ringing. She'd left the phone in the bag! (Half an hour later she stopped by again to ask if anyone had handed it in yet, so she got her stuff back)
-during one of my breaks I was in the vendor's hall wearing my bright red volunteer shirt (with "Volunteer" written on it) and a vendor said "Excuse me! Can I ask you something? Oh wait, I don't know why but I thought you were a volunteer..."
-one guy got physically thrown out by two security guards after refusing to buy a ticket... after being told to five times.
All in all it was a great weekend, although I'm still recovering from it.
Give her the three footers and she won't even need the leaf blower.
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