Asking for help.

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After my daughter was born, I decided I needed to 'get out of my shell'. So I threw myself in at the deep end and joined groups and classes. One of the parent & toddler groups I went to was looking for new committee members, so I volunteered. What a huge mistake! I would go to the shop in the morning and buy the provisions, take them to the hall and get the place set up. Then I would start to make the toast/tea, etc. It was the usual 2 or 3 people who helped each day. Then, it was time to clear away the dishes and wash up. It would just sit there gathering dust and the session was close to ending. So, I usually did it, with the usual helpers. We were really fed up with it, especially as it was limiting the time we had to spend with our own children.

One of the committee members said to me that I should just ask some people to help. But, the way I saw it, everyone could see that the work was needing to be done and that it was always the same people who ended up doing it. Why didn't they just muck in? It's what I always did before I became a committee member. If I needed to ask for help, the hall was obviously filled with lazy people. I could foresee problems with asking.

This was confirmed when we had a meeting and this issue was put on the agenda. They made it quite clear that they didn't want to help. One wanted an impossible rota (how can you have a rota when the parents came when they felt like it or when they could manage, some came 1 day a week, some came 2 days and some came 3 days, some only came once in a blue moon). I also asked if some people would be willing to help out with collecting provisions, just in case I wasn't able to make it some day. One said that she worked part-time so wouldn't be able to help at all. Yet, she was always in the hall before me and could quite easily have gone to the shop on her way there, especially as she drives and I don't.

Some people. Rant over.