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Miyah
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06 Sep 2011, 2:04 pm

I recently volunteered at Dragoncon over the weekend with a certain track over the weekend which I have done for three cons in the row over the last two years. Although the director is hugging me, smiling, and mentioning glad to have me on her team and that I am a good worker, I really feel that she never seems to jump up and down when she sees me or bothers to acknowledge what I had been doing outside of my volunteer time while visiting the convention. Her comments are often dry or cold by mentioning, "That's cool," or "That's good." There is no real interest in wanting to get to know me as a person even though I have tried to reach out on my end. She also seems to be super excited to talk to everyone else but never myself even though we enjoy the same interest where we both volunteer. On top of that, she seemed to manipulate me on Friday by having me pick up her camera in her hotel room and have me pick up a subway for her even though she gave me money but not enough change for tax and so I had to cover the difference with a transaction on my debit card. In response, I really feel that volunteering for her is not healthy for me in anyway and that I should either volunteer somewhere else or just buy a membership one year in advance and enjoy the convention. Because I felt that way, I decided not to go back to her track yesterday morning and afternoon and sign a time sheet and enjoy some of the other tracks elsewhere instead.

How should I be assertive with her by mentioning that it's not going to work out volunteering with her anymore and looking at other options?

Has anyone else dealt with people like this and how should I better tackle toxic situations?



TB
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06 Sep 2011, 4:22 pm

I do not understand the toxicness of this situation. Toxic might be too strong a word. I have read many of your posts, and wanted to comment on almost every one of them but didn't.

I think you might be overreacting, seeing things that are not necessarily there.
Maybe you should check your previous posts and ask yourself why there seems to be a repeating pattern of you describing how others have a ''negative'' attitude towards you.
Maybe it is really like you describe, but even if that is the case holding on to it is not going to help you. Letting go of negative experiences is usually the best thing.



Miyah
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06 Sep 2011, 4:37 pm

I have been working on the negativeness, trust me. I must really feel this way because I am still angry at the world because I was hurt in the past.



Ai_Ling
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12 Sep 2011, 4:57 am

Miyah wrote:
How should I be assertive with her by mentioning that it's not going to work out volunteering with her anymore and looking at other options?

Has anyone else dealt with people like this and how should I better tackle toxic situations?


Its volunteer work, so it shouldnt be that hard to get out of. Its not like its a job. Just politely tell her one day that you can no longer volunteer anymore because you other commitments that require your time. If you wanna make it more convincing you can say something like, you have been losing track of things lately due to the lack of time and you really need to focus on those commitments because their very important. It really is very simple unless there's other factors obligating you which you havent stated in this message.

But yeah, I think we've all dealt with that type of situation where we felt just excluded by the person.



Mishmash
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12 Sep 2011, 8:23 am

Miyah wrote:
I really feel that she never seems to jump up and down when she sees me or bothers to acknowledge what I had been doing outside of my volunteer time while visiting the convention. Her comments are often dry or cold by mentioning, "That's cool," or "That's good." There is no real interest in wanting to get to know me as a person even though I have tried to reach out on my end.


It struck me that the portion of your post I have quoted above describes several aspie tendencies with regards to behaviour.

I think TB is right and that an attempt to re-frame the situation and your feelings towards it may help.
If, after a concerted effort, you still feel you want to leave, you can as it is volunteer work. Like Ai_Ling said, all you have to do is tell them that "My circumstances have changed and I am no longer in a position to offer my time". If they press you say something like, "it's due to a family situation, it's rather personal and I would rather not discuss the details" and voila you are free! :)

It sounds like you actually enjoy the work though (just not this particular person who is part of it) so it may be worth considering your options and, as you say, join another place that does the same thing if you really feel you can't stay where you are currently.