ok, more then.
Nov. 28th, 2006 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charlz_lynnthanks for all the support in response to my last post. so here's the deal...
lv sent out a letter to all who were in leadership positions last year, asking how we can cut back our areas. just our own areas, no one else's. that's not so hard. i had a couple ideas, and i shared them, and grover and i have been talking about lace, too... and even though i'm not in leadership, i shared that, too.
the hard part was trying to explain that we, in main kitchen, actually work our asses off. without sounding like a whiner. they've been talking about cutting our crew back in numbers, again, and physically it just doesn't make any sense. i already worked a bunch of 12 hour days last year, and so did the folks in prep, and probably all the other areas of the kitchen, i just don't know. because regardless of how many festies are there, we still have to have bodies directing them. to give a little perspective, we were 10 crew members fewer than gals last year. it's hard to not feel picked on when we just keep shrinking, and just keep having to work longer days. especially with fewer festies, because no one shows up for their fucking workshifts! so we're doing the physical work while directing all the shiftworkers, which is more exhausting than i could ever describe. if i'm lucky, i have about 50 shifties through dinner, and three other people working to help manage all that, last year we'd get one person who signed up, then jb would go get more people. so we'd end up with about 14 people to serve dinner to 3,000, and two or three crew members on directing the whole service circus. and ps. i had lost my voice by friday from talking for 8-12 hours straight every day.
so that was the letter, basically. trying to talk her out of making us smaller. because the first two people come out of service. which means no breaks for me, and (if i'm the AC again) i'll have to ask my crew to work 12 hour days most of the time, too. it's just fucked, and i have to say it, not fair. because however whiney this sounds, it's true: i have friends who work 5-6 hour shifts. that's great for them... but maybe their crews could be smaller before mine.
ok, this version is quite a bit more angsty than what i wrote lv. but you get the idea.
lv sent out a letter to all who were in leadership positions last year, asking how we can cut back our areas. just our own areas, no one else's. that's not so hard. i had a couple ideas, and i shared them, and grover and i have been talking about lace, too... and even though i'm not in leadership, i shared that, too.
the hard part was trying to explain that we, in main kitchen, actually work our asses off. without sounding like a whiner. they've been talking about cutting our crew back in numbers, again, and physically it just doesn't make any sense. i already worked a bunch of 12 hour days last year, and so did the folks in prep, and probably all the other areas of the kitchen, i just don't know. because regardless of how many festies are there, we still have to have bodies directing them. to give a little perspective, we were 10 crew members fewer than gals last year. it's hard to not feel picked on when we just keep shrinking, and just keep having to work longer days. especially with fewer festies, because no one shows up for their fucking workshifts! so we're doing the physical work while directing all the shiftworkers, which is more exhausting than i could ever describe. if i'm lucky, i have about 50 shifties through dinner, and three other people working to help manage all that, last year we'd get one person who signed up, then jb would go get more people. so we'd end up with about 14 people to serve dinner to 3,000, and two or three crew members on directing the whole service circus. and ps. i had lost my voice by friday from talking for 8-12 hours straight every day.
so that was the letter, basically. trying to talk her out of making us smaller. because the first two people come out of service. which means no breaks for me, and (if i'm the AC again) i'll have to ask my crew to work 12 hour days most of the time, too. it's just fucked, and i have to say it, not fair. because however whiney this sounds, it's true: i have friends who work 5-6 hour shifts. that's great for them... but maybe their crews could be smaller before mine.
ok, this version is quite a bit more angsty than what i wrote lv. but you get the idea.
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Hand squeeze
Date: 2006-11-28 06:27 pm (UTC)So assuming that there is 0 cut to your staff, what do think of making the majority of the workshifts in the main kitchen if not all of them?
That would mean at orientation, festies could only sign up for Main Kitchen and everyone else would just have to deal with either less festies than they usually have or none at all.
The pitfalls to this off the cuff suggestion would be perhaps that it doesn't mean that people wouldn't still ditch their work shifts OR that having TOO many people show up would be more chaos than it is worth.
The other critique may be that even if the physical burden is alleviated, the constant direction and and quality control is exhausting so more festies doesn't really get to the root of the issue on your crew.
We all do different work with different stressors, but one of the great equalizers, I think, should the number of hours worked daily and trying to get MK staff to an 8 hour day, at least, is a start. No?
I think that yours is a very important and knowledgeable voice, Charlz. I have always learned from your skills and experience which, given your place in the Mich world and the crews you have worked on is kind of unique. This is what leadership is about.
Jige oxxoxo
Re: Hand squeeze
Date: 2006-11-28 08:17 pm (UTC)The thing about shift workers is, there were plenty of people signed up for most shifts last year. But on a day when we had 40 people signed up, one or no people would show. I'm not sure why, but my first guess is the overwhelming numbers of festie virgins, and not enough education about the fact that this festival is a community. (I want to say "first and foremost a community," but that may be only from my standpoint. It maytruly be a business, first and foremost.)
So, even if we had enough festies to run the production, there still needs to be direction, which is why we are there. You'd be surprised, I think, at some of the things we actually have to answer questions about in order to keep things sanitary and sane. "This spoon fell on the ground and then this woman licked it, what should I do?" I think people sometimes really want to be told what to do.
As far as making the majority of workshifts MK, I don't think it would go over well. As much as I wish we could just steal them all away sometimes, there are a number of other crews that also operate mainly on the woman power of shifties, like garbage and recycling... and it would be hard, i think, for most areas to run without them. Again, we are pretty much community based.
It's true... I think the 8 hour day is important. I'm going to try and rework our schedule in service to try and find a way to make that happen with fewer people. Like, maybe it will be fewer hours with more responsibility. Like only two people running dinner, one on lunch and one on breakfast. I dunno. We'll see.
Thanks for the reply. I just talked your face off :)
Tons of love. And you know all that experience came from working with amazing crews of women, mostly cooking food in a tent that's like 140 degrees.
xoxoxox
no subject
Date: 2006-11-28 09:08 pm (UTC)Last year, the same sort of word went around for raffle, and being a temporary part-time raffle bitch was the most fun ever.
I love that idea of using some of my time on another crew...it's more rewarding than another nap (although fest naps are good). I know we're unskilled labor if you put us in MK, but there's no reason why we can't round up some more hands for you all from us, voluntarily and on our own free time. And it would make more bonds between MK and Galz, which would be fabulous.
Anyway, so that's on my list for this summer.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-28 10:54 pm (UTC)Actually, I think this is how i ended up on main kitchen... I heard they were having a hard year, so i worked a shift or two in my free time. And now here we are.
I would love more bonds between main kitchen and galz. There are also a couple people each year who split their week between main kitch and another crew - like parking.
hope to see you in the kitchen :)
never have two more different kitchens co-existed
Date: 2006-11-29 12:27 am (UTC)the tricky thing is MK can't be just anyone- it takes a LOT of leadership and people skills.
i can imagine, tho, how frustrating it would be to have to say how you can cut back yr crew... when you are returning from working 12 hour days (ick).
love you mean it.
hi
Date: 2006-11-29 04:47 pm (UTC)one thing we are doing, is asking campers to bring more of their supplies in an insert that will be sent with tickets, and adding a womb section onto website (possibly.) I wonder if it would support main kitchen to do something like that - take a little of the food burden off by added a "suggested personal food" list, or adding an insert about the herstory and importantce of doing a volunteer shift at MK...
people who attend fest are going to have to become a little more self sufficient as the staff and resources diminish.
u know way more than i do about MK, but brainstorming can lead to either seizures, or genius.
xo m
Re: hi
Date: 2006-11-29 05:54 pm (UTC)branstorming alone has felt like it's bringing me closer to seizures.
And I had no idea you all were getting cut back so drastically. wow.
what a great idea; the insert, and the website. I really do feel like education is key. It seems the communities in which my/our generation exists maybe do not hold as much responsibility or accountability in general, as compared to those of women when the festival started. Maybe we're just not as fired up about things. I dunno.
Anyway, thanks for those suggestions, they're great. I'll mention them...
xo, c