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donnad.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
arisia2008-01-21 12:14 pm
donnad.livejournal.com) wrote in arisia2008-01-21 12:14 pm
Arisia needs an attitude adjustment.
I am sure this will offend many people, and if it does I apologize, but I feel it has to be said.
I am disgusted and appalled at the rudeness and sense of entitlement I encountered from many of this year's staff members. And I am not the only person who noticed this.
An example...
I got up early on Sunday and went down to the staff den, I was there about 15 minutes before it was supposed to open, but the lovely staff den ladies let me in anyway. I told them I needed food so I could take some meds, but I could see they weren't quite ready yet and asked what I could do to help them get stuff put out. They gave me a couple things to do (and a danish so I could take my meds) and I went off to help. At 8:02AM a person walked in, I was just plugging in the kettle to heat water, sie wanted tea so I told hir it would be a few minutes while the water heated that I had just plugged it in. Hir response was very snobbishly "What do you mean the water is not hot yet?" I looked at hir and said well, you weren't here 10 minutes ago to plug it in. You want it faster, then feel free to come in early and help. These ladies were up just as late as the rest of us, they are doing their best." and I walked away.
Sure sie hadn't had hir morning caffiene yet, but that was no excuse to jump all over me because the kettle isn't hot. Sie had a coffee maker in hir room, there was nothing preventing hir from using it. This is just one instance I personally encountered in the den, I witnessed many more acts of rudeness directed at the ladies running the den and other staff members in the den, during my visits there. (I was not den staff, I was just helping out while waiting for the food to be ready.)
In general many staff members were surly, rude, and just basically snappish, many came across with the "I'm staff, I'm better than you" or the I'm staff therefore I'm entitled to [...] ahead of you" attitude.
In my opinion, If you want to be involved in Arisia, and deal with hundreds of fans and random people all weekend and can't keep a pleasant attitude, no matter how stressed you get, or how tired or overworked you are, perhaps you shouldn't be doing that job. It's like any job that involves dealing with the customer, you have to keep it all to yourself so as to not take it out on the unsuspecting and not offend. I was personally offended by many of the attitudes I encountered during the weekend by staff members I did not know and who didn't know me. There are places to let it all out, you shouldn't be snapping and rude to the attendees or they will stop coming and we cant have an Arisia without them.
I have a whole essay/rant about Arisia and it's changing dynamic as of late, How I feel it's strayed from it's original mission to be all inclusive and such, how it's more of a fannish lifestyle and polyamory based con now instead of Science Fiction and Fantasy based as originally intended, and how it really needs to be able to encompass all things equally*, but I will likely not subject people to it.
Personally with the next Arisia being the 20th, I would love to see the theme be "Back to Basics" or "Back to our Roots." But since I am just a lowly staff member, costumer and artist (who BTW has worked at every Arisia in some capacity to the point of never having to purchase a membership to Arisia yet) and really do not want any other responsibility right now, who am I to say what should happen?
*Of the panels offered pre-con, 47 "fannish lifestyle" panels this year and only 12 art, 12 filk, and 8 costume panels is not treating all things equally.
I am disgusted and appalled at the rudeness and sense of entitlement I encountered from many of this year's staff members. And I am not the only person who noticed this.
An example...
I got up early on Sunday and went down to the staff den, I was there about 15 minutes before it was supposed to open, but the lovely staff den ladies let me in anyway. I told them I needed food so I could take some meds, but I could see they weren't quite ready yet and asked what I could do to help them get stuff put out. They gave me a couple things to do (and a danish so I could take my meds) and I went off to help. At 8:02AM a person walked in, I was just plugging in the kettle to heat water, sie wanted tea so I told hir it would be a few minutes while the water heated that I had just plugged it in. Hir response was very snobbishly "What do you mean the water is not hot yet?" I looked at hir and said well, you weren't here 10 minutes ago to plug it in. You want it faster, then feel free to come in early and help. These ladies were up just as late as the rest of us, they are doing their best." and I walked away.
Sure sie hadn't had hir morning caffiene yet, but that was no excuse to jump all over me because the kettle isn't hot. Sie had a coffee maker in hir room, there was nothing preventing hir from using it. This is just one instance I personally encountered in the den, I witnessed many more acts of rudeness directed at the ladies running the den and other staff members in the den, during my visits there. (I was not den staff, I was just helping out while waiting for the food to be ready.)
In general many staff members were surly, rude, and just basically snappish, many came across with the "I'm staff, I'm better than you" or the I'm staff therefore I'm entitled to [...] ahead of you" attitude.
In my opinion, If you want to be involved in Arisia, and deal with hundreds of fans and random people all weekend and can't keep a pleasant attitude, no matter how stressed you get, or how tired or overworked you are, perhaps you shouldn't be doing that job. It's like any job that involves dealing with the customer, you have to keep it all to yourself so as to not take it out on the unsuspecting and not offend. I was personally offended by many of the attitudes I encountered during the weekend by staff members I did not know and who didn't know me. There are places to let it all out, you shouldn't be snapping and rude to the attendees or they will stop coming and we cant have an Arisia without them.
I have a whole essay/rant about Arisia and it's changing dynamic as of late, How I feel it's strayed from it's original mission to be all inclusive and such, how it's more of a fannish lifestyle and polyamory based con now instead of Science Fiction and Fantasy based as originally intended, and how it really needs to be able to encompass all things equally*, but I will likely not subject people to it.
Personally with the next Arisia being the 20th, I would love to see the theme be "Back to Basics" or "Back to our Roots." But since I am just a lowly staff member, costumer and artist (who BTW has worked at every Arisia in some capacity to the point of never having to purchase a membership to Arisia yet) and really do not want any other responsibility right now, who am I to say what should happen?
*Of the panels offered pre-con, 47 "fannish lifestyle" panels this year and only 12 art, 12 filk, and 8 costume panels is not treating all things equally.
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You can't hold a convention in a place that won't give you a contract.
You mean you really didn't know this?
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I'm a convention goer, and that's it.
B: The issue about the hotel change has been known about since, well, before last year's Arisia.
So, now, let me again ask, fully hoping you'll answer, and not just be so intent on TRYING to be offended:
Did you not know why the con moved hotels???
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The Park Plaza decided, for various complicated reasons, to not renew Arisia's contract. As a general business decision, this was a mistake because most hotels in Boston are desperate for guests in January, and an event that fills the hotel and is relatively non-destructive is a win. But part of the PP management, probably the same part that got its panties in a knot over the Fetish Fair Fleamarket being at the PP, thinks Arisia is too weird and too downscale for their hotel.
Hotel space in Boston is really, really difficult to schedule. There are few hotels that come anywhere close to the size Arisia needs, many are very expensive and not willing to bend on things like corkage waivers, etc. The Hyatt *welcomed* Arisia from the very beginning.
Arisia considered moving to Providence, RI as another option. That choice would have had its own set of problems.
That's the short version. If you search forward in this community's archives (starting with March 2006) you will find endless discussion of the issue.
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We were in this crappy hotel last year.
Hundreds of people wondered why.
The word got spread by the ConCom as to what happened with the contract at the Park Plaza.
That info has been posted in this lj community, and, more than likely, on the arisia webpage.
In other words, RTFM.
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To be honest, and to counter this - 99% of the time, 99% of the people and interactions were completely wonderful, courteous and good. 1% of nasty can undo a large % of good.
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There are very few hotels in the Boston area that are the right size and have enough function space. Many are just too big and many are just too small. Some want too much money.
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The hotel they used is attached to the Providence Place mall which has a lot of parking and food.
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Likewise, I used to drive longer, before moving back to Mass, and while the extra 40 minutes might be a hassle, wouldn't it be worth it to be at a more convenient and accomodating location?
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(The convention center is also much more expensive. Providence was rejected for very good reasons, and distance from Boston was one of the most minor ones.)
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I strongly disagree. In my not-at-all-humble opinion, Providence was rejected because it wasn't Boston; every other objection was smoke. I wasn't part of the hotel search committee but I was at the meeting where all this was voted on.
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I'd love to see the books of the convention... speaking of costs. To say that one option is more expensive than another is pretty much trivial in my mind. There are literally thousands of place where any organization can shift money into and out of. Which is to say: I, for one, would rather see some programming suffer a budget cut, or going back to a three day con, if it meant being in a better hotel. Likewise, a different hotel might mean not having to shell out for the Shuttle. And so on...
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They broke the contract with Arisia, and dumped us out of the hotel in preference for a medical conference of some sort. Which was smaller and wouldn't have brought as much money in, but it was a more standard convention, and the new management wasn't comfortable with science fiction conventions.
The medical conference cancelled out, and the Park Plaza was basically empty on Arisia weekend. . .
The rumor is that the option on the Hyatt for next year doesn't need to be exercised until June, and folks are going to be looking at other places, including the Park Plaza again, to see if a good deal can be negotiated. In my opinion, if we could get the Park Plaza to respect us as much as the Hyatt has, that would be ideal. The Hyatt is not a great space for Arisia, for all the reasons you've noted, and others as well, but the staff and management of the Hyatt has been amazing, last year and this year.
Notice the hot dog cart in the lobby, and the snack table, for instance, in order to allow fen food that was cheaper than hotel grub usually is. And the constant buffets, and a breakfast buffet that ran until 1 pm. These are not normal things for hotels to do, so the attitude of the Hyatt folks makes up for some of the inadequacies of the hotel.
But if we could get the Park Plaza folks to do that sort of thing, THAT would be what I'd love to see.
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Thanks for all the info about what went down with Park Plaza etc. I didn't realize that.
hehe It was sort of a nice instant Karma for the Park Plaza kicking us out! Fans might be stinky and wearing costumes about, but they are mostly polite and you know what: They always show up! :P
The staff at the hotel are great. It probably has to do with them not being in an ideal location for vacationers and they really need the business. I bet every hotel kind of has a stick up it's but about sci-fi cons.
Even with the staff being nicer at the Hyatt, I sort of preferred the art show on a more accessible floor, and I got to say I really miss the dealers room. There's something about walking into that huge room of stuff. :P
I don't really come to the con to be pampered in a hotel - I come for the activities the con has. I'm sure other people feel very differently about it though. Of course I would LOVE to have both. Being treated well by the hotel is a very nice thing, I'm just weighing out that con activities on the main floor is more appealing to me. :)
I'm be pretty happy if we moved back to Park Plaza. I loved that huge mezzanine space! I also loved that we were REALLY in Boston and things were all around you at the hotel with easy access. hehe
Oh and I could get Dunkin Donuts down the street instead of being fed Starbucks :P
I would miss some things about the Hyatt too, like the nice staff and the open center area down the middle of the hotel with the balconies. That is a pretty little hotel. heh! In both senses!
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