I feel like these next series of posts might jeopardize my identity in case it ever appears somewhere but here goes.
They just booted us all from the line. No apology, no explanation...Just a "we're out, move along". 3 hours in line wasted.
Seriously puts a damper on this whole weekend considering this panel is one of the main reasons I'm here.
I hope they actually read those post show surveys they send out.
Who's they? Staff, Crew, security or all of them? I've been hearing things about how Queue hall was badly managed from a few friends. Crew follows orders from Staff which is why it might have gone wrong and maybe it was a miscommunication issue from the chain of command that booted you folks that were there since the morning since it does tend to happen. All three work in synergy so if Staff plans to do something, they notify security as a heads up to okay it which then translates to Crew. In some areas such as Autographing, celebrities' handlers play a vital role in the chain of command.
I am crew this year, I had to work with another crew member today for like an hour or so managing the panel lines.
I forgot his name but he would made loud and weird comments to any cosplayer who walked by. I did pay him any mind since it was not my job to manage him, but when this little mac cosplayer walked by he shouted down the hall "bitch stole my bike". I had to tell him he need to cut it out with the profanity cause we have children in the line and it was a pretty demeaning word to use. I also didn't want to get pinned with any blame since we were both Asian. His response was "Bitch is a profanity?"
Hmm...I wonder who it was and if I know him. You don't have to out him on a public forum since and just tell a Staff member instead so they can make a note of it. I don't think it's that serious but I will admit that some of the Crew I've worked with are a bit oblivious to social cues/contexts.
The yellow shirted security guys apologized to us at least even though I don't think they had anything to do with it.
I had a great day though, got into lots of panels - the DC Core one, stayed for the Robert Kirkman one then camped out in 1A10 for Collegehumor's crowdsourced drawing thing, All That Reunion and Street Fighter V before going to the St. Jude's auction.
Tomorrow's just going to be Artist Alley pickups and hopefully getting to play Dark Souls 3 for a bit before heading out.
Security is definitely sympathetic despite their tough demeanor.
Hero said:
Today the sheer incompetence of the staff at the queue hall pissed me off. Before we knew what happened with the badges given to the overflow like first, I spent more than an hour in line and lined up immediately as they let us in and I knew there was no way they ran out. Not only did they fuck that up but nobody on staff went up/down the MASSIVE line still there to communicate what had happened and/or that they were out of wristbands. Some really con attendees had to do that for them. I know staff is mostly volunteers but talk about incompetence, laziness and apathy, that's what I got from the staff in the queue hall.
Thankfully afterwards I got up to the staff room and politely expressed my unhappiness and a few hours later the manager got us wristbands so it worked out in the end.
E the Shaggy said:
Cons should have to straight up pay people to fill the roles of volunteers. I don't see how it isn't illegal to pull this shit.
To the both of you, for the record: Crew is not Volunteer contrary to the popular belief. We're paid to work the event as it started in 2011. The years before that was volunteer even though in 2011, the badge still said volunteer. ReedPOP is a for profit organization hence Crew; Comic Con International is a non-profit organization hence volunteers who get compensated some other ways. Not that it matters since while I can't speak for all Crew, personally, I'm not driven by the fact that we get paid with because it's about the experience for me personally and the friends that I have made through working this event. Getting paid is just a nice thank you/bonus. In fact, many of us keep coming back to do it as a labor of love.
That being said, I did hear about how badly managed Queue hall was this year so I'm sorry to hear you guys had a bad experience. To be fair, attendees need to understand that we're all human and we make mistakes in the end of the day. Please note that I'm not an employee of ReedPOP and I am not speaking for the company since that's its own separate thing from Crew. Crew is the customer service, Staff is the overseers/organizers, security is the muscle which is what gels a ReedPOP convention.
