Cucuboth said:
I've had some very bad experiences with volunteer work. At first, I was often told that my help wasn't required. When it apparently was, I was then given nothing to do. So when I just started helping to do something, I got yelled at for doing it. When I was given something to do, I would be yelled at for not doing it the way one person wanted it done. So they would show me how they wanted it done. Then I'd get yelled at by someone else for doing it the way I had just been shown. The last time I tried to volunteer, I was told that they didn't want 'my type' hanging around. I didn't bother to ask what 'type' they thought i was. That was the last straw with volunteering for me. I've had enough.
I've also been told that if you do volunteer work in the hopes of meeting people, then your doing it for the wrong reasons. Yet, I once heard the head of a large, international charity, saying how they couldn't do the work if they didn't get something out of it themselves. So who is right?
The head probably gets paid for running the charity. He's talking about something entirely different. Volunteer organizations are actually businesses, they just mostly take unpaid workers.
Your motives for volunteering are your motives, to be loved is a basic human need. Screw those people, they're full of crap, and they're hateful "do-gooders." The head is right, even though, he's probably not even a volunteer.
I've been in a ton of volunteer organizations mainly because I don't get hired a ton and need to be around people, Habitat for Humanity, Border Outreach (I think it was called), WWOOF, Hospice, and lastly my local theatre. Volunteer groups are sort of like interest groups, they're divided into categories based on the type of people who join them. The major groups are church-based, medical, government (something like Peace Corps), nature-based, and the arts. The are two main categories of people who volunteer, lonely people looking to connect, and "true believers" who become involved in something because they are genuinely concerned. The latter is dangerous, because while some of these are laid back and realize many people have many reasons to help, others become self-righteous hypocrites who convince themselves they are decent people and those guys are doing it for the wrong reason.
Habitat, I had a pretty normal time, but then I tapered off interest when it started to be a pain to drive up and back without having pay (it was about 15 mi away each time, and I wasn't making income). Then I overheard one of them talking about the nice forest across the way? Yea, they were gonna buy that up to bulldoze and make more houses. Being sorta into nature too, I got to thinking of other animals that could stand to have habitats besides humans. The final straw though was getting stuck in a ditch, and having everyone push me out, I got embarrassed and just left.
Next, I worked for Hospice. It was a choice between doing their thrift store (pass) and I did have some computer experience so I could sign up for helping with computer maintenance. I worked for about a year and rebooted alot of computers, and installing packages on them, improving my skills alot. This one, I had fun and got to do largely what I wanted in free time.
During a trip across country, I settled in with my sister in Douglas AZ, and found the Border Outreach, which was all about caring for people who'd crossed the border and gotten thrashed, beaten, and left to die on the border. The Border Patrol was trying to intimidate them, and tell them they had no business being there, but it was a humanitarian venture. Basically, this just boiled down to giving microwave burritos and clothing. I wanted to help, but I found I wasn't much good at caring for other people (I froze). So I was kinda out after the first day. I did however agree to help on the border garden they made watering crops.
Anyway, after awhile, I went broke because I couldn't afford my apartment there, so I joined WWOOF. It was basically volunteer organic gardening, which was a mixed bag, since you got religious nutters (I almost got sucked into an actual cult) and people who just wanted healthier farming. I had fun with it, but after a few people stiffing me (I was traveling the country after all), I applied only for the ones that offered the stipend.
And lately, I'm working on the theatre. I started volunteering, and then they offered me an actual position, cleaning the stage. Which is sort of going well, it's extremely spotty work, and I can't rely upon it as regular income.
