I am philosophically opposed to more crap coming from my hobby groups [Archive]

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iris lilies

1-19-16, 2:50pm

We had back-t0-back hobby group meetings last weekend.

Group #1, the bulldog rescue group, had a great meet up with 35 people, and as many bulldogs. It was held in a big noisy craft beer restaurant with an outdoor patio where the weather was perfect. People ate, drank, talked about their dogs. Lovely! But we as the organizers also had to haul out some of the ongoing junk and crap that we sell. T-shirts in small sizes, sweatshirts for $20, baseball hats. Ugh. The only guy there who wanted a shirt was a size 2XX and we didn't have official Rescue t-shirts in his size, but I did have a sack of large size t-shirts someone had donated to us that have a bulldog on the front.

I tire of our group's obsession with selling shit. I suspect we don't make real money, it's largely a pr effort perhaps break-even.

Group #2: Daffodil society. Same gig, t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts for sale. Vests that cost $40. ugh, I have no interest. But then they were soliciting people to work at their sales table at the upcoming world Daffodil convention.

I've decided I will have nothing to do with selling crap like this, I am philosophically opposed to it. Fortunately, DH and I have already agreed to help set up and tear down the show, that's our contribution.

I was thrilled to hear that the chairman of the convention has decided against giving away the ubiquitous "goodie" bag that seems to be an essential part of every convention. I hate those things full of crap I do not want. This is a bag-free event, hell yeah! Also, she nixed having coffee in the communal area and is saving hundreds of dollars. This is another pet peeve of mine, the expensive coffee that our club provides for free. People can go to the Starbucks in the lobby if they want coffee, its good for commerce.

So I am a cranky old lady and I and am sick and tired of hobby groups and their never ending stuff, none of which we need and I do not want it. Its stopping with me, I will not promote it.

iris lilies

1-19-16, 4:13pm

Also, I'm going to attempt to bring down the level of obsession our key rescue person has with "stuff." She, too, has an obsession with "goodie" bags and she felt the need to pass out the goddie bags full of baddie stuff at a recent meet up. I think small children like them, no one else cares.

razz

1-19-16, 4:14pm

There, there, do you feel better now after venting?:D
I fully agree with you BTW.

Chicken lady

1-19-16, 4:34pm

Our school has "official" t-shirts and hoodies because the kids asked for them. We had a design contest and made the top 4 designs available on a site that has good quality cotton shirts. An e-mail went out with the link and the notice that the shirts are in no way required and we make NO money from sales.

parents complained that they didn't know when and where to order shirts, that it was too hard, etc. now once a year we send home an order form. The secretary places all the orders and puts them in parent folders. We now lose money (the secretary's time plus paper and ink) as we do not have a mark up. The order form states that you can also order shirts on your own at any time and that we MAKE NO MONEY.

Now parents complain that they don't really want to order a shirt, but they want to support the school.

kib

1-19-16, 4:54pm

I'm generally less than enthralled with charitable groups that spend more on their fund raising efforts than the funds raised. Money sure does go flying around, but does it ever roost where it belongs?

and +1 or +1000 on the goodie bags. DH and his mom are both runners and they love to go to the pre-run conventions and pick up the registration tee shirt and sample bag and then fill it up with more free samples and brochures and other assorted garbage that will live in the closet until it surreptitiously "disappears" some months later. BioFreeze doesn't really do anything, I don't care if it's free. Kinesic tape, magic elixirs, super vitamins, lara bars in flavors no one likes, chocolate "goo", like running two miles would require special nourishment ... gahhh.

freshstart

1-19-16, 4:59pm

nursing conventions are the worst, the nurses would push and shove to get to a booth to score their free pens or post-its and take a brochure they will never read.

When I did radiation oncology in an office setting, it was unbelievable the swag from drug reps. Eventually you reach the point where you have given everyone you know who wants one a Viagra pen and you stop even accepting their crap. Or I tried to, everyone else acted like it's Santa, not a drug rep. I wanted the "conferences" they sent the doctors to in Hawaii. Eventually a law stopped all that.

Then we sold t shirts , IDK why because rad onc is a huge profit line for the hospital. I refused to ask some poor guy coming in everyday for 6 weeks to please buy a t shirt. Stupidest thing ever.

iris lilies

1-19-16, 5:07pm

iris lilies

1-19-16, 5:08pm

nursing conventions are the worst, the nurses would push and shove to get to a booth to score their free pens or post-its and take a brochure they will never read.

....

Pardon, but you are wrong. Librarians are the freeking worst collectors of crappy junk at conventions. The worst. My colleagues used to actually ship boxes home from the convention with their stuff. A lot of it was free books but so what.

iris lilies

1-19-16, 5:09pm

There, there, do you feel better now after venting?:D
I fully agree with you BTW.

why yes, yes I do! :~)

kib

1-19-16, 5:10pm

Yes, and I apparently ran an ultra-marathon in Oregon, courtesy of our local Value Village. :~)

iris lilies

1-19-16, 5:14pm

...
Then we sold t shirts , IDK why because rad onc is a huge profit line for the hospital. I refused to ask some poor guy coming in everyday for 6 weeks to please buy a t shirt. Stupidest thing ever.

Seriously? This is insane. What did the t-shirt say? "I am sick and may be getting better, but maybe not?" or "Screw Cancer" or "I am miserable but these yokels are making bank on me and now they even sold me a tshirt?"

Selling sick patients tshirts seems incredibly stupid and thoughtless. This sounds like a doctor's wife's idea.

kib

1-19-16, 5:26pm

"I have cancer and all I got was this lousy tee shirt. (for $18.99 plus tax)." OMG.

Teacher Terry

1-19-16, 6:58pm

Talk about bad taste.

freshstart

1-19-16, 7:23pm

they were t shirts with our logo on them and some quip about why our radiation therapy is the best. The main doc was really cool, a kind, smart sympathetic guy. I could not fathom why he let it happen. We did buy this horrendously expensive cutting edge machine, we were the only place that had it so maybe that was why but it was incredibly tacky and no one bought them. Especially the poor folks whose insurance charged a co-pay for each day's therapy, that's a lot by the end of 6 weeks.

freshstart

1-19-16, 7:32pm

oh the doc's ex-wife was a piece of work. She had her country club fund pretty gowns for the breast cancer patients to wear instead of the ugly, ginormous ones. So everyday the breast patients sat in this big waiting room in their pretty gowns, while every other woman with a different diagnosis had to wear the ugly ones. Even if their cancer was way worse than a breast patient. I had had it by that point and I handed out the pretty gowns to all the females, we had plenty. I got in trouble, even though the gowns were returned after that's day treatment, no one took them home or anything. A woman wasting away from Stage 4 ovarian cancer cannot have the pretty gown? They had no answer, I was just told to stop. It turns out the ex-wife was upset because they were only focusing on breast cancer patients, not all women with cancer. This was the end of the only really shitty job at the hospital system I worked for for 23 yrs. Easiest job, barely any nursing functions, had a 4 day week, we got bonuses, no holidays, no on call and I left because it was run by assholes among other reasons.

Meezer_Mom

1-19-16, 9:55pm

SCHTUFF!!! EEK!!!

I love going to the convention center shows but have gotten to the point myself where I can see the whole show and leave the pens there. It's kind of fun, actually, to go up to a table and not take a single freebie.

SteveinMN

1-20-16, 2:12pm

I love going to the convention center shows but have gotten to the point myself where I can see the whole show and leave the pens there. It's kind of fun, actually, to go up to a table and not take a single freebie.
Especially when the price of it is a business card or a badge scan and the inevitable calls (plural) from a sale rep who thinks you're a hot prospect because you stopped by their booth. >8)

rosarugosa

1-20-16, 7:24pm

I tell my Mom (who has stuff issues) that "take one" is a suggestion, not a mandate. :)

Meezer_Mom

1-21-16, 3:58am

Love that, rosarugosa!

mschrisgo2

1-21-16, 10:17pm

This reminds me of going to a teachers' convention, collecting a whole big bag full of junk, and dropping it in the trash can on my way out of the convention hall! Much to the horror of my companions, lol. I just knew that bag would sit in my house, forever, there was nothing in it I needed or really wanted. Some how it was all about the collection process, talking to vendors, seeing new stuff. So I got rid of it, besides, it was heavy, and I was flying and I Never check luggage...

sweetana3

1-22-16, 6:53am

I just dont take samples of stuff or food if I am not considering buying the product or using the item. Just dont want to create more waste and figure there are others that could use it. Maybe they would even donate the leftovers. I do use pens, pencils and the proper size Tshirts. Dont care what advertising is on them.