Door Duty

[Emperor Fooble]

If this sounds like a whinge, it isn't. Its simply myself sharing my opinion for our community to ponder over. I am of the mind that most of us would somewhat agree with me however.

Firstly I'll state that it (Door Duty) has to be done, and should be shared around as its not fair for a handful of people to resign themselves to sitting pointlessly at a door all day. I'm all for that.

What I'm having a little bit more trouble with, is that later on in the day (pretty much after lunch/12) it is a completely wasted hour. An hour really cuts up the day for anyone not in the 1st or 2nd spot. Its the difference between 2 games instead of three, or as I've been experiencing, 1 game instead of 2-3. Thems the breaks I would say, but after lunch, nothing happens. If you are lucky, someone may come in to buy a can of drink, or even leave so you can say goodbye. Otherwise its just reclining in a chair twiddling thumbs and staring wistfully at people playing in the next room.
I'll state a few bullet reasons regarding issues with door duty:
:Lately we have been having quite a small turnout, it is pretty obvious if someone new shows up, no one is going to be able to sneak in amongst the throngs of gamers to avoid paying $5
:An hour, as mentioned, is quite a long time and really shortens the day (people tend to wind up at around 4)
:There are not enough arrivals to warrant someone sitting at the door all day. Who is going to arrive at 4 in the afternoon?
:If it is a matter of fearing someone stealing the cash box, (see below for how this could be avoided) we have thousands of dollars worth of nerd toys sitting, sometimes unguarded on tables. Stashing a dreadnought into a pocket would be a lot easier then trying to walk away with a big clonking, metal tin with what, $50? It would be very noticeable missing, and quite easy to find by pointing out who is missing, who wont let their car be searched ect. And again, I don't see anyone going to the effort of flogging it.

Some methods I think that could help ease out this whole issue.
:Half an hour (30min) shifts. 30mins is nothing, could stop in the middle of a game, sit on the door and be done in a blink. Could get in the way later on in the day, but not as time bashing as an hour long slog. (I would rather two little sits, then a big one)
:Are door sitters really necessary after 12, 1 at the latest? A solution would be to have people assigned to the door as usual, but after 'cut off' time, said door person is not required to sit there, instead his/her name and forum name, if extra detail is needed, will be written down clear as day on the roster for anyone to see. If they want to buy a drink or sausage, or any other door person duty, they can find the assigned chap, or even holler at the entrance. I really don't think anyone would have an issue getting up from their game to grab a drink from the fridge and drop a coin into the box, rather then sit down doing nothing.
:If theft is still a concern, have the assigned door person take the cash box to their gaming table, should they not be in the kitchen to keep an eye on it. Further efforts could easily be the door person informing Carson, or another senior/trusted WDW member that the cash box will be on table X. Lock and key goes further. Even if the key is left in the lock, I would certainly raise an eyebrow at someone opening it up via a lock.

Well there we have it folks, my opinionated summery regarding 'Door Duty', some of its issues as far as I'm concerned, and a few suggested fixes/improvements.

[psychomanicd]

after doing door duty for over a year, one hour a meet is NOT a long time and the shifts are one hour long because not many people are willing to help the club for longer periods of time, or do the job properly


as it is, the job is not being done correctly, with the people on the door not doing the job correctly


this really makes me angry and is the main reason i dont attend the club as much as i used to


so what is needed to do on the door? and what wasnt done last meet?


put drinks in fridge. wasnt done at start of day and fridge wasnt restocked during day. if noone told you to restock, use your head. if the drinks someone asks for arent on fridge but on bench, put some in fridge


sausages. again not a hard job. cook them under grill, keep them in oven then serve them as needed. DO NOT keep them on bench. DO NOT expect customers to help themselves


cleaning- the kitchen was left in a filthy disgusting state last meet


as to your point of me having to find whoever is supposed to be on the door to get something after 12, it wont work, hell at times its hard enough trying to get the attention of who ever is on the door so i can get a drink


as to someone sitting at the door later in the day- they have jobs to do, they should be starting to clean up and not leave it to the people that have to lock up


now what your saying does sound like a whinge and i cant remember you ever being on the door roster. door duty is something that we need to have. and if the shifts are only 30mins long, that means someone has to chase up twice as many people to do their share of things     


people need to use their heads more and not wait to be told to do things


the club should go back to once a month until things are done properly

[Germ turtle]

Snags that are the same temperature as the the drinks is not good, How was putting the drinks in the fridge not an immediate action during set up, and I said that leaving those sausages out on the bench was a bad idea, because by the time I was aloud to buy one (I was made to what for the rest to cook), they had started to go cold.

I know it sounds like I am also having a whinge, I'm just stating what happened last time I went to the club.

[Chosen of Sanguinius]

I happen to agree with both of you on this one. Somebody needs to man the door but 1 hour just breaks up the day too much. Taking into account the necessity of manning the door and also the annoyance of a broken up day i think that a rotational roster of manning the door for a whole day instead of an hour is better. Even looking at the turnout of the last few weeks (dismal) there is still enough people making it every time to write up a roster for at least three if not four months. If people are given enough notice they should not mind putting aside one day out of six to help out with the club and i am sure that most people will be happier to do it in one hit rather than drag it out cutting up the games every time.
That's my take on it, it might work if quarter yearly rosters were made (which am happy to do), excepting illness people should know what they have on in three months and if people know that they have put their name down for a particular day then they don't go ahead and organise to do something else, treat it as an employment date, just not for personal gain but for the wellbeing of the club.
to this end even of people don't like this proposed system i am volunteering to man the door all day next meet, knowing in advance that i wont be playing games i wont be bitter about missing any because of an inconvenient time to man the door
what does everyone think?

[Germ turtle]

I agree with the quarterly system, I would be happy to give away a whole day, I normally don't play get in many (if any) games anyway, next time I arrive I will bring a good book.

[carson]

It's going to stay a 1hour job. I, like Psycho, have spent entire meets on the door. Hell I spent the last meet of last year on the door and it was my birthday! 2 games is better than none. Maybe you could play 3, but I've been to more meets where I have played none or even manange to get one game in due to being on the door and I never complained.

1hour is nothing. Yes it can break the day up but it needs doing. I am going to run it from the time the club opens till 4pm. 4-5 most people are leaving so it isn't needed.

Psycho summed it up well. Shifts are not being done properly, maybe that's my fault for not explaining what needs doing, but next meet there will be clear instructions for what needs doing each meet.

Before I say the next bit I must emphisise how much I love the club and the community and everything we've become. If I didn't, I sure as ♥♥♥♥ wouldn't dedicate so much time and energy to it. I also want to see it keep succeeding and running for a long time.

Now to the nitty gritty, I'm getting pretty annoyed that everyone seems to want everything but isn't willing to sacrifice for it. Yes the door is boring, yes it needs doing but one hour in an 8+ hour day is NOTHING. Over the last two years I have spent the majority of time time at the club on the door by a huge margin. It didn't phase me because I enjoy running it and the community. Now we're trying to move to a somewhat more established system I am trying different things.

While I do appreciate that you will sit on the door all day Chosen, it's not going to happen. We're going to keep the 1hour shifts and it'll have clearer defined jobs for each shift. The afternoon shifts will be cleaning the oven and kitchen while serving people. The morning people will cook. That easy. If that fails, we'll have consider whole day shifts.

I may seem like I'm ragin' but I do take everything people suggest into consideration. The hourly system is only young so it needs to be refined a bit more. I will post up clear jobs for each shift and rules for food and hygine serving too.

[psychomanicd]

and if that fails we'll have to consider closing the club

help the club

do the jobs required

or the club might not be here anymore

[Cilionelle]

and if that fails we'll have to consider closing the club

Maybe a more appropriate way of looking at it would be to state that there might not be snags or drinks any more, since the club was running pretty well before there were doorpersons.

[Chosen of Sanguinius]

Even if i cant man the door all day i do want to give that kitchen at least a good clean (perhaps in the afternoon when its not that busy) it NEEDS it.
I know how to clean a kitchen (ask Ares) so it will be nice and spotless, maybe not all day but at least hours. I am happy to do it for the club and it is something that does need doing.

[Eisenhorn]

In my opinion (take it for what it's worth) :

1.  Hoping people will take responsibility and man the door is doomed to failure.  Those who want to man the door already do, those who don't already don't and will find a way out of it.

2.  Expecting people to take responsibility and man the door is doomed to failure.  See point 1 

3.  Making people take responsibility and man the door is doomed to failure.  See point 1.

4.  Having only one or two people taking all of the responsibility and manning the door every single meet is doomed to failure.  I don't care who they are, sooner or later the unfairness of it will start to grate and they will burn out and the club will close.

5.  Making the responsibility part of club membership is doomed to failure, unless the goal is to reduce membership numbers of course as people will either refuse to become members or refuse to do the job leading to wholesale complaints of inequality and unfairness. (Back to point 1).

In summary, if people don't want to man the door, they will either evade the task, not turn up, and or leave the club.  In the mean time they will do a terrible job, which defeats the whole purpose (e.g. my expenditure, which is ALWAYS more than asked prices, at the club has dropped by about 50% as I can't get lunch or a cold drink at most meets anymore).

In all of my years of working and employing people, I am 100% certain that those that want to do a job and also feel they are doing it for themselves, do a great job.  Those that don't want to do a job destroy businesses/groups/organizations.

It is my suggestion, that if you want people to man the door, and you want them to do a good job then find out what they want or need to be encouraged to do it.  I also suggest that there are very clear expectations of what they do, and that this is policed in some way albeit in an encouraging and motivational way.  You only get to be a tough boss when you pay high enough wages hehe. 

Different people, can offer different things and it is that diversity that makes a club great.

Just my 2c worth   Do I get change?

[carson]

Your sage like wisdom is much appreciated Eisenhorn.

The problem is, that anything more than a 1 hour shift is far too long for people and anything less than 1 hour shift can complicate things and given the not huge turnouts of late, the day would be broken up far too much for everyone. Given you would likely need to do two shifts in the day to cover it.

Taking his advice, what do people want to see from doing the door? If it'll take the enticement of a free drink while on the door I don't see that as a problem (no free snags as they're not avalaible all day)

If no one wants to do it and it's too much of an issue, we wont sell drinks or snags anymore and bring our own food. It's getting rid of a big part of our revenue though. Keep that in mind.

I don't think it's too much to ask that we all have a shot running the door for 1 hour a meet. It's not like you're being asked to do the same time every meet. The idea is to mix it up a bit so we share the load and everyone has a shot so everyone gets an equal time to play and socialise.

Here is a mock up of the jobs required.

10:00 – 11:00
- Bring drinks out and put in fridge
- Make sure people put their stuff inside the hall, not leave it in the kitchen
- Make sure everyone signs in and have correct name badges

11:00 – 12:00
- Make sure people put their stuff inside the hall, not leave it in the kitchen
- Make sure everyone signs in and have correct name badges
- Keep fridge stocked with drinks
- When 11:30 person arrives, one person starts preparing the snags and cooking them.
- Once snags are cooked, one person should announce to everyone they are ready

11:30 – 12:30
- Make sure people put their stuff inside the hall, not leave it in the kitchen
- Make sure everyone signs in and have correct name badges
- Keep fridge stocked with drinks
- Start cooking the snags. Making sure you use rubber gloves and prepare them hygenically.
- Once snags are cooked, one person should announce to everyone they are ready

12:00 – 13:00
- Make sure people put their stuff inside the hall, not leave it in the kitchen
- Make sure everyone signs in and have correct name badges
- Keep fridge stocked with drinks
- Once snags are cooked, one person should announce to everyone they are ready
- Stop cooking snags at 12:45.

13:00 – 14:00
- Make sure people put their stuff inside the hall, not leave it in the kitchen
- Make sure everyone signs in and have correct name badges
- Keep fridge stocked with drinks
- At 13:45 any unsold cooked sausages must be thrown out. No more are to be cooked

14:00 – 15:00
- Make sure people put their stuff inside the hall, not leave it in the kitchen
- Make sure everyone signs in and have correct name badges
- Keep fridge stocked with drinks
- Start cleaning the cooking equipment

15:00 – 16:00
- Make sure people put their stuff inside the hall, not leave it in the kitchen
- Make sure everyone signs in and have correct name badges
- Keep fridge stocked with drinks
- Finish up the cleaning

Cooking/Serving the Snags
- Only people on the door can serve.
- Must be wearing latex gloves when serving/cooking (gloves will be made avaliable)
- Any cooked snags older than an hour must be thrown out
- Cooked, unsold sausages must be kept warm in the oven (can be put down the bottom of the oven while other sausages cook)

[psychomanicd]

sounds fine too me as far as jobs go but 7 shifts seem a bit much

[Emperor Fooble]

now what your saying does sound like a whinge and i cant remember you ever being on the door roster. door duty is something that we need to have. and if the shifts are only 30mins long, that means someone has to chase up twice as many people to do their share of things     

Since door duty has been put forward, each meet (so only the last what, 3 it has been official), I've put my name down and done my timed roster. Also as soon as I found out about this club, I have come to every single meet for the past 1-3 years (not really sure on the timeframe, something is telling me since before year 12 and I'm almost 21) so I have every desire to see the club grow, and I have seen from where it has come.
If I didn't want the club to prosper, I wouldn't even bother coming - I have the armies, table and terrain to happily play at home on a few tables chock-a-block with terrain and games of any points. I come to chat and game with some good friends I've made and its become one of my regular, and important dates. People have outright winged about 'I don't come here to sit on a door doing nothing' ect. I am not one of them. I fully support the workload being shared around. Its not hard, at all.
If someone said to me that 'Carson should sit on the door all day because he is the big cheese, and I wanna play with my toys' I would tell them to pi$# off, and yes, that's exactly the language I would use unless they were what I consider too young.

What I have posted, was in relation to: my experiences on the door, my experiences as to what people have been saying regarding door duty, and a few ideas on how I think they could be fixed.
If at the end of the day, door duty remains exactly the same, I'll still do it. It wont effect me in any way, and I certainly wont 'boycott' the club because of sitting down at a door.
If at the end of the day it is abolished, well I'll be fighting against that big time as any club worth its salt has the ability to feed and hydrate its members, as well as being a large income generator for the club, as memberships are one off payments.
Another large part of my post RE door duty, was in relation to the very low amount of members able to come to each meet as of late (going back a few months)

[Maudy]

I have to admit that I wasn't helping at the last club meet, where I missed my allotted door-time because I was playing warmachiney with Carson. Twas a real nail-biter of a match and it completely slipped my mind*. Sorry about that!

I'm not sure when I can next come to a meet (depends how hectic uni is), but I'd be more than happy to do door duty for a few hours armed with a good book!



*To add insult to injury, Carson gained the upper hand with 'dogpile' and whipped my sorry behind something proper.

[Ares]

I think the timetable Carson has put up is fantastic. We are getting at least seven people per meet (just) so we can fill the roster everytime. What we do need is the timetable put in the kitchen as well as specific instructions for each job. If you want the hygene issue inforced the rules need to be at hand. Sometimes it is not people being lazy but rather than being ignorant to the intricacies of the job. I've only been on the door about twice and I'm only now learning some of the responsibilities from peoples complaints! The expectations need to be spelt out. Saying this I do expect people to use there initiative. I think an hour is a perfect time for a shift.