Mulling my Role
Apr. 12th, 2017 11:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stitchwhichFor a few months now I've been considering 'quitting' Pennsic staff. Not working while I'm there, but being a recognized staff member. Truth to tell, I'm 60 years old now and camping is becoming more difficult. Or more precisely, it is becoming more tiring.
Staff work there is fun, hard, and wonderful. I've made a lot of friends over the years and not working elbow-to-elbow with them would be a wretched thing. But in every volunteer organization, we end up with people who'd like to be 'key players' but who never get the chance because the old tried-and-true crew are already in those positions. And that is where I am, and maybe now it is time to move over.
I did that years ago as the Head Troll (I should write 'Head Tollner"). Had the job for five years and then moved out of the way so my highly-trained and champing at the bit assistants could have their turn. It was well worth it. Many of them went on to be the Head Troll themselves, and others to continue as a dedicated and trained middle staff, able to step in to the HT position easily if something happened to their department head.
Last year and the year before I was a Deputy Mayor. This year I am taking my first vacation and next year I am stepping back into the Deputy Mayor position. Probably, anyway, although our Mayor-to-be is being coy all of a sudden. He does that. It would not crush me to have him renege on his offer. It was in realizing that that I thought beyond it and wondered if it would crush me to NOT be one of the 'movers and shakers'. I've been on staff, in multiple positions, since Pennsic 21. We're heading into Pennsic 46. That is 24 straight years.
I think I'd enjoy moving back to being a watch-stander, a person signing up to man the desk/cart/counter for a few hours on a schedule I determined. To attend classes. To attend the A&S display without feeling rushed or derelict in my duties.
But giving up that sense of brotherhood with the team is a hurdle I'm not sure I'm ready to jump. This bears contemplation.
Staff work there is fun, hard, and wonderful. I've made a lot of friends over the years and not working elbow-to-elbow with them would be a wretched thing. But in every volunteer organization, we end up with people who'd like to be 'key players' but who never get the chance because the old tried-and-true crew are already in those positions. And that is where I am, and maybe now it is time to move over.
I did that years ago as the Head Troll (I should write 'Head Tollner"). Had the job for five years and then moved out of the way so my highly-trained and champing at the bit assistants could have their turn. It was well worth it. Many of them went on to be the Head Troll themselves, and others to continue as a dedicated and trained middle staff, able to step in to the HT position easily if something happened to their department head.
Last year and the year before I was a Deputy Mayor. This year I am taking my first vacation and next year I am stepping back into the Deputy Mayor position. Probably, anyway, although our Mayor-to-be is being coy all of a sudden. He does that. It would not crush me to have him renege on his offer. It was in realizing that that I thought beyond it and wondered if it would crush me to NOT be one of the 'movers and shakers'. I've been on staff, in multiple positions, since Pennsic 21. We're heading into Pennsic 46. That is 24 straight years.
I think I'd enjoy moving back to being a watch-stander, a person signing up to man the desk/cart/counter for a few hours on a schedule I determined. To attend classes. To attend the A&S display without feeling rushed or derelict in my duties.
But giving up that sense of brotherhood with the team is a hurdle I'm not sure I'm ready to jump. This bears contemplation.
