Do these people know what REAL work is?

I'm going through a bit of the ringer at work. I care a lot about my job, and I volunteer quite a bit of time to serve on committees. I'm right now the chair of our orchestra committee, which basically means I'm the liaison between the musicians and management. There are a lot of whiners, and complainers in our orchestra, and I try to be a filter between them and management. Whenever you get a union involved, there are people in the union who are really bitter and jaded. I don't like that, and try to reflect a different view to management. The union has it's place, but I don't subscribe to that typical "union" mentality of bitching all the time. I hate that, in fact, and the committe and I try to foster an attitude of cooperation as much as we can.

In this past year, it's amazing the issues that have been presented to me. There are a handful of squeaky wheels in the orchestra. One person yacked at me for about 20 minutes with a request that we increase our target temperature by 1/2 of a degree. Can you believe that? Idiocy. Then there are the others who want to try to get extra money for every little extra thing. For some people, there's not enough light, for others their music isn't clean enough, erased from previous pencil marks...stupid, stupid, stupid stuff. For some people, their chair isn't the right height, for others they're too close to the person next to them. People are CHILDISH! It's not all of them, but far too many of them. I keep thinking to myself, everyone in my orchestra who complains on a regular basis should have to spend a week on a highway crew, or doing asphalt roofing, or hauling trash, or better yet, cleaning out horse shit in a riding stable. I don't think these complainers have done a hard day's of work in their lives, and it's embarrassing, quite frankly.

Last weekend, one of our chicken littles complained that she didn't have enough room. Management had already moved her three times. I came over, and she was moved over again. She has some stupid, petty beef with the guy next to her, (who incidentally, we all think is part Yeti) and what she REALLY wanted was for me to ask HIM to move. I wouldn't do that--I have no plan to be this woman's whipping boy. And besides, the Grand Canyon stood between them.

The next day she gabbed my ear off on the phone for 20 minutes. She's incredibly passive agressive. She has a whiny, wispy ANNOYING voice, and she likes to think she's the sweetest thing on earth. In fact, in the middle of all of this crap, she winked at me with a smile as I walked by her at a rehearsal. Please. Anyway, in this phone call, I explained that we couldn't cater to every whim of every individual--there is a finite amount of space in the pit, and that she would just have to make do, like the rest of us do. I explained that she seems to be the only who has a regular concern for space, and that she has a bit of history with this. She took great offense to this, and has been on the phone with EVERYONE: everyone else on the orchestra committee, our union secretary, and union president, as well as calling our personnel manager at 5:00 AM to complain. Come on, woman! She won't let it go to bed, and it's been a royal PITA for me. It's pretty unbelievable, actually. She's basically throwing a tantrum, and won't be satisfied until I relent. I won't do it, because I don't believe that people like that should be coddled. She's been coddled in the past, and I'm not budging. (I think she, and many others in our orchestra just need a SPANKING!)

It's caused a little bit of stress for me, and I didn't sleep much last night, partly because I was thinking about some of this stuff. To think that this woman is so up in arms over something such as this is beyond me. It's basic human nature: she didn't get her way, and she won't let this go until she gets her way. Which, she doesn't realize, just won't happen.

Everybody on our committee volunteers their time--I feel proud of the work we have done this year to foster a positive relationship with our management. All arts organizations are going through tough times right now, and for musicians to be quibbling about petty minutiae doesn't help anyone. When the committee gets reamed for petty things like this, it really takes the wind out of our sails, and makes us question the wisdom of serving again. I'm not going to let this woman's little prima donna moves change my commitment to working on the committee, however! I'll deal with it, put it to rest, and forget about it. But right now, it's a stupid pain in the neck.

I realize the challenge for me with this woman (who wants my head on a platter), is to not let it cause me to despise her. I guess it's a test of my character--I'm not going to let her be a source of bitterness. A little growth in my character would be a good thing, I suppose. Though currently I would like to wring her neck. I guess I have a ways to go...

OK, I'm done with my rant. Time for some ice cream.