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Once again, I proved my insanity by working Nan Desu Kan's prop check table (we have a policy about taking props into the Dealer's Room). Every year, I think the horror stories of this site are myths, until I work cons. The names have been changed because I don't care enough to remember their names.
As a volunteer, please remember that you have no authority and answer to us
Most of our volunteers were alright, but one sticks out in my head as just horrible. I dubbed this individual Pasties (Originally called Nipples until one of us accidentally called him it to his face, and he liked it). The reason he was given the monikers was for his cosplay, Kamina from Gurren Lagann.
This ordinarily would not be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that he wore nothing under the cape (and let me tell you, he was not built for it), despite convention rules that reads as such:
All costumers must have a torso covering. Despite the double standard created by our society at large, in the interest of fairness to both sexes, we must insist that both genders wear appropriate torso coverings. Meaning at least a sports bra’s worth of covering on top for girls and some sort of shirt or vest for guys. If you have questions, please ask.
From the getgo I had an issue with this individual. Apparently someone told him bandaids are ok, that's fine I don't have an issue with this, however, the bandaids he used were flesh colored and nipple size. We wound up sticking pieces of tape to his nipples (we should have done duct tape now that I Think about it). That's only issue number one.
Issue number two is that he did not listen to the staff proper. We put him on line duty and told him repeatedly not to run up and down yelling at attendees, and if you guess what he did, well, you don't win anything, but well done.
Issue number three! The typical process for becoming staff is to work at least two years as a volunteer, putting in 16 hours each year, in addition to getting a staff recommendation. Pasties really wanted to be staff, going so far as to ask one of us, "Hey, I have to go because my girlfriend is being a bitch, I've only worked 6 hours, but could you recommend me for staff?"
If you don't listen to me again, you're not getting back in there, and you may have your badge punched
We have a policy that says that all weapons/big props must be peace tied as a record of a verbal contract saying that we had the talk with them about prop safety. Normally what I've done at prop check in the past is if it's not peace tied, I let them in, on the grounds that they will go peace tie it after they come out. After seeing the same props come back three times still not peace tied, I decided they had to go right then and there if they wanted to shop again.
I understand you don't want to leave it here, but if you can't put it away, you can't bring it in there.
We've got another policy regarding photography in the Dealer's Room, it's not allowed. A) There are copyright issues, and B) people taking pictures take up way too much space as they just stand there with their camera. In the past, we've let cameras in provided they are kept off, however, we had so many issues this year, that we had to have our attendees either put them away, or leave them at prop check.
There were two notable incidents over this. The first came in the form of an attendee who didn't want to give his camera up, which is understandable, but upon being told that if we saw it in there, we would confiscate it, he threatened to sue us if we tried (yes, let one man's lawyer take on the team of lawyers that comes with being one of the top ten anime cons in the country).
The second came from a press person who was caught recording in the Dealer's Room. When questioned about it she pointed at two people, one on door, and one behind prop check, saying that one of them said it was ok, which I know the both of them well enough to know that they wouldn't have done it. What was said that it had better stay off and facing away. I only wish that I had been there (I'd just popped off to the restroom at the time) so I'd have been able to hopefully sort it out before it became such a big problem.
I thought this was a myth!
When we close up Dealer's Room we clear the entire hallway leading up to it. Despite the empty hallway, and team of people blocking the hallway and shouting that the Dealer's Room is closed and would reopen the next morning (I even had a megaphone for this), we had people come up in the 10 seconds between announcements and try to get through.
The worst part, the camera policy was plastered all over the place leading up to Dealer's Room, as were hours, and the peace tying was listed everywhere that convention rules are. Customers truly don't read. Well, got 9 months to recover. Least next year, I'll actually have the authority of a Lieutenant instead of just acting Lieutenant.
As a volunteer, please remember that you have no authority and answer to us
Most of our volunteers were alright, but one sticks out in my head as just horrible. I dubbed this individual Pasties (Originally called Nipples until one of us accidentally called him it to his face, and he liked it). The reason he was given the monikers was for his cosplay, Kamina from Gurren Lagann.
This ordinarily would not be so bad, if it weren't for the fact that he wore nothing under the cape (and let me tell you, he was not built for it), despite convention rules that reads as such:
All costumers must have a torso covering. Despite the double standard created by our society at large, in the interest of fairness to both sexes, we must insist that both genders wear appropriate torso coverings. Meaning at least a sports bra’s worth of covering on top for girls and some sort of shirt or vest for guys. If you have questions, please ask.
From the getgo I had an issue with this individual. Apparently someone told him bandaids are ok, that's fine I don't have an issue with this, however, the bandaids he used were flesh colored and nipple size. We wound up sticking pieces of tape to his nipples (we should have done duct tape now that I Think about it). That's only issue number one.
Issue number two is that he did not listen to the staff proper. We put him on line duty and told him repeatedly not to run up and down yelling at attendees, and if you guess what he did, well, you don't win anything, but well done.
Issue number three! The typical process for becoming staff is to work at least two years as a volunteer, putting in 16 hours each year, in addition to getting a staff recommendation. Pasties really wanted to be staff, going so far as to ask one of us, "Hey, I have to go because my girlfriend is being a bitch, I've only worked 6 hours, but could you recommend me for staff?"
If you don't listen to me again, you're not getting back in there, and you may have your badge punched
We have a policy that says that all weapons/big props must be peace tied as a record of a verbal contract saying that we had the talk with them about prop safety. Normally what I've done at prop check in the past is if it's not peace tied, I let them in, on the grounds that they will go peace tie it after they come out. After seeing the same props come back three times still not peace tied, I decided they had to go right then and there if they wanted to shop again.
I understand you don't want to leave it here, but if you can't put it away, you can't bring it in there.
We've got another policy regarding photography in the Dealer's Room, it's not allowed. A) There are copyright issues, and B) people taking pictures take up way too much space as they just stand there with their camera. In the past, we've let cameras in provided they are kept off, however, we had so many issues this year, that we had to have our attendees either put them away, or leave them at prop check.
There were two notable incidents over this. The first came in the form of an attendee who didn't want to give his camera up, which is understandable, but upon being told that if we saw it in there, we would confiscate it, he threatened to sue us if we tried (yes, let one man's lawyer take on the team of lawyers that comes with being one of the top ten anime cons in the country).
The second came from a press person who was caught recording in the Dealer's Room. When questioned about it she pointed at two people, one on door, and one behind prop check, saying that one of them said it was ok, which I know the both of them well enough to know that they wouldn't have done it. What was said that it had better stay off and facing away. I only wish that I had been there (I'd just popped off to the restroom at the time) so I'd have been able to hopefully sort it out before it became such a big problem.
I thought this was a myth!
When we close up Dealer's Room we clear the entire hallway leading up to it. Despite the empty hallway, and team of people blocking the hallway and shouting that the Dealer's Room is closed and would reopen the next morning (I even had a megaphone for this), we had people come up in the 10 seconds between announcements and try to get through.
The worst part, the camera policy was plastered all over the place leading up to Dealer's Room, as were hours, and the peace tying was listed everywhere that convention rules are. Customers truly don't read. Well, got 9 months to recover. Least next year, I'll actually have the authority of a Lieutenant instead of just acting Lieutenant.
), the other was before we opened, we had someone come up and ask if they could leave it with us since he checked out already, and along came our awesome security guys, who I pulled aside and asked what to do about it since he didn't have a room.
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