| Soooo... this story is well past-due here. This is my story, my side of Key Club International. If you don't like or disagree with the way I tell it, then that's too bad. You have nothing to prove that I'm wrong. So, buckle your seats. it's going to be a long one. First, for the people who don't know what Key Club is, it's basically a volunteer organization. You work in the community, in your school, and you do fundraisers for world-wide causes. Real honest and good, just like it should be.
But, as we all know, within a club, there's levels. There's the members and then the officers. But it gets deeper than that. There's a local level, a district, or state, level, and an international level, if an organization gets big enough. I was a member, I was an officer, I was on the district board, and of all things, I was elected to be on the International board this year as a trustee (someone who will relay information back and forth to the districts, etc... make sure everything is good). In July, I went to Boston for the International convention. I spoke in front of hundreds- I gave speeches, I answered questions, I presented myself to people that I didn't know for the mere fact of actually doing something big. Who knew I was going to get screwed? I was assigned three districts to "look over" or be a liason to. Now, in August, one of my districts complained... but not to me. To the International President. Yeah, real cool. I always love those calls where you know you did something wrong, but you don't know what... until they tell you... and then you're still baffled. It was one of those. Apparently I was supposed to do all of these things, that I didn't even know about. I'm so glad that the district just assumed I knew, it was a really nice touch.
Whatever. I got the things I was "suppose" to do within the week. No big deal. Everything was fine for a while. I mean, I was playing volleyball, I was getting lots of homework, I was trying to balance Key Club work- I've got to tell you, I really had no energy for anything, and I could tell. But October came around. Within the first week a got this email. Hey Ara, Lately, with the paperwork, talks with the K-I staff, and your committee chair, I have gotten word of your underperformance. I talked to your governor that filed the complain and the individual is meeting with the district administrator to describe exactly what was/wasn't done. This will be brought up to the executive committee, and the exec committee will take necessary action. If you have any reasons/etc, and you would like your voice heard, after I send you the formal description of your perceived underperformance, you will have the ability to respond, and the response will be given to me so that I can bring it up at the executive committee meeting. I hope that you understand that I still respect you as a person and there are no harsh feelings. Thanks. - Shivani
Underperformance my ass. Don't feed me that shit. Pretty much what she said was that I sucked. It was going back to the district who liked to pull the "Hey, even though I don't tell you, you're supposed to know" type thing. And the K-I staff? What? What could they possibly say? If there was a problem, shouldn't they bring it up to me? Yeah, that's what a decent human being would do. But No. Of course not. we like to be mischievious in Key Club.
None of you would be offended by this unless you were involved in Key Club, or something, as much I am. I love Key Club- there's something about it that makes me happy. I like helping people. With Key Club, that's what you do. It was amazing being on the District board, and I couldn't possibly imagine how awesome it would be to be on the International Board.
I really felt like I was getting screwed here. There were two girls on the board who knew I was doing all I could. They knew it wasn't my fault. So within a week, I received this email from shivani again. Hey Ara, Okay, the overall complaints just seem to be that you have not been fulfilling your end of the governor-trustee agreements, you have not submitted a leaderlink (you keep sending the same one), and that you have not been performing to potential for your committee. If you have a response to this, please forward it to me no later than Monday 8 EST. Thank you. - Shivani
So I responded that same night, and this is pretty much what I said - For the first complaint- I have be fulfilling the agreement with my governor. I've been calling the Lietenant Governors, I've made an extra newsletter twice, I've been calling the governor every week, I've filled out weekly reports for her, and that I'm doing everything I possibly can for her. I feel like anything I do is just not good enough. Even if it was, or wasn't for that matter, I wouldn't know because she doesn't tell me. I'm starting to think there's a personality conflict here, not lack of work being done. For the second complaint - I was not aware I sent in the same Leaderlink newsletter. The email I received after I turned my newsletter in was nothing but positive remarks saying it looked great and that I needed to only change the month (which I was unable to do because I read the email too late.) on it. This is the email I received Ara, Thanks so much lady! Hey can you please change the Month to be October. This is due in September by mailed for October. Thanks Laura
For the last complaint - the only reason I'm not doing more work is because I'm not assigned it. The only thing I've been assigned is to watch over the Member Community, which I've been doing. It's not my fault I get one assignment, while the other two members have two to three tasks to do every month. It's not my fault that I can't make it to the online meetings when I tell her EXACTLY when I'm not going to be home [because of volleyball]. The work isn't the problem, it's not being assigned anything to do that's the problem. I'll do whatever you need me to do. I'm not one to work this hard to get the position just to not doing anything. I'm not the type of person who only works half-way on things. Key Club isn't just something to do, I really do enjoy the job and work that I do. It upsets me knowing that you don't think I'm working hard enough. I will work harder, it's just been hard to do so with the schedule I have [dealing with school and volleyball and key club], but i will have more time soon. I will work as hard as you need me to, all you have to do is ask.
And I was content with that. Because I knew that a logical person had to read that and say, "hmm, she is trying. It's not her fault... hmmm." So about a week after, I got really sick. After about three days, I go in to the doctor and he tells me I have a kidney infection. He gives me medication and I go home. I take my medicine, I go to bed on the couch. But my phone starts ringing about 9 that night [it's a wednesday, I remember], and me being the genius that I am, answer the phone while I'm still half-sleeping, half-drugged up. It's President Shivani telling me I either resign or the executive committee will kick me off. Well shit, this seems unreal, I'll just agree to something so I can get off the damn phone and figure it out. The smart thing would have been to say, "Hey, i'm going to have to answer you tomorrow," or, "hey, umm, you can just kick me off." but of course, I say, "uhh... no... wow.. I'll just.. resign..." and I start crying. Because that is probably the worst night ever. Ever.[Well.... maybe not....] But I emailed her that night. Because I wanted to take it back, and I should be able to because of my condition- but she emails me A WEEK LATER to say No because they've started "proceedings." Yeah, well, Shivani... you can feed that bullshit to someone else who's actually stupid. You can blame all that on me, because I know I did everything I could. There's no reason why I shouldn't still be on the board. No reason. Sorry I didn't kiss up to you like most others did. Sorry I wasn't a big fan of your, uhh... leadership skills. But then again, I'm not. I'm not sorry, because you might have done me a favor. Not a favor of "well, you couldn't handle it" but rather, "Why would you possibly want to deal with people like this for a whole year?" I see the bigger picture here. I know this isn't the end for me. I understand that everything has to do with aspects of politics, whether you like it or not. I know that everyone picks favorites when they have "power." And through this all, I see just how stupid everything is. Is this really going to matter when I'm in college? No. It won't. I don't like you at all, Shivani- and I couldn't care less if you "still respect me as a person." Screw you... and who the hell says that anymore, anyway? How fake. Hah. leave me lovelies. Butterflies and Roses,
Ara Jo |
