SciFiMAD Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I have been going to Collectormania since C1 and have never had a problem with the crew untill Saturday when each crew member would not help me, would not even talk, they where rude. Showmasters i think that you need to look at every crew member you got this year and delete them from you list. Their was only one helpful crew member which was the one handing out tickets on Jamie Bambers Q on friday morning she was very helpful and even got in the Q early as there where no people so she said just go in even though my ticket was not up yet, Thank you who ever you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloomybear Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Interesting that so far its 100% "painfully bad". Are all the CM 'crew' volunteers from the message boards? Almost all of the ones I've seen / met have been teenagers who, no offense to anyone intended, are unlikely to have the people management skills required for dealing with large crowds and fans, and this comes through in their treatment and attitude. CM is meant to be a professional event, but certainly the two CM events (4 and 6) that I've been to have had the management you would expect from an amateur event. It doesn't sound like CM7 was any better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicky Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 (edited) I've never had a problem with any crew and C7 was my sixth SM event. If I did have a prob though, they'd know about it before I went home. Edited May 2, 2005 by nicky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyrdsister Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 (edited) I think your poll is a bit unfair. Sure, there will always be some real idiots there who think wearing a Crew T-shirt entitles them to be superior and walk around as though they owned the place. Pathetic really...I think you're going to get that everywhere. I've had it...but I've also had very good Crew members and all on the same day. PS: I'm not a crew and I don't really know any Edited May 2, 2005 by wyrdsister Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicky Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 (edited) Are all the CM 'crew' volunteers from the message boards? Most of the regular forum members are crew members and I do know probably most of them. There aren't many I know who don't crew. There are also crew members who aren't forum members but do crew all the time though. Edited May 2, 2005 by nicky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloomybear Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 (edited) Are all the CM 'crew' volunteers from the message boards? Most of the regular forum members are crew members and I do know probably most of them. There aren't many I know who don't crew. There are also crew members who aren't forum members but do crew all the time though. And therein lies the problem, I think. Most of the crew seem to be very young - late teens? - and not experienced enough to be dealing with the type of pressurised situation presented at a CM event. No disrespect to anyone, but thats certainly the way it seems. Dealing with huge crowds and fans in a hot, busy shopping center - you can understand why people get stressed out - but using such young crew members, mostly unsupervised, is going to aggreviate the situation. We have already had reports of crew members pushing visitors - bang out of order in my book - and trying to dictate to a celeb what they should do, which puts both the celeb and the crew member in an uncomfortable position. Its not good. EDIT: you also said that you know most of the people crewing. Well, no wonder you haven't had a bad experience then! Edited May 2, 2005 by Gloomybear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicky Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 (edited) Most of the crew seem to be very young - late teens? - The youngest one I know is 15 I think, maybe 16 but def one of the two and there are a few that age. Most I think are like 19-23 but there are older ones too though not many who are like 30 (from ther forum). Oh and sorry, I meant to say that I know most of the forum members that crew, not most of the crew members. Edited May 2, 2005 by nicky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloomybear Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Most of the crew seem to be very young - late teens? - The youngest one I know is 15 I think, maybe 16 but def one of the two and there are a few that age. Most I think are like 19-23 but there are older ones too though not many who are like 30 (from ther forum). Oh and sorry, I meant to say that I know most of the forum members that crew, not most of the crew members. There was a 16 year old crewing? Sorry, but that is way too young unless they were doing nothing more than handing out leaflets. And 19 - 23 pretty much proves my point - a CM event requires serious people management skills. To crew successfully you'll need to be able to keep your calm even while people are yelling at you, know when to bend the rules and when not to, and how to get large groups of people to do what you want and keep them in order (heres a hint - yelling doesn't work). IMHO its downright irresponsible to expect a 19 year old to be able to control large, excitable crowds in an adult manner- its simply asking too much. The kind of people management skills required comes with age and experience. I sincerely doubt that many crew members have that level of experience - I really don't mean to offend anyone reading but its just the way it is, and we're fooling ourselves to think any different. Once again, from the posts on here about queues and talks, there simply seems to be a major lack of organisation and management - and those two things are really needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelicFruitcake Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I didn't have any major problems with the crew members over the weekend. They were all friendly and helpful, although i think sometimes they weren't all 100% what was going on .e.g the queueing system in the morning before the VQ tickets were given out. I asked a couple of crew members whether I was in the right queue for Sean Astin and they said they thought so but weren't sure. I don't think that was their fault though, more of a general thing that they should have been informed of beforehand i.e. there is going to be one big queue before tickets go on sale that will be for all guests on this panel, and then it'll split off for each of the guests. It seems obvious now that I must have been in the right queue, but at the time I needed reassurance I wasn't queueing in the wrong place and it wasn't given unfortunately. Apart from that slight problem though everyone else was nice and friendly etc, particularly the lady on the Sean Astin queue taking the tickets at the end of the day on Saturday. She was very helpful to me and my friend so if you read this, thankyou very much! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vamps! Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Having crewed myself on one occasion, I have a fair idea of what kind of pressure the crew are under. The only thing in particular that bugged me when I crewed is that no member of staff is given at least an half hour break throughout the day to rest their feet, get some food in them and just relax for a bit before facing the crowds again. Its a very long day for the crew, on average its about 10 to 12 hours for a single day. Now if you work full time in a normal job, you can imagine how cranky you would be going all them hours and not even having a break. So I do sympathise with the crew and for those that are doing a full day, I think Showmasters should make allowances for them to have a good break. Yes there are people who walk around and supply the crew with food and drink however, in my opinion thats not enough, a crew member needs a proper break. I guess the bottom line is, you have to think of the crew and just not the customers. As for having crew at age of 16, not meaning to be offensive to those concerned, but yes I do think that is too young. They will not have had a day job as such, so they will have not gained any people skills, (which is one of the most important things about crewing). I seriously think they should look to be having members of at least 18 years old. Again, not meaning to be funny, but I sneaked down on the Saturday to see a mate and have a quick look about the event, the number of crew members I saw that appeared to be doing nothing was a bit of a concern as well. anyway these are just might thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacali Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 bear in mind though that people who crew are people who voulenteered for it, so if there was lots of young people crewing then i guess that means not enough older people volounteered. Also, not all 25-40 yr olds or whatever have people skills, so i dont think it's just about age really. ALso how are all the youngsters going to get experience of people skills and stuff if they dont have the opportunity to be working around lots of people? just my thoughts, please don't shout at me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vamps! Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 The event environment is not the place for youngsters to gain people skills. Simply because most of the time there is no one to surpervise them, mainly because they are busy elsewhere. Not only that but they are not really mature enough. As I understand the crew do get some money for working as I did at the first LFCC. Its made perfectly clear in the crew emails. you say that not all 25 - 40 year olds have people skills, well its down to Showmasters to pick the ones who do have people skills. We all have our different opinions on it and I am sure Showmasters wil bear them in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoden_of_rohan Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Can't be arsed to get into this fully now...far too knackered...but on a whole I'd say the crew were pretty good! Anyway, I'll get back to you on this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vamps! Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Can't be arsed to get into this fully now...far too knackered...but on a whole I'd say the crew were pretty good! Anyway, I'll get back to you on this one Ye lazy wench Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bell123321 Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I thought the organisation with the crew and event was awlful. HOWEVER, i generally thought "most" crew members were friendly enough and helpful enough. Tho one at the collectormania bit of the information desk when asked about two guests who were suppose to be there on the sunday, when asked about their where abouts was far from helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloomybear Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 The event environment is not the place for youngsters to gain people skills. Simply because most of the time there is no one to surpervise them, mainly because they are busy elsewhere. Not only that but they are not really mature enough. As I understand the crew do get some money for working as I did at the first LFCC. Its made perfectly clear in the crew emails. you say that not all 25 - 40 year olds have people skills, well its down to Showmasters to pick the ones who do have people skills. We all have our different opinions on it and I am sure Showmasters wil bear them in mind. Absolutely right - a CM event should not be used as a training ground for 'youngsters' to learn how to deal with people - Showmasters are meant to be running a professional event, not providing work experience. Looking at worse case scenarios, crew members are responsible for stopping fights, crushes or stampedes - if you can't handle people, you shouldn't be doing the job, and bear in mind the crew members are dealing with adults - people old enough to be a 16 year old's mother or father. It might seem unfair, but a kid simply isn't going to be able to manage to get the level of authority required to manage people just by wearing a teeshirt saying 'crew' on. If payment is made to crew members, to be honest there is absolutely no reason why SM couldn't look to hiring professional crowd control people for the event. Okay, so jobs like manning the help desk or fetching tea / coffee doesn't need an professional, so there would still be room for volunteers, but crowd control / guest liason (where professional attitudes are needed most) could be done by someone who really knew how to deal with situations, rather than a 19 - 23 year old fan who may well not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theoden_of_rohan Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 The event environment is not the place for youngsters to gain people skills. Simply because most of the time there is no one to surpervise them, mainly because they are busy elsewhere. Not only that but they are not really mature enough. As I understand the crew do get some money for working as I did at the first LFCC. Its made perfectly clear in the crew emails. you say that not all 25 - 40 year olds have people skills, well its down to Showmasters to pick the ones who do have people skills. We all have our different opinions on it and I am sure Showmasters wil bear them in mind. Absolutely right - a CM event should not be used as a training ground for 'youngsters' to learn how to deal with people - Showmasters are meant to be running a professional event, not providing work experience. Looking at worse case scenarios, crew members are responsible for stopping fights, crushes or stampedes - if you can't handle people, you shouldn't be doing the job, and bear in mind the crew members are dealing with adults - people old enough to be a 16 year old's mother or father. It might seem unfair, but a kid simply isn't going to be able to manage to get the level of authority required to manage people just by wearing a teeshirt saying 'crew' on. If payment is made to crew members, to be honest there is absolutely no reason why SM couldn't look to hiring professional crowd control people for the event. Okay, so jobs like manning the help desk or fetching tea / coffee doesn't need an professional, so there would still be room for volunteers, but crowd control / guest liason (where professional attitudes are needed most) could be done by someone who really knew how to deal with situations, rather than a 19 - 23 year old fan who may well not. Meh...I said I wouldn't get into tonight cos I'm half asleep, but I just wanna say this before I go to bed... As much as I get on with some of the under 18 year old crew members, I do agree that it should be over 18! As just pointed out, there are some harsh worst-case-scenarios and I reckon if someone isn't old enough to work in a pub and deal with that kind of crowd, they shouldn't really be working with the rabid-dog-type-crowd that can appear when the latest pin-up is a guest! Erm yeah, I'm rambling BED! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggerbabe Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I voted good. I only encountered a few crew members this collectormania, but the ones I did were lovely and very helpful. I met Sean, John and Lawrence on Friday and Bernard, Tom, Christian on Saturday. The guy that was the pit boss in the John Rhys Davies area on Friday was really good. My friends auto had smudged as Johns pen had leaked, so the guy asked John if i'd do it again for her. Vey helpful. The pit boss lady taking photos in Tom Felton's queue was also really lovely. She took loads of photos for us, was very chatty and let us stand and wait for our friends, when a lot of crew just tell you to move on and get out of the way, even when you are trying to take a picture for your friend. There are usually some bad eggs in the crew, luckily this year I didnt meet any of them! There was one girl that had a face like a smacked a*se. Probably only volunteered so she could sit next to Sean Astin/James Masters!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lams9999 Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Well, I have not read the whole thread and had no particular problem with the crew members but I do agree that I find strange that most of them are sooo young !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiggerbabe Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 The event environment is not the place for youngsters to gain people skills. Simply because most of the time there is no one to surpervise them, mainly because they are busy elsewhere. Not only that but they are not really mature enough. As I understand the crew do get some money for working as I did at the first LFCC. Its made perfectly clear in the crew emails. you say that not all 25 - 40 year olds have people skills, well its down to Showmasters to pick the ones who do have people skills. We all have our different opinions on it and I am sure Showmasters wil bear them in mind. Absolutely right - a CM event should not be used as a training ground for 'youngsters' to learn how to deal with people - Showmasters are meant to be running a professional event, not providing work experience. Looking at worse case scenarios, crew members are responsible for stopping fights, crushes or stampedes - if you can't handle people, you shouldn't be doing the job, and bear in mind the crew members are dealing with adults - people old enough to be a 16 year old's mother or father. It might seem unfair, but a kid simply isn't going to be able to manage to get the level of authority required to manage people just by wearing a teeshirt saying 'crew' on. If payment is made to crew members, to be honest there is absolutely no reason why SM couldn't look to hiring professional crowd control people for the event. Okay, so jobs like manning the help desk or fetching tea / coffee doesn't need an professional, so there would still be room for volunteers, but crowd control / guest liason (where professional attitudes are needed most) could be done by someone who really knew how to deal with situations, rather than a 19 - 23 year old fan who may well not. I've had 7 years experience working with the public in different job roles and I know for experience customer service is one of the hardest things you can do sometimes! You never know how the next customer is going to react, and you must be ready for it and know how to deal with it. You came have 10 people that are as nice as pie, and then one that is just out for an argument. Most 16/17 year olds will not have the maturity or confidence to deal with it. I was working in the shopping centre yesterday (not for Showmasters) and I know a lot of the secutiry guards that work for the centre, they were having a hell of a time trying to sort out the crowds, and they are security guards! Stick a 17 year old girl at the end of a guest queue to deal with it, and she'd have no chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgytrotter Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I voted "bad." In the day i spoke to only 3 crew members. 1 was lovely, 2 were not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliens vs predator Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I had no problems with the crew, if i asked any of them questions they would try their best to help me out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Wiggly Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 Although there were problems at C6 I didn't have any problems this time and thought the crew were great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhi Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 On the whole i thought the staff were good, except a couple who were very rude to me and my friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Wiggly Posted May 2, 2005 Share Posted May 2, 2005 I think three options Good, Bad and Painfully bad is slightly unfair. A fourth option 'Really Good' could have been added though I do understand the frustration of people on this thread as I had similar problems at C6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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