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[Persephone1]

and on a random note, I really appreciate that Kai still came despite everything and was so wonderful.

 

He told my friend and I that he was going to pull because it looked like work would clash with the event but sadly the work in question didn't pan out.

[TRUKid]

Good on Playfulheartmonkey, well done to him. If only I could have been so brave. All that's needed is a little courtesy, shame some people don't have any.

 

My thoughts exactly....

 

[Torchwood]

Postives.....

 

All the guests...especially Burn....he just looked soooooo happy to be there....as was Tom and Eve.

 

Schedules in the packs...great help.

 

MATT RIPPY........such an amazing guy...love him to bits, easy to talk to, game for a laugh and willing to do poses in photoshoots...and by poses i mean not ya normal hugs etc....

 

Everything ran in good order...being able to know where and where we were meant to be and SM crew aiding us all the way.

 

Negatives..............

 

Main huge one first...one of my friends is epileptic and she wasn't warned of flashing cameras prior to the guests coming out. She was warned just once by one lady on the crew who then told her it was safe to return to the room...she wasn't warned again and therefore missed intros with the guests and bits of talks. Now i run a company that involves guests being subjected to flashing images and we always notify when flashing will occur. NOT ONCE did i hear an annoncement from SM saying that if any epileptics or light sensitive persons were present they should leave the room if they felt the need to....i thought it would have been a health and safety issue of guests but clearly it was not. This should be announced....due to the lack of it and lack of help during it my friend suffered a fit when she went out and wasn't even found by anyone.

 

The t-shirts...just seems like the last pleas for the logo to be on THE FRONT was ignored...and it was such a good logo too and yet i can't wear it as my hair covers it...please SM logos on the FRONT.

 

Lack of badges....two this time...4 before...what went wrong there.

 

Lack of the special HUB 2 photo...we had the special HUB 1 photo free last time but not this time.

 

The cocktail party..gold party pass whatever you choose to call it...wine again and the bar not open again but open afterwards...no logic to it...plus it seemed that when the guests were walked around they were taken to the larger groups of people...i was only in a threesome and on 3 ocassions we were ignored and walked around...if it wasn't for my gutsy attitude i wouldn't have gone up to the wonderful Too Tall and told him....huge thanks Too Tall for getting me and my mates seen by the guests in the end.

 

Victorian party.....just what part of that was Victorian....sorry to be picky but it's one of my fave eras.....if anything it should have just been called casino night.

 

On the subject of casino night.....too small a space and not enough tables...me and my friends couldn't really get too anything, we did eventually...5mins before he shut up shop.

 

Bag room......please can we have that back for the next one......it was a nice safe place to leave your stuff, this time it was missing...replaced by scaletrix which i didn't even get seen used...did anyone go on it..everytime we went there it was shut.

 

I won't go on lol.............but they are my main bug bears....had to air them.

Edited March 16, 2009 by captainjackharkness

[Avengers7]

Have to say again - it was a great weekend but people do need to have some manners and not manopolise a guests time - a quick hello or a question is great but give others a chance. Also, I was a gold pass holder and there were no seats left for me on the saturday because I was late coming in.

 

Why people have to flash cameras in your face I dont know - at one point I thought I had been blinded because one lady too0k a photo of the guest arriving and it flashed in my face.

 

One last complaint - I couldnt hear half the things that were available in the auction because people kept talking or getting up. Show a bit of consideration to others please.

 

As usual thought as I said guests and crew were brilliant!!!! Role on Hub3

Edited March 16, 2009 by reddragon

[owlpost1992]

Ooh, although I wasn't aware of the situation with Phil Ford's writer's workshop for some reason so I missed it. I'm still not, so you might want to correct/ignore me here, but I would have loved to have seen a panel or something from him. It was still great to have him write the Randy script and meet him though.

 

Next to intimate encounters was a sign-up sheet and was really interesting.

 

Bag room......please can we have that back for the next one......it was a nice safe place to leave your stuff, this time it was missing...replaced by scaletrix which i didn't even get seen used...did anyone go on it..everytime we went there it was shut.

 

 

You gave your bag to ladies at the entrance and was better then dumping bags in rooms because it meant you had to run in and out of said room and when it was busy it took so long to dump bags that it almost made me miss Naoko last time so this way was better.

 

Scalectrix, my friend and I did try and go in there to play but only 2 cars worked and the 1 of the two still running kept falling off the track at a corner. Think they should have put Ianto's tourist office or Jack's office in there.

[starfighter]

i don`t normally moan on this forum but i have to on this occasion. I took my six year old daughter " i don`t think shes ugly but i`m her dad" why she loves Kai . Eve being there was a bonus as shes been in dr who and my little one loves the show.

As for taking children there is a watered down version of season 2 they can watch and are you going to stop Mark and Jason bringing Lara Phillipart to Hub 3 because she is to young. As for the screaming my daughter made less noise than the winners of the intermate encounters. She fell asleep through the sunday talks as she was unwell. I must admit it maybe hard to explain Randy to her if she asks.

I did make my daughter some t-shirts so she would stand out but she never bothered the guests. I already have the design for her hub3 t-shirt.

Moan over great weekend loved it all. Best bit for me was when Burn wanted to get one of the posters i done.

cheers to everyone at massive and showmasters, the crew and everyone else involved you do a great job.

[owlpost1992]

I screamed when I got the intimate encounter but it wasn't when something was being announced or question answered. I think that's not as bad as talking over answers.

[starfighter]

"I screamed when I got the intimate encounter but it wasn't when something was being announced or question answered. I think that's not as bad as talking over answers."

 

never said it was a bad thing just sticking up for my daughter and trying to point out it wasn`t just kids that were screaming

[Persephone1]

Lack of badges....two this time...4 before...what went wrong there.

 

Lack of the special HUB 2 photo...we had the special HUB 1 photo free last time but not this time.

 

The cocktail party..gold party pass whatever you choose to call it...wine again and the bar not open again but open afterwards...no logic to it...plus it seemed that when the guests were walked around they were taken to the larger groups of people...i was only in a threesome and on 3 ocassions we were ignored and walked around...if it wasn't for my gutsy attitude i wouldn't have gone up to the wonderful Too Tall and told him....huge thanks Too Tall for getting me and my mates seen by the guests in the end.

 

Victorian party.....just what part of that was Victorian....sorry to be picky but it's one of my fave eras.....if anything it should have just been called casino night.

 

On the subject of casino night.....too small a space and not enough tables...me and my friends couldn't really get too anything, we did eventually...5mins before he shut up shop.

 

Bag room......please can we have that back for the next one......it was a nice safe place to leave your stuff, this time it was missing...replaced by scaletrix which i didn't even get seen used...did anyone go on it..everytime we went there it was shut.

 

Wow that's quite the list of complaints!

 

In terms of the contents of the goodie bags why assume that you would get exactly the same as what you got the previous year right down to the number of badges? Things change from year to year.

 

The drinks reception was discussed at length on here with yourself I believe prior to the event and I think it was pointed out to you by several people that it's described as a "drinks reception" not a "cocktail party" and that it is entirely usual at most events and work functions for the free drinks to be a choice of wine or beer. In this case free wine was made available - if you required spirits you should have bought your own! Nowhere does it say that ME have to provide you with a "cocktail" at the drinks reception.

 

I liked the casino as did others and the poker meant that Gareth got to be very visible and everyone could watch him without him being bothered too much. Putting on a theme like the Saturday night party costs an immense amount of money - you can't have that lavish a theme each and every night - all other conventions that I go to still have themed nights but they do nothing at all to add to that theme. I, personally am hugely appreciative of all the time, effort and yes money that Jason and Mark put into the parties. Somehow I doubt the casino people and the various stalls on the Saturday night were doing it out of the kindness of their hearts.

 

As for the bag room the purpose of that last year was only for people to drop their bags when they were having a photo session - which was a huge pain and I thought the new system worked so much better. It was never intended for people to be able to store their stuff there all day and next time that won't be an issue anyway as the hotel is far larger so hopefully everyone should have their own room.

 

Obviously the little details do matter and ME showed over and over this weekend that they do listen to what their attendees have to say. But there is such a thing as being too pernickety.

[KrazyKid197]

The reason that the bag room was changed is because as said, it was designed for attendees to leave their bags in whilst having photos, and then was turned into photo distribution afterwards.

 

However, because lots of people took advantage and used it as a cloakroom, and didn't come back for their bags until very late, the new system was implemented.

[cazbutler]

"I screamed when I got the intimate encounter but it wasn't when something was being announced or question answered. I think that's not as bad as talking over answers."

 

never said it was a bad thing just sticking up for my daughter and trying to point out it wasn`t just kids that were screaming

 

Starfighter - were you the family I was talking to about kai in panto and your little girl was helping my little girl to build a bouncy castle out of all the balloons?

(sorry all, know its not in the theme of the thread but just asking)

[Tiggerboing]

Have to agree about the same people following the guests everywhere they go. I didn't really feel the need to chat with them during parties, so wasn't too bothered but found it really funny that you could tell where Kai or Matt were standing in the bar area only by looking at the density of the crowd

 

We called them Kai's 'little ducklings' at the Saturday night party

 

Unfortunately, have to agree on this one - and not just at the parties / bar area - in one of the Kai intimate encounters one of his groupies pretty much took over the talking. I am aware that some of these people get to know certain guests by following them round their other events - not necessarily Torchwood related etc but please - can you give them space so other people who have paid to attend get the chance to at least have a small conversation. Everyone is asked to give the guests space - but if you are constantly around it is obvious the guest is going to be with that group.

 

Was also disgusted with same people who probably thought they were having a laugh by putting 2p bids on Kai's intimate encounter even if they did put their names on there too - which quite rightly from what I saw - Jason was annoyed about.

 

 

Hopefully the followers of Kai & Gareth will get the message and back off next time although I doubt it.

[starfighter]

"I screamed when I got the intimate encounter but it wasn't when something was being announced or question answered. I think that's not as bad as talking over answers."

 

never said it was a bad thing just sticking up for my daughter and trying to point out it wasn`t just kids that were screaming

 

Starfighter - were you the family I was talking to about kai in panto and your little girl was helping my little girl to build a bouncy castle out of all the balloons?

(sorry all, know its not in the theme of the thread but just asking)

 

if you mean are you the ugly one with the crew cut and as daughter with a pony tail its me you can email me at starfighter101@yahoo.com

ps anyone can email me

[kingbantam]

The reason that the bag room was changed is because as said, it was designed for attendees to leave their bags in whilst having photos, and then was turned into photo distribution afterwards.

 

However, because lots of people took advantage and used it as a cloakroom, and didn't come back for their bags until very late, the new system was implemented.

 

The new bag system was brilliant. Very simple, very quick, bag pretty much always in line of sight. Definitely a change for the better IMO.

[Mrs Plinks]

I love the new bag system!!! I didn't feel very comfortable with my bag in a different room at the hub. I mean sure, people are there and watching, but it still would have been easy to just walk in and grab a bag I think.

And all the running around for the bags was a hassle, really liked how it was solved this time around

[BeatrixKiddo88]

Well at the Hub 3 there should be enough rooms in the actual event hotel for everyone, so you will only have to pop upstaires to drop stuff off. If I had been in the park inn this time I wouldnt of minded running upstaires occasionally to drop my bags.

 

All the kids I encountered over the weekend were fine. I do have to say just because the BBC puts out a watered-down Torchwood, dosnt mean the event will be/has to be the same. Now we have 2 events with the cast under our belts the legends of the filth and smut of the talks should spread pretty wide and help people decide whether to bring kids or not.

 

And I doubt any of the talks with say Gareth or Matt or John will include the little girl from the cast (sorry name escapes me), at least I hope they wont lol

 

But at no point do I want the talks or guests to be toned down, I laughed SO hard during all the talks because of the OTT smut and naughtyness lol

 

Thats Torchwood! Sex and violence. Its what the show was advertised as having.

[debsmadcat111]

Also want to say a big thumbs up for the bag system!

Much easier and less to worry about! Thank you!

[amyfinch]

This event was brilliant, thank you so much Showmasters! The timetable was VERY well put together and the information around the venue was clear and well placed, so we had no trouble finding out where we needed to be! And the new bag system was very efficient - I felt much better about leaving my bag for only a moment, and it was much quicker than going back and forth to that room like last year. You should definitely keep that system for all events! The games at the parties were brilliant too - very imaginative and entertaining!

 

The seating at the talks was as fine as always, although I did have a problem with the people that would claim isle seats, pretending anyone from getting up and down the central isle. I get that its the best seating and convenient, but when you're in a group of two or three it's just a bit rude to be so adamant as to not even stand up to let other people in. They're not going to steal your seat the moment you stand up, you know!

 

My friends and me remember from Hub 1 how territorial some people were about staying at the guests' sides, so we didn't even attempt to go near them at any of the parties - we were quite happy to groove away on the dance floor all night! But my English student friend (who is quite shy) had her heart set for weeks on chatting to Phil Ford about writing and generally constructive subjects, and I had to literally push her forward into his midst because so many people just barged right past us and tried to grab the conversation - some people had no shame on Saturday night especially! I left her be with him and she eventually got to talk - one woman was very nice and said "thank you for talking, but this lady has been waiting ages to talk to you!", so whoever that was, thank you very much!, as I think people would've taken advantage of her politeness if you hadn't introduced her! You're an

[Ophelia]

I had an epic time! Very few complaints really.

 

 

- In future, is there any way of stopping the same people clinging to a guest ALL NIGHT? We saw one surrounded for hours by the same people. We only wanted to ask a couple of questions or have a quick chat, and finally at 2am we got him over - only for the vultures to swoop in and steal him off again moments later, glaring at us as they did so. Also, my friends went to say good night to him and he was literally pulled away from them by the people in question!

 

- Not exactly many guests at the gold drinks reception. Not SM/ME's fault if the guests couldn't make it, but I know myself as others were disappointed at the turnout.

 

 

I agree, me and my friend waited patiently for people to move on but it never happened and because we didn't want to be rude or add to the crowd we gave up. However I don't think there is anyway to stop people being selfish without ruining th informality of the parties.

 

It would have been nice to have been told when the other guests who were delayed had actually turned up.

 

One last thing please could we have the themes for the parties released as early as possible, I only had time to make one costume, if we had more time we maybe able to impress Gareth next time with our Costumes maybe even get one of the guests to choose their favorite?

 

Really LOVE LOVE LOVED the extra details put into the Victorian Party and the Carnival Party it made them so special - can't wait to see what you do next Showmasters :-)

 

It was brilliant having the schedule in our packs and in TooTall size on the wall.

 

Bag dropping off and collection was so much better.

Edited March 16, 2009 by Ophelia

[Jewels1987]

I don't really have any negatives to say, well only personal reason negatives but thats more just sibling arguements more than to do with SM!! It was a brilliant Event and you made my sisters first time staying away from our parents and doing a convention absoutly brilliant. So brilliant in fact that she leaned over to me when you announced JB for Hub3 and said we are going! So yeah just thank you for the awesome weekend and we are both looking forward to Hub3 in October, thank you!!

 

Also giant Schedules = FTW!!!

[slaycandy]

Negatives..............

 

Main huge one first...one of my friends is epileptic and she wasn't warned of flashing cameras prior to the guests coming out. She was warned just once by one lady on the crew who then told her it was safe to return to the room...she wasn't warned again and therefore missed intros with the guests and bits of talks. Now i run a company that involves guests being subjected to flashing images and we always notify when flashing will occur. NOT ONCE did i hear an annoncement from SM saying that if any epileptics or light sensitive persons were present they should leave the room if they felt the need to....i thought it would have been a health and safety issue of guests but clearly it was not. This should be announced....due to the lack of it and lack of help during it my friend suffered a fit when she went out and wasn't even found by anyone.

 

 

 

The website DOES state that flash photography is allowed for the first few minutes of each talk and that there will be a countdown for it to cease. We do advertise on the site that photography is allowed.

 

PLUS in your registration pack you all received a "How Things Work!" guide which stated the following:

 

Photos in talks: For the comfort of our guests we only allow flash photography for the first few minutes of the talks. Once you are asked to stop flash photography please do so. You can continue to take photos but only without flash.

 

Again, clearly stating that there will be flash photography.

 

This is a convention, and it is expected that people will want to take photos. These statements have been online since the Hub 1 website went online and were also in your packs.

 

I don't mean to be rude, obviously this is a serious issue, but I am just stating that it WAS mentioned prior to the event, AND in your registration pack. This is not something that has just not been mentioned anywhere.

 

 

 

 

Lack of badges....two this time...4 before...what went wrong there.

 

Lack of the special HUB 2 photo...we had the special HUB 1 photo free last time but not this time.

 

The goodie bag will always change, you don't always get the same items, the Jubilee Pizza badge wasn't a simple pin that can be made up, it was a really nice and different badge to get.

 

And the special Hub 2 photo WAS available in the dealer's room if you wanted it. It got added into the Gold Pass packs at Hub 1 as a last minute extra, but the collages have been sold at each of the events this year and will most likely be sold at all of the future ones too.

 

 

On the subject of casino night.....too small a space and not enough tables...me and my friends couldn't really get too anything, we did eventually...5mins before he shut up shop.

 

They had the same number of tables, in the same space as they did at the Eternal Twilight event and it had nearly twice as many attendees. No one complained about space or tables at that event, everyone seemed to think it worked just fine.

 

 

Bag room......please can we have that back for the next one......it was a nice safe place to leave your stuff, this time it was missing...replaced by scaletrix which i didn't even get seen used...did anyone go on it..everytime we went there it was shut.

 

 

The whole reason we stopped the bag collection room was to stop people using it as a locker service. It was just supposed to be somewhere that people could put their bags down while they got a quick photo and jumped out to collect their bags again.

 

The Scaletrix was something extra added by showmasters that will be at most of the upcoming events, and just because you didn't personally like it at this event, doesn't mean that others won't like it either. At Chevron 7.2 there seemed to be a fair few people having fun with it. This was not a "replacement" for the bag room, the bag room wasn't going to happen anyway.

 

SJ

x

[shamazipan]

one woman was very nice and said "thank you for talking, but this lady has been waiting ages to talk to you!", so whoever that was, thank you very much!, as I think people would've taken advantage of her politeness if you hadn't introduced her! You're an

 

You're Welcome. I waited a while to talk to Phil (who kindly wasn't offended when I told him that he had written my least favourite scene of Torchwood ever) and noticed that she had come over not long after me, but there was a large crowd by the time I had finished chatting with him so wanted to make sure she got a chance. She came up to me the next day and thanked me too. Torchwood fans are so polite!

 

I had a fantastic time at the weekend! The guests were great and entertaining as usual! The parties were brilliant fun too an so much work went into them. I too approve of the new bag system, especially as I had autos an photos back to back for most of Saturday morning an it was brilliant to not have to run madly back an forth to drop bags off all the time.

 

I don't really have any complaints. I would maybe have liked there to have been more torchwood related questions in the panels. I know the questions are submitted by fans, but what's your favourite film etc questions aren't very interesting. Also, asking the same questions but to different guests at different panels was also a little tiresome. Having 6 different people tell us how they got into torchwood (they auditioned) was hardly earth shattering and was time that could have been used to ask more in depth questions.

 

Regarding children at the hub - I don't think its fair to decide what environment is suitable for a child unless you are that child's parent. If an event is all ages then it is up for the parent to decide whether their child will be safe and comfortable there. The children at the event were a lot better behaved than some of the adults.

 

Also - many thanks to the dj at the Sunday night party. A few of us wanted to hear some John Barrowman stuff and though he didnt have it he let me stick my ipod on. It was a great night to top off a fabulous weekend and I cant wait to do it all again in October!

[Purple_Vamp]

Well, I think the lack of bag room worked really really well.

 

I found at the first Hub and at Eternal Twilight a few weeks ago, I was putting my bag in for a photo, taking the bag out again to run off and grab an autograph, then putting my bag back in for another photo, taking the bag out, having another autograph and so on.

 

Far far better idea doing it this way.

 

Too tall in the Freak show - fantastic!!

 

 

 

Only a couple of disappointments for me. The first one was when Kai was doing his signing he was giving everyone a few seconds of attention as he did their autographs, but then Eve came back from her photo shoot and at that same time it was my turn for his autograph - he just signed it and pushed it to me without even saying a word, didn't look up and just spent that time doing mine and my friends chatting to Eve about something.

 

My friend who has been doing conventions for years said that he's come across it before and not to get too disheartened about it as you get used to it after a while, but after Kai was so sweet and nice to me at the first Hub I just felt really disappointed.

 

And the guests being hogged, yeah, it did bother me a little bit as I would have loved to chat to two of them, but was brushed off by one of them and the other I didn't have a hope in hell of chatting to - even though my friend was saying that I should just "Go in there and chat", what hope did I have of getting anwhere near when there were about 30 or more people practically falling over this guest.

 

Otherwise, totally fab time had

[glee]

Not having been to a convention before I don't really have anything to compare it to, but oh well.

 

good points:

- Bag system - quite liked the way this worked as it was convenient and you were only away from your bag for minutes rather than having to leave it in a room and go back to collect it again <shrug>

- Highly visible schedule = good

- The way the groups and queuing were set up seemed to work well (some waiting inevitably but at least there weren't long blocks of time waiting followed by frantic sections, etc)

- Having places for the intimate encounters drawn by raffle in addition to the bids (although my view may possibly be biased here *cough* *ahem* :\ )

 

some not-so-good points:

- guest hogging - as others have mentioned, possibly inevitable (or at least not in the organisers' control), but extremely frustrating nonetheless

 

[...]

Only a couple of disappointments for me. The first one was when Kai was doing his signing he was giving everyone a few seconds of attention as he did their autographs, but then Eve came back from her photo shoot and at that same time it was my turn for his autograph - he just signed it and pushed it to me without even saying a word, didn't look up and just spent that time doing mine and my friends chatting to Eve about something.

 

My friend who has been doing conventions for years said that he's come across it before and not to get too disheartened about it as you get used to it after a while, but after Kai was so sweet and nice to me at the first Hub I just felt really disappointed.

 

And the guests being hogged, yeah, it did bother me a little bit as I would have loved to chat to two of them, but was brushed off by one of them and the other I didn't have a hope in hell of chatting to - even though my friend was saying that I should just "Go in there and chat", what hope did I have of getting anwhere near when there were about 30 or more people practically falling over this guest.

 

Otherwise, totally fab time had

 

Similarly - the person in front of me in the autograph queue had put together a book of photos from the S3 shooting (at least that's what it appeared to be) and Kai was understandably impressed and poring over it, showing it to Eve and gushing over it with the person and thanking them for bring it for him to see+sign - which is great and shows that he appreciates that people have made the extra effort. For my autograph immediately after that, he barely made eye contact and pushed it back at me with hardly a word. Realise that I hadn't brought a gift or anything extra to offer so would not warrant as much attention as someone who had, and guests are there to sign and have no obligation to speak to people while doing so, and if they do would obviously choose to speak to familiar faces / people who have gone the extra mile; at the same time there's no better way to make a person feel like sh*t under their shoe, no?

</end sleep-deprivation fueled rant>

 

overall good outweighed bad, and hugely thankful to the organisers for doing such a great job (and putting up with my annoying questions / freaking out ;P )

[Persephone1]

Similarly - the person in front of me in the autograph queue had put together a book of photos from the S3 shooting (at least that's what it appeared to be) and Kai was understandably impressed and poring over it, showing it to Eve and gushing over it with the person and thanking them for bring it for him to see+sign - which is great and shows that he appreciates that people have made the extra effort. For my autograph immediately after that, he barely made eye contact and pushed it back at me with hardly a word. Realise that I hadn't brought a gift or anything extra to offer so would not warrant as much attention as someone who had, and guests are there to sign and have no obligation to speak to people while doing so, and if they do would obviously choose to speak to familiar faces / people who have gone the extra mile; at the same time there's no better way to make a person feel like sh*t under their shoe, no?

 

And that would have been me.

 

And yes I have been to a few things to see him and gave him a little pressie as he's always been so exceptionally kind to my friends and I.

 

I think you have to remember that the actors are only human and aren't always brilliant at small talk. Some of them are surprisingly shy. And I've had people sign my autograph while talking to someone else or sign without looking up. And I've found the best way to ensure that doesn't happen is simply to talk to them. Signings are tiring and I couldn't imagine coming up with small talk all day for 2 days while meeting 520 people. But if you have one question that you really want to ask ready for when you get to the signing desk I find that even the quickest and the rudest signers (and they are plenty out there but none at this event I have to say) will stop, take a moment's pause and answer. It's got nothing to do with presents - I rarely give them as I know that for the most part the actors don't tend to keep them. It's all about the conversation. It's really hard and not something that comes particularly naturally to me but you really do have to initiate the conversation as it won't always be forthcoming from the actor.

 

But I'm sorry that you didn't have the best experience meeting Kai - he's incredibly lovely and would probably be upset to realise that you felt you hadn't been treated well.