Members time -A disposable commodity?
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:03 pm
As a member, does the church show any accountability for the use of your time? Does membership indicate by default that your time is just expendable?
My ward asked if I would help out with providing some direction with upkeep of the landscaping for the building. I own a turf fertilization business, and have a bit of experience in this area, so I agreed. A project for applying new mulch to the landscaping beds at the ward building was already well underway when I signed on to lend a hand. The plan was to have the members arrive at 8am on Saturday morning, with wheel barrows and shovels in tow for the mulch spreading. I told the other couple of men on the grounds committee that I would arrive at 7:30 am with a gas hedge trimmer, to get a head start shaping the hedges and bushes. This way the trimmings from the landscape plants would not need to be gathered up as they could just be covered over with mulch when the members arrive.
7:30 am Saturday morning -
As I pull into the parking lot at "dawns crack", I notice that no mulch had been delivered. One of the other guys on the committee that also had arrived early tells me that he was at the building Friday evening and the mulch had not yet shown up. I am wondering why this fellow did not make a few calls that very night and delay this project until the following Saturday, since the mulch obviously was not present? Looking at my watch, I suggested we make some calls and save everyone the trip to the church property with their wheel barrows and such. "Oh we will just have the members go behind you and pick up the hedge trimmings", one guy replies. I explain that this is not necessary, as we can trim the hedges the following Saturday and spread the mulch over the clippings - we don't have to have people pick up the clippings, they will be covered heavily with mulch. Another member replies that now they are just going to pay the company that delivers the mulch in the next couple of days, to go ahead and spread the mulch as well. Puzzled, I then ask why we are still having all the members arrive this morning if there is next to nothing for them to do. The response then comes that we will instruct the members to "turn" the mulch that is currently in the landscape beds, which means you basically fluff it up with shovels and rakes. Again, not quite understanding the logic, I ask why we would "turn" the mulch if the company that will be delivering the mulch in the next couple of days, will be covering over all the beds with thick mulch anyway? The reply then comes, "This will give the members something to do". I said, "This is the weekend, I already HAD things to do"!
So, I trimmed the hedges, an army of members showed up and "turned" the sparse existing mulch that was already in the beds. I quickly left, not wanting to be tied to such a horrendous waste of man hours. I later heard that there were some grumblings among some of the TBM's once they realized how pointless their Saturday morning had become!
My ward asked if I would help out with providing some direction with upkeep of the landscaping for the building. I own a turf fertilization business, and have a bit of experience in this area, so I agreed. A project for applying new mulch to the landscaping beds at the ward building was already well underway when I signed on to lend a hand. The plan was to have the members arrive at 8am on Saturday morning, with wheel barrows and shovels in tow for the mulch spreading. I told the other couple of men on the grounds committee that I would arrive at 7:30 am with a gas hedge trimmer, to get a head start shaping the hedges and bushes. This way the trimmings from the landscape plants would not need to be gathered up as they could just be covered over with mulch when the members arrive.
7:30 am Saturday morning -
As I pull into the parking lot at "dawns crack", I notice that no mulch had been delivered. One of the other guys on the committee that also had arrived early tells me that he was at the building Friday evening and the mulch had not yet shown up. I am wondering why this fellow did not make a few calls that very night and delay this project until the following Saturday, since the mulch obviously was not present? Looking at my watch, I suggested we make some calls and save everyone the trip to the church property with their wheel barrows and such. "Oh we will just have the members go behind you and pick up the hedge trimmings", one guy replies. I explain that this is not necessary, as we can trim the hedges the following Saturday and spread the mulch over the clippings - we don't have to have people pick up the clippings, they will be covered heavily with mulch. Another member replies that now they are just going to pay the company that delivers the mulch in the next couple of days, to go ahead and spread the mulch as well. Puzzled, I then ask why we are still having all the members arrive this morning if there is next to nothing for them to do. The response then comes that we will instruct the members to "turn" the mulch that is currently in the landscape beds, which means you basically fluff it up with shovels and rakes. Again, not quite understanding the logic, I ask why we would "turn" the mulch if the company that will be delivering the mulch in the next couple of days, will be covering over all the beds with thick mulch anyway? The reply then comes, "This will give the members something to do". I said, "This is the weekend, I already HAD things to do"!
So, I trimmed the hedges, an army of members showed up and "turned" the sparse existing mulch that was already in the beds. I quickly left, not wanting to be tied to such a horrendous waste of man hours. I later heard that there were some grumblings among some of the TBM's once they realized how pointless their Saturday morning had become!