I’ve been a volunteer off and on my entire life in some form or fashion.
I mean, it’s varied from extracurricular work back in school to local organizations and non-profit entities.
And even during my tenure at the paper, I’ve volunteered for special events and various boards.
The only real hang-up I have with volunteering is when I’m “voluntold” to do something.
By definition, voluntold is a slang term that combines volunteer and told to describe a situation where someone is assigned a task of obligation even though it’s presented as a voluntary act.
I think it rather sounds like being passive aggressive and manipulative.
I’m not a fan of the overall voluntold process at all because I prefer to have open and clear communication about the tasks or requests being made of me.
Whenever anyone has a problem with that, I just tell them that that’s how my mom raised me and it just makes life easier to be as transparent as possible.
My mom made sure all of her children knew the importance of communicating clearly and effectively.
It’s practically a millisecond’s worth of a reflex to use that same skill in nearly all of my news and feature articles that get printed every week.
I also know that not everyone else has the same background, but it can be learned if someone is willing!
For me, being voluntold just withers away my drive or determination to engage in said task that was sort of asked of me.
It’s really grating whenever I’m in the middle of completing said task and get derailed by someone’s comments.
And I suppose it all boils down to nuances and trying to understand them.
Most of us are grown adults and I get there are still language barriers, time limits, emotions, and other similar constraints.
However, I also believe that each and every one of us could grow into better people by communicating more effectively.
A large number of those that need to communicate more clearly can choose to continue their passive aggressive behavior ad nauseum.
Now we’re veering into my pet peeve territory and I might be dusting off my digital soap box while writing this.
I find it to be especially unnerving when someone ignores the institutional memory that I can provide in these volunteer groups.
Institutional memory is a collective set of facts, concepts, experiences, and know-how held within organizations or corporations.
While I’m not overflowing with nearly as much information as my respected elders – I’m also no slouch when it comes to things in my wheelhouse either.
I was taught that it’s the newspaper’s job to be archival and factual.
Truthfully, it’s becoming more apparent that we’re also personally retaining information that gives us insight that the layperson might not have.
We’re also the ones that help break down jargon-riddled notices and press releases into something easier to digest and understand.
I’ve even received comments from readers that thank us for our job trying to keep our pens to the pulse of the county!
I don’t think we’d be doing as well if we weren’t communicating as effective as possible – something that blows being voluntold to complete a task out of the water.
