I am so irked!
Eggshibition was scheduled for last Friday night. When the weather started threatening, I got a bit worried. This is Youth Home's big annual fund raiser. If it snowed, would anybody show up for the auction? Would I show up? I'm notoriously wimpy about driving in bad weather.
On Thursday, I had two voice mails and one e-mail from Youth Home personnel telling me that Eggshibition would not be postponed, regardless of the weather. The venue (an arena at UALR) would be open even if UALR were closed. University employees were standing by to de-ice the walkways if necessary. I was getting exasperated. What was the point in de-icing the walkways if the roads leading to UALR were icy?
On Friday afternoon, I called Jonathan--my partner in this year's entry--and asked what he thought. Snow was pelting down as we talked. He said he wasn't going to stay over and try to drive home to Conway at 9:00 p.m. Everything was bound to be frozen up by then.
So when Polly called on Saturday, I had to tell her that I missed the event. I didn't even know whether our piece had sold, and I didn't get to see people play with our air cannon and flying monkeys. What a bummer. I intended to call Youth Home today to find out what happened to our entry.
Jonathan came by my desk early, and we checked the Eggshibition auction site. Holy disaster! Only a few of the pieces were marked "sold." Some of the most amazing artwork went for the price of the opening bid--$50 or $75, depending on the size of the egg. Our entry didn't get any bids at all. Then we noticed a note on the site that said the online auction had been extended through Sunday afternoon. That made no sense. Had they decided to continue the online auction for items that didn't sell at the event?
Then, this afternoon, Bethany came by my desk and happened to mention something about the event having been postponed to Sunday. WHAT???!!! That's right. The event was not held on Friday night after all. It was held last night. Both Jonathan and I could have gone if we had known. Evidently, they issued a little notice on the local news--after all that overkill of phone and e-mail messages. Good freakin grief.
I sent an e-mail message to the development office asking for information about what happened to our entry. I couldn't keep from sounding irked. I haven't heard back from them yet.
All this won't keep me from entering again next year. But I sure hope they get their act together.
4 comments:
OMG I can't believe this!!! You know, I noticed on the news last night they were talking about the Eggshibition as if it had occured that day. I was all confused because I had read your previous post about not being able to go on Saturday, and this was a Sunday. That explains why I saw the event on the news on Sunday, but it's still bad planning and even worse communication. Did they not see the same weather reports we did, and did they not make a contingency plan? Did they not have a communication plan? I'm so so so so so sorry!!!
I'm irked too!! I would have loved to have gone, had I known it was postponed. And I LOVED your and Jonathan's entry. I could have bid on that for sure! Do you know how much fun my kiddo would have had launching flying monkeys?!?
As a former development officer, I say FIE ON THEM!!! That's just inexcusable. They should have seen that storm coming (we all did!) and made a big deal of postponing early. If the whole idea was to sell art, they have to make the art available. They at LEAST could have phoned the artists.
I hope you sold well!
Oy - your story stressed me out. I handle the events at the performing arts center I work at and if the roads are bad and the university nearby is closed, we cancel events (even if they aren't our events). It's not safe and the turnout would be low. BUT we do notify everyone of the reschedule date.
I donated an item to charity this year. They made this big deal about how they want business cards to set it out to promote and such. I went to the auction and it took me forever to find my item. They had a bunch of crap laid out by themselves, but they packaged my item in a basket with a bunch of cheapo donations. I was miffed. A bit different, but kind of the same let down.
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