Third week of camp, Monday: Rant.
This week, we are under staffed for the amount of campers we have. The past three weeks I've been assigned to the adult campers with disabilities, and for the first two weeks, we were over staffed for the amount of campers we had. This week, we have twice the amount of campers, and less than half the staff we had. At meal times, instead of having two counselors to a table, one counselor is assigned to seven campers during a meal, and has to listen and take care of all their demands by themselves...which means they, meaning me, did not eat today.
The heat didn't help any of our frustrations. The walking groups were a nightmare. We had about eighteen people to a walking group, walking from one destination to another, and about four counselors per walking group. And we had people in our group that weren't supposed to be in our group. Plus, it didn't help that the unit leaders didn't collaborate with each other, nor did they give counselors the right information. So today, I had a unit leader send a camper into the store who had already been in the store five minutes earlier.
We also had a camper we needed to send home. He was hitting and fondling counselors and staff, including me. I was sitting with him at archery today, and he kept hitting me, and then he fondled my butt.
The day just got worse, or maybe just sillier. Today at dinner, I decided to sit with another counselor, so I could actually eat something. Two of the campers are very close friends, and insist on doing everything together. One of them exclaimed, at the dinner table, that her friend had diarrhea. Exactly what we needed to know. One camper kept saying, over and over, that she wanted Italian dressing on her salad. And then I took a picture of two of the campers at my table, and the camper next to me said that if I took a picture of her, she'd kill me. Nice.
One of the campers pooped all over the gym today. Thankfully, I didn't have to clean that particular mess up. But in the past three weeks, I've had to wipe butts, wash pee sheets, clean up vomit, blood, and poop, change pull ups, etc. I have to make sure these campers eat the right food, shower and brush their teeth every day, walk with the right groups, take them to activities, etc.
Tonight I have to shower three campers, and put seven campers to bed. On top of being a camp, we're also a Christian camp, so every day I have to do devotionals, we have Bible study, and we have chapel every single night. I sing with the worship team. Every day, I have unit leaders screaming at me to do one thing, and campers screaming at me to do something else. I'm physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted and drained. I'm ready for a coma.
I have to endure this for six more weeks. :/
This week, we are under staffed for the amount of campers we have. The past three weeks I've been assigned to the adult campers with disabilities, and for the first two weeks, we were over staffed for the amount of campers we had. This week, we have twice the amount of campers, and less than half the staff we had. At meal times, instead of having two counselors to a table, one counselor is assigned to seven campers during a meal, and has to listen and take care of all their demands by themselves...which means they, meaning me, did not eat today.
The heat didn't help any of our frustrations. The walking groups were a nightmare. We had about eighteen people to a walking group, walking from one destination to another, and about four counselors per walking group. And we had people in our group that weren't supposed to be in our group. Plus, it didn't help that the unit leaders didn't collaborate with each other, nor did they give counselors the right information. So today, I had a unit leader send a camper into the store who had already been in the store five minutes earlier.
We also had a camper we needed to send home. He was hitting and fondling counselors and staff, including me. I was sitting with him at archery today, and he kept hitting me, and then he fondled my butt.
The day just got worse, or maybe just sillier. Today at dinner, I decided to sit with another counselor, so I could actually eat something. Two of the campers are very close friends, and insist on doing everything together. One of them exclaimed, at the dinner table, that her friend had diarrhea. Exactly what we needed to know. One camper kept saying, over and over, that she wanted Italian dressing on her salad. And then I took a picture of two of the campers at my table, and the camper next to me said that if I took a picture of her, she'd kill me. Nice.
One of the campers pooped all over the gym today. Thankfully, I didn't have to clean that particular mess up. But in the past three weeks, I've had to wipe butts, wash pee sheets, clean up vomit, blood, and poop, change pull ups, etc. I have to make sure these campers eat the right food, shower and brush their teeth every day, walk with the right groups, take them to activities, etc.
Tonight I have to shower three campers, and put seven campers to bed. On top of being a camp, we're also a Christian camp, so every day I have to do devotionals, we have Bible study, and we have chapel every single night. I sing with the worship team. Every day, I have unit leaders screaming at me to do one thing, and campers screaming at me to do something else. I'm physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted and drained. I'm ready for a coma.
I have to endure this for six more weeks. :/
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
heatdude:
wow that is intense...props to you I don't think I could handle that. Any cool pics too share? ie..wilderness, nature stuff?
mydogfarted:
