I heart what?
My children’s school runs an auction every year, apparently to raise funds for the scholarship fund. At least, I think that’s what it’s for. As a beneficiary of the scholarship fund, I appreciate that there are people willing to pay to go to this thing and then to bid huge (I mean huge) amounts of money for children’s art (nicely framed) and other things like tea with a teacher or weekends at someone’s beach house and so on. I, however, have not gone. Why, when I have to beg the school for financial aid, would I shell out $60 to go eat canapes. I never spend $60 on anything. I always give a little money to the annual fund and for the last two years, I have donated knitting to the auction — last year, it was a hat, mitten and scarf set knit to your child’s size and in his or her favorite color. This year, I knit two sweaters and sent them off. That’s me done, I figured. Let the rich people go.
But then I had two phone calls asking me to go. And then a friend who is on the auction committee asked if I were going. Well, no, I said. I’m too cheap really. So she asked if I wanted to work at the auction, doing set up or data entry or something. Well, sure, I said. I’m happy to be staff. So she signed me up, and I thought, so that’s cool. I will get to see what goes on at one of these things but I won’t have to get too dressed up and I won’t have to pay.
Except that I do have to pay. I am signed up to work AND I have to pay. And because I am signed up to work (and signed up through a friend) I’m pretty locked in. Which is fine, I suppose. I will go to the auction. I will work at the auction. I will pay to work at the auction. I will pay to work at the auction which is raising funds for those people who cannot afford to send their children to this school. Which is me.
That is just wrong. Too bad you could not have had the shirt for this affair. It would have been a lovely private joke (private, because it would have had a 99% chance of going completely over their heads).
Ugh! I think you should call the friend up and say, um, remember when I told you that I couldn’t pay? It meant that I COULDN’T PAY! I’m aggravated for you because I understand how a lost sixty dollars is *felt* by a household on a budget.
Urgh. I hate that. I work at a non-profit and we are more than encouraged to also become “members” even though we already work here.
–SP7
P.S. you should be getting a package soon I hope (I sent it Priority Mail last week)!