I guess being a charity isn't a good reason to want to raise money

[Sheldonrs]

This is an e-mail we received today regarding a charity auction held in our benefit.
Only the event name and the city & state have been concealed.
We must be the bad guys for wanting to get as much money as possible for the items.


"The silent auction at the (Name of auction event) in CITY, STATE tonight was fucking ridiculous!!!! I won't ever pay this bullshit of a foundation any donations because of the insanely rude people running the auction. I would have won the Rascal Flatts guitar but the crippled idiot ****** won it because you extended the motherfucking auction which was NOT fair and i hate this organization and doesn't deserve the donations given to help the kids with cancer. People should be SMART and donate to the BETTER cancer helping organizations!!!!!!!"

[Sundae]

We used to get the old biddies coming into the Save the Children charity shop and moaning about the prices.
"£2.50 for a book! You can get them 30p down the Spastics!"
Our African store manager would smile broadly and advise them to go where the goods were cheaper.

We were in an affluent area and received a lot of high quality goods. The coffin-dodgers were not our target customers, coming in to spend a pound on a bit of tat. We made money off the bargain hunters willing to part with £20 for D&G, Calvin Klein, Karen Millan etc. He turned the shop around from a social club for OAPs into a store which exceeded all targets.

I do feel sorry for the old ladies, because they obviously believed the "charity" part of charity shop referred to themselves. But the Hospice shop and the Help the Aged shop across the road were still available for that. We were into saving the children. Clue in the title.

Email that chap back, Shel.
"I'm not sorry about your Flatt. You rascal."

[Aliantha]

I don't know what the man is talking about re the extended auction, but I suppose if he didn't know and thought he had a winning bid he's got a reason to be unhappy. I guess if he was advised of the extension then he's just having a whine.

It's a shame there's unhappiness connected to fund raising events, but it seems that there usually is one way or another.

Never mind. Let's just hope everyone else was happy.

[wolf]

Silent auctions are where there are items set around on tables, each with a sheet in front of it. Instead of shouting at a fast talking auctioneer, bidders walk around with a pen and write in their name and how much they are willing to pay for the item. There is a specific start and end time for the auction. Apparently one of the auction monitors did not close down bidding on the item that the irate gentleman really wanted.

I take part in one of these every couple of years, for the Baltimore Fire Widow and Orphans fund. Last year I got two lovely medicine bags (native american beadwork pouches used to hold sacred and magickal stones and plant bits) and I split a collection of NYPD memorabilia with my friends (nice coffee mug, a hat, and a patch, real deal, not the commercial stuff you can get at souvenir stands in NYC). In order to win these items (keep someone from swooping your final bid in the last seconds), my friends and I positioned ourselves around the room next to the items we really wanted, and "guarded" them in the last five minutes, which may just mean adding a bid in the last seconds, or body checking someone out of the way to keep them from bidding during the final 10 second countdown.

The angry guy sheldon is talking about had someone, a cripple, no less, swoop his bid after the clock ran out. Quite possibly the cripple took advantage of his disability. angry guy should have just followed him out into the parking lot and beat the shit out of him rather than venting to a fine charitable organization.

[glatt]

I've been to one or two fundraising auctions like that, and sometimes it's pretty amazing the items that are donated and how little they are going for.

I remember one I went to where they had a Sonicare electric toothbrush and a bunch of other dental supplies in a basket. Donated by a local dentist. I had just shopped for and bought a similar toothbrush, and knew the value of the basket was probably close to $150. But it went for only $40 or so. Lots of other similar stories around that auction. On the other hand, there were some desirable items that prompted bidding wars far in excess of their actual value. People just wanted them.

So I can see somebody who thought they won a great bargain being pissed off, and also somebody who thought they won a desirable item being pissed. Still, it's a charity. Chill out, dude.

[wolf]

Our NYPD memorabilia collection went for around $90. The group of people that were going together on the bidding had kicked in around $150, if I remember right. I know it was well over the closing bid. We really wanted this stuff. So, anyway, when our designated bidder went to settle up at the end she gave the whole wad of cash to the girl, explaining that that was what we were willing to give the widows and orphans, and it wasn't our fault that the bidding closed lower at the final gavel (we had agreed on the disposition of the overbid beforehand).

What's sad at a silent auction are the items that don't get any bids at all. I sometimes bid at the reserve on those closer to the end, if I have any use at all for them, well, if I have room enough in my luggage.

The bidding wars can get ridiculous. I remember an amazon kindle3 wifi (they were new at that point) going for over $300, and an equally insane inflation on an ipod touch ... but the charity benefitted.

[Sheldonrs]

A follow-up. We forwarded the e-mail the the chapter that sponsored the event.
Here is what they found:


As a follow up to our exchange of emails about the ***** *** email sent last week to the national customer service center (see below), we have done some further investigation and now believe that***** ***is actually *** ****, whose name appears several times in the bid sheet for the Rascal Flatts guitar. She bid several times but did not receive the winning bid.

*** **** is a seventh grader.

We have not responded to her email and do not intend to respond. I have given consideration to contacting her parents to share the email with them, but have decided not to inject us into family matters. One of our volunteers knows the family and has said that the child’s parents would be appalled at the language in the email.

Please share this with the other staff who saw the original email. If you think we should do something different, let me know.

[Lamplighter]

The followup email sounds quite good to me.
They looked into the matter, and given the age (~12) of the kid, I think they made a reasonable decision.

From the kid's POV, it wasn't "fair", and that's an issue that is very important around that age.
It took a lot of repetition to our kids to balance the idea that "life isn't fair" with an optimistic outlook.

I hope if the kid's parents find out, they maintain an even keel between the language and the kid's situation.

[Sundae]

Rereading it, I can't believe I thought it was an adult.
Apart from the language it is such a childish rant.

Says something about my opinion of adults I suppose.

Kudos to the charity for stonewalling though.
It is the sensible decision.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

They looked into the matter, and given the age (~12) of the kid, I think they made a reasonable decision.

Maybe she's 19 years old. That might explain some things.

[Sheldonrs]

It ain't over yet. Another update:

Just FYI, I decided to take ******** up on his request that we let him know if we thought he “should do something different” about the ***** **** e-mail.

I told **** that, although reasonable minds could differ on how best to proceed, if I were *** ****s parents (assuming, of course, that *** and ***** ****are the same person), I would very much want to know that my 11 or 12-year-old daughter had written such a foul and inappropriate e-mail. He acknowledged that he has gone back and forth -- and that he even asked someone recently to ascertain the parents’ contact information from the volunteer who knows the family (who, incidentally, also believes the parents should be told about the e-mail).

**** thanked me for calling and said he will take my position “under advisement”; and I assured him I would respect whatever decision he ultimately makes ...

Regards,

****

P.S. We also discussed the fact that the radio station which conducted the silent auction did, in fact, screw up -- and that ***/***** had a right to be upset (if only she had expressed her displeasure in a more appropriate manner).

[monster]

um... why are they letting a 7th grader bid?