Volunteer Conduct

It should go without saying, but remember that our goal is to provide a good time to the attendees. We’re often the first face that a congoer sees, and it’s important that we are polite, professional, and provide good “customer service,” and help congoers make memories they will treasure forever.

Be Proud!

Many con volunteers have a terrible habit of trash-talking or downplaying the experience of being a con volunteer, as a joke. There’s no good reason to be doing this! We accomplish amazing things together as a team, and we should be really fucking proud of what we do. It does more harm than you think; if a congoer overhears these negative comments and doesn’t realize it’s a joke, you may have just scared them away forever, making one less person helping us and one more person’s worth of work everyone has to do. We’re sabotaging ourselves with our collective negativity and cynicism, and I beg of you, it needs to stop.

We all exhaust ourselves sometimes despite our best efforts, but when someone comments on how tired you look, respond with something positive like “because I had such a blast helping out last night that I forgot to sleep!”

Self-care

We often see volunteers forgetting to engage in self-care and overworking themselves. Let’s be abundantly clear: Overworking yourself will not impress anyone; it will only make more mistakes someone else has to clean up. Everyone has a limit; please be honest with yourself. If you’re getting burned out, tired, hungry, or frustrated, please reach out for help; you are never alone and we are all a team. Contact your lead, Con Ops, or the volunteer desk to get help. Not only does asking for help make sure that you stay healthy, but it also helps us realize a department is understaffed so we can address it in the future.

While we never want to, if you are visibly burning out we may remove you as staff temporarily in order to give you the chance to relax.

Convention badges

You must wear your convention badge to enter convention space, just like any attendee. Your staff badge is not a substitute. Our hired badge checkers are only trained to understand regular convention badges.

Issue handling

Do not just quietly “fix” problems for other departments. If you see that a con function is breaking down or is not working as intended, it is crucial that you notify the responsible department. There are two reasons for this: the department is aware of its own policies and will execute them consistently, and departments also need to be aware if something isn’t working the way they intended.

Attendee code of conduct

You are responsible to follow the attendee code of conduct as well as everything in here.

Hygiene and 6-2-1

It’s in the attendee code of conduct, but we all get busy and often forget. Please strive to follow the classic 6-2-1 rule of 6 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower per day. Please use or share your food vouchers; they help us meet our catering minimums.

Door checker code of conduct

We use hired help for door badge checking. If someone on a door check is being a jerk, please report that behavior to Con Ops so we can report it to the company providing the hired help.

At the same time, if someone is going above and beyond, get a name and let ConOps know as well. We love being able to praise their hard work (and request them by name next year!)

Don’t be a jerk

Nobody ever deserves to be treated poorly. If any attendee, another volunteer, even your lead, or even the chair, is being a jerk to you, speak up and tell them you don’t like how they’re talking to you. Sometimes people need a gentle reminder when they're highly stressed. Everyone is expected to remain professional and courteous. If you find yourself too stressed to remain courteous, you need to remove yourself for a while to calm down.

No trash-talking

Don’t be a jerk to other conventions either. Please refrain from speaking poorly of or mocking the shortcomings or failings of other conventions in a public setting. If you disagree with something another convention does, use their proper feedback channels to make your voice heard.

Social media

If you are a staff member of the con, you have to think more carefully about what you say on social media. We don’t want to censor you or tell you what you can or can’t say on social media. However, like it or not (and most of us don’t like it), being a staff member means that our congoers may hold you accountable for what you say even when you’re “off duty,” and they may even bring up your attitudes with the convention itself. If you publicly express attitudes that contradict the culture of the convention, you may need to be willing to adjust those attitudes, or at least keep them to yourself. If you’re unwilling to do that, we may need to part ways.

Hotel interfacing

If a representative from the hotel approaches you regarding an issue, please direct them to Con Ops and don't try to address it yourself. We need to keep records of hotel requests.

Policy Decisions

If a policy is not clear, it’s your lead’s job to interpret policies and procedures, and decide how to proceed. Let them decide. Please follow your lead’s decision. If you disagree with their decision, please email feedback@goblfc.org so we can review. If you believe their decision has created an immediate threat to safety or property, contact EOD. Please ask your lead to include that situation in your department’s instructions in the future.

Conduct of Attendees

If an attendee is doing something that violates the code of conduct, politely ask them to stop. Do not go any further than politely asking them to stop. If they refuse, note their badge number, and let Con Ops or FLARE know the location of the offender. Do not touch or otherwise restrain a misbehaving attendee.

Alcohol Use

Safety-sensitive departments (examples: logistics, crowd control, fursuit lounge) are never allowed to have any alcohol while on duty. For other departments, ask your lead if it’s allowed. Even if allowed, it is never okay to be drunk while on duty. You should still be fully coherent and functional.