Why Don't you pay for it?

[Basementdweller]

Yes this a rant. No Apologies.

 

The old Troop Christmas party is this weekend, A night of bowling, movies, Pizza and such.

 

Well the PLC planned it, and when the cost was announced, the Parents threw a fit. $30 for an overnight?

 

Well bowling for a couple of hours with shoes $15,

 

Movie with small popcorn and beverage $10, friday night midnight showing.

 

Pizza and beverage at the Church $5

 

Seems the era of scouting discounts and freebees is over. The boys asked and I followed up with the business owners/managers.

 

I am already picking up the gas for the church vans, which always seem to be empty when we pick them up. So $100 in fuel out of my pocket.

 

 

So one of the parents suggested and got support from the rest of the parents that the Scoutmaster, as a christmas gift to the boys, should pick up the tab for the christmas party. Let me see $30 per boy 40 boys is $1200 plus gas for the vans $1300. I cannot afford, nor do I spend that much on gifts for my family.

 

 

So in an Email to the troop parents I asked if anyone of them could afford to Spend $1200 on Christmas gifts for people who are not family members. With the wife losing her job and some personal health issues I cannot do it. I was told the email was out of line and I was a rude and cruel person.

 

The event is still on, the PLC has the option of continuing with the current plan, modifying it or simply canceling the event. I don't care one way or the other.

 

 

 

Sick of entitled parents and the belief that the troop and scoutmaster have a bottomless pit of money. Can you say I am ready to be done with it. you bet your @55

[PbW]

I feel your pain, though not to the same extent. I'm the cubmaster for a medium sized pack (rechartered 49 boys) and we, like a lot of units, use popcorn sales to drive our budget. We try to do as much with that money as we can, but some things do have additional costs not part of that.

 

For example, I'm running monthly workshops to help boys earn their Sport and Academic Pins since they are going away. This program was not in the budget for the year and with about 40 boys each month coming to the workshops that's just shy of $200/m for awards and materials. When I introduced the parents to the program I said it would be $5 per boy per workshop.

 

You'd have thought I held a gun to their head and asked for their wallets with all the pushback I got. Did I mention that this pack is based out of and has 95% of our membership from an expensive private catholic school? They'll pay out their butt for private school because they want a good program for their boys, but ask them to put a few bucks into their kids scouting experience and all of a sudden we're running an inefficient and expensive program. Did I also mention that over 25% of the families did not sell one piece of popcorn this year to help with our costs?

 

Asking you to put out $1300 is asinine. You have every reason to be frustrated.

[Eagle94-A1]

What were the parents thinking? Are they out of their minds?

 

Sorry but the parents were flat out wrong, and you have every reason to be ticked off.

[qwazse]

Yes this a rant. No Apologies.

Has it been anything but ...?

 

... I am already picking up the gas for the church vans' date=' which always seem to be empty when we pick them up. So $100 in fuel out of my pocket.[/quote']Your first mistake. (But you've heard me say that before.)

 

So one of the parents suggested and got support from the rest of the parents that the Scoutmaster' date=' as a christmas gift to the boys, should pick up the tab for the christmas party.[/quote']This is where you go to your CC, tell him/her to find his/her spine, and have your back. Your answer to the parents should have been simple, "I ran Mr./Mrs. ___'s suggestion by our troop committee, who categorically disallowed for me to underwrite this activity from my personal expense. Would you like the CC's contact info?"

 

... I cannot afford' date=' nor do I spend that much on gifts for my family. ...[/quote']Irrelevant. If our SM was Daddy Warbucks and regularly hired a helicopter limo to shuttle his boys' buddies to play laser take on an island in the keys, I would not wanting him dropping a dime on my son's patrol. A scout pays his own way. How my son earns those $$ for extracurriculars is my business, not the troop's.

 

... So in an Email to the troop parents ...

Second mistake. Speaking up for yourself.

 

I was told the email was out of line and I was a rude and cruel person.

I'm just glad the members of this forum could give you years of practice getting such judgements.

 

The event is still on' date=' the PLC has the option of continuing with the current plan, modifying it or simply canceling the event. I don't care one way or the other.[/quote']Well, yeah. But make an effort to care about what the boys think. Remember they have to grow up with this crap.

 

Sick of entitled parents and the belief that the troop and scoutmaster have a bottomless pit of money. Can you say I am ready to be done with it. you bet your @55

 

In my neck of the woods, I call it "North Side Entitlement Mentality." What I do: 1. Tell the boys I'm not having any of it. 2. Tell the boys I'm not disrespecting their neighborhood, and in fact I could just as well find folks in every neighborhood (even wealthy ones) with the same attitude. 3. Tell the boys that fundraising is important. If they want a spur-of-the-moment car wash to see if they can shave costs, you'll see if they can make time for it.

 

Then, as ASM, I (and other committee) reply to these these comments (usually we know exactly who'll make them) and stick up for the SM. We tell the SM to saw some logs or call in some turkey. He doesn't have a bone in this fight even though some rude parents are trying to make it so.

[scoutldr]

Well, I don't think I would have emailed the parents. This is the boys' activity, not theirs. If the PLC planned this, they should have also planned how to pay for it (which it sounds like they did). The alternative is to go back to the PLC and tell them, if they can't find a way to fund it, then it's canceled. Next year, put it in the annual budget, and publish it to the parents along with all other details of income/expenses. And NO, being SM does not mean you need to fund anything you don't want to. Personally, over the years, I spent thousands on stuff, even anonymously paying for summer camp fees if it meant a scout could not go otherwise. But that was MY decision, not the parents'.

[Sentinel947]

$1,300? Holy moly! What are the parents thinking?

[Eagledad]

I'm just glad the members of this forum could give you years of practice getting such judgements.

 

LOL;)

 

Barry

[qwazse]

$1' date='300? Holy moly! What are the parents thinking?[/quote']

S. They could be joking. But it's a very old joke that, when you become "the guy", you will get tired of hearing. Or ...

• They could be offended that this extra expense was sprung on them this late in the year. This happens because want their boy to get the bare minimum out of his scouting experience because they think the best thing they could do for their kids is blow the wad on a flashy family trip to Disney, or (in PbW's case) tuition for the "best" schooling.
  
• They see no value in a boy planning his little $30 adventure with his scout buddies because they don't get how gratifying it would be to the boys who planned it if little junior showed up.
  
• BD could be a cruel and bitter person. And knowing that the remark would set him off, this is their small, mean way of sniping at him.
  
• They've been taught that by complaining about everything they wont be held responsible for some things. It's a perverse "Art of the Deal."
  

 

[jr56]

My troop just had the annual overnighter last Friday night.....the total cost for a program very similar to yours was 35.00 each......30 is not an outragious figure at all....for the parents to expect you to foot the bill as a Christmas present is insane at best....criminal at worst.....

[SSScout]

"$30 for an overnight" ..... Well, down here'bouts, one might expect $5. fee each to camp in State Park. $10 food for four meals. Plus a dinner sub stop on the way up Friday night .... Gas shared to the State Park, we ask each Scout to give $3 or $5 to their driver to defray that expense. That could easily be $25. And now they get bowling and a movie? Sounds like a bargain to me. Wait til Junior has a prom date.....

 

I totally sympathize. I think someone has it in for you for other reasons. I agree to get the CC's support and maybe also the IH and COR's. No SM should EVER be expected to be THAT charitable. Even if he was Scrooge McDuck helping with the Junior Woodchucks.

[Basementdweller]

It was no joke.

 

Cruel and mean? hardly....

 

The email went something like this.......

 

Parents,

 

I understand there is a rumor circulating that the Scoutmaster is paying for the Christmas Party. They are rumors and nothing more. At no point did I volunteer to pay for the event.

 

The cost for your scout to attend is $30 and that has not changed since the boys planned the outing last month...............

 

 

 

Q far as the gas in the vans goes. It started with one of the trustees complaining the troop runs all of the gas out of them and returns them empty. Untrue and I produced receipts to prove we filled the vans before we returned them. Heck I even bought locking gas caps as I think the neighbors may have been siphoning the gas out. At this point I think the trustee's are taking advantage of the troop.

 

At this point it is the cost of doing business.

 

 

sent.....I don't think the parents appreciate the size of the troop now. It isn't 15 boys any more.

 

 

 

The quartermaster tells me we have 15 paid.....so not all the parents are tight wads.

 

 

[qwazse]

... Cruel and mean? hardly....

Oh, to somebody not getting their entitlement it is. You're basically rubbing their "poverty" in their face.

Let's face it. Guys like us get our kicks when some kid comes to you asking about breakfast and we reply, "Well, the water is there, your bowl is in your pack, and your patrol's stove, pot, and oatmeal is thataway ..." Not everybody sees the good in that.

 

My bottom line: let the CC know about the parental "drama-du-jour" and tell him/her to fix it. The bigger the troop, the more you get these crack-pots, the more it can't be the SM who deals with them.

 

Basically BD, anything more than one sentence (that's all the boys will read anyway), is giving the haters just what they want. (I learned that one early on as crew advisor.)

 

That gas thing ... your CC and COR need to make sure it's in the troop budget.

[KenDavis500]

Let 'em know you'll pay for it next year out of the Scoutmaster salary they have now approved.

[SeattlePioneer]

A Scout is thrifty. That means he pays his own way, among other things.

 

 

 

So I think parents have a yip coming if they are being held up for $30 for a party.

 

 

This is where Scout Accounts make a lot of sense. They can give boys an opportunity to earn their own way towards such activities.

 

Perhaps the Scoutmaster should have let it be known that he would need to consult with the Troop Committee before approving of such a party. That might even be a job for the Senior Patrol Leader in some troops.

 

 

I'm assuming that the idea of pinning the cost on the Scoutmaster is a jovial way of pointing out that parents don;t want to be the ones pinned with this cost either.

 

 

My reaction is that everyone needs to have more respect for everyone else.

[O'Scouter]

I am really surprised.. I have never heard of a troop expecting money from the SM..on the contrary our troop tries to get together a little something for each of the volunteers. Even if it is just a box of candy or some small token. Sheesh.