Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts
By Alyce Wilson
August 23, 2005 - All Aboard
The con chair and Otakon mascot, Hiroko-Chan
For The Gryphon and me, this year's Otakon experience began on Thursday when we drove down to Baltimore to help get ready for the convention. We had left my dog, Una, at the pet sitter's the night before, because it made it easier for everybody involved. She tends to get pretty excited when things get taken out to the car, so it was nice that she was already safely at the pet sitter's.
We made really good time driving down to Baltimore from Philly, although as we were getting close we had an unanticipated problem. We were talking, so we missed the exit to downtown Baltimore. I got off at the next exit, but finding out way back onto I-95 wasn't so easy. The signage was pretty unclear, and soon we were driving away from the city across a stone bridge on Route 2. We got directions from a corrections officer who was on her way to work.
After we were headed the right direction, we had no more problems getting
to the Day's Inn. The Gryphon, who was the human resources director this
year, a newly created position, immediately jumped in with both feet,
checking in with the departments under him and making sure everything
was going smoothly.
I had a little time before I had to show up at my post. This was my first year as a registration lieutenant, which meant I'd be in a leadership position for the first time, answering to the department head. I walked over to the Baltimore Convention Center to the operations hub, Con Ops, to see about getting myself some small staff T-shirts, since the mediums I bought last year are now too big. While there, I also had orders from a couple other staffers who also needed new T-shirts.
Much to my surprise, few small sizes were available, since the only available shirts were left over from last year. I was initially told that more shirts would arrive later, but since I didn't think I'd have a chance to come back, I decided to try to find my size now and to also get shirts for The Gryphon, who's also dropped a size.
I couldn't find any small regular staff T-shirts, but I found three small staff polo shirts and three large ones for The Gryphon. I bought those, as well as the other shirts I'd been asked to pick up.
It's a good thing I got them when I did, because I later heard there was a mix-up with the company making the T-shirts and the new staff shirts never arrived.
Back at the hotel, The Gryphon and I checked ourselves in and brought our bags in from the car. I took the opportunity to try on my new polo shirt, only to discover that it was just as large as the medium T-shirts had been! I guess the polo shirts are sized differently. But like I said, I was one of the lucky ones, getting shirts even close to my size.
Now, while in the BCC, I had checked in with the registration department head, whom I'll call the Big Kahuna, in part because he was in charge and in part because all weekend long he wore a different Hawaiian shirt every day. This made it very easy to pick him out in a crowd.
The Big Kahuna told me to get myself a bite to eat and then come back to help get set up for preregistration, which would start that evening.
The Gryphon and I walked back to the BCC together, stopping at Burger King to get ourselves some veggie burgers. The workers there did not seem highly motivated to get our sandwiches quickly. The slowly moseyed around the kitchen, getting the ingredients, it seemed, from the four corners of the earth. I was reminded of the sketches from The Carol Burnett Show, with Tim Conway as the shuffling old man.
What with the delay, we got back to the BCC with just enough time to scarf our food down before the staff meeting, held in the Pratt Street Lobby. I finished my sandwich while I stood out there, listening. Most of the information was stuff I'd heard in previous years, but I kept my ears open for anything new.
At the very end, they took the staff picture on the steps leading down to the main entrance, the idea being that it was probably the most staffers we'd get together for the rest of the convention.
Then I reported to the Big Kahuna for my orders and he assigned me to a small bank of stations off to the side, consisting of six terminals. This first evening would only be preregistration, or people who had paid in advance. You had to check their I.D.'s to make certain they were who they claimed to be and check them in so they could pick up their badge and welcome packet.
Before we got started, I had a brief talk with my friend, The Paper, who had been a lieutenant in previous years. I got more detailed insight as to what the job entailed. But I was still a bit nervous.
Ten or 15 minutes before the doors were to open, when I'd been given some staff and assigned them to stations, I still found myself standing around waiting for orders, as I did in previous years when I was just a staffer. Finally, I said to myself, "It's show time" and switched into management mode. I gathered all my staffers together so I could give them some instructions, let them know who I was and get them fired up a little for the evening.
As the first people started streaming in the door, I roamed back and forth behind the counter, watching for problems. We had them, of course, but I found that it was easier than I'd anticipated. A lot of the questions were ones I'd dealt with myself in previous years, and for those who had less typical problems, I could send them over to the problem desk, a station set up just for resolving such issues.
Fortunately, I had a very enthusiastic gopher who could serve as a runner. She introduced herself to me as "Ina from China" and was a bundle of energy. She completed every task, it seemed, seconds after I assigned it. She was my lifeline to the Big Kahuna and to Con Ops. She was also very good at keeping the stations supplied with materials for the welcome packets.
And she kept her eye open for other tasks I didn't always realize needed to be done. For example, when she noticed that the line control person was having trouble seeing when people were ready for new members to process, she asked if she could make signs that said "Next" for them to hold up. I gave her permission to do so.
While she worked, she talked a mile a minute about all kinds of things, and her sense of humor kept the evening from seeming monotonous.
I didn't get a lot of time to talk to the other staffers and gophers until things started to slow down later. It seemed like I had a really good group. I don't know if this was intentional, the Big Kahuna knowing this was my first year, or if the registration staff just tends to be a very dedicated crew. I was pleased to learn most of them were going to be in my area again tomorrow morning.
One of the newer staffers is the son of the head of Tech Ops, sharing the same name, although the son went by a nickname. He was dressed in cat ears with a bell around his neck, and when the Big Kahuna first led him across the room to me, he was barefoot. I took one look at this tanned guy with shoulder length blonde hair and thought, "Oh, no. He's giving me a surfer." But after talking to him a short while, I discovered he was very intelligent. He was great to work with because, while he always checked with me first, he was very good at trouble shooting.
Another staffer who stood out to me was stationed at the handicapped booth at the very end. He was very dedicated and, as I found out later, predated me at Otakon. It was great to have someone with so much experience. He was very polite and very efficient.
While all my staff were dedicated, another one who stood out was a woman who had been a gopher for several years and had always impressed Otakon staff with her work. She was just in her first year at registration but picked up on everything really quickly and was self-reliant.
And I also had in my area an old friend I've known since my Penn State days, who frequently does anime-related interviews for Wild Violet.
I tried hard to stay on top of people's names, which was easier because of the small size of my area. All told that evening, I had about 13 to 14 staffers and gophers, all of whom were wearing name tags. I was pleased with how smoothly things went.
Once our side was closed down, the Big Kahuna posted a staffer there to make sure nothing walked off, and I was free to go. I checked in with The Gryphon to see what he was up to. He was, of course, still needed, because as long as people in the sections he supervised were on duty, he had to step in to assist them in resolving difficulties.
So I put on my second hat, that of The Gryphon's assistant, and accompanied him around the BCC, to be an extra set of hands, an extra friendly face.
We didn't leave until the BCC shut down that night, then walked back with a group of staffers. His job still wasn't done, and he was called on his way back to the hotel to deal with another issue. I was asleep in bed by the time his day finally ended.
More from Otakon 2005:
August 26, 2005 - Riding It Out
August 30, 2005 - End of the Ride
Musings on Otakon 2006:
August 8, 2006 - Bunny Ears of Command
Musings on Otakon 2004:
August
10 , 2004 - Overture to Otakon
Musings on Otakon 2003:
Moral:
Small is a relative term.
Copyright
2005 by Alyce Wilson
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