Do have a cuppa vs bog off and make it yourself

I also think it is unreasonable to expect someone to make so many cups of tea - who does the washing up? /I hope they didn't expect you to do that as well.. In the office I worked in we all made our own drinks when we wanted one. I think it would be reasonable to say to the manager that it is not normal office practice to make drinks for people - any problems move to a new charity. Sounds a crappy rule to me.

In the past I was a volunteer for two different charities working for the same cause. One really valued me and the other used me, treated me always as the new girl and gave me the crap jobs. Looking back I should have left earlier. They always made me feel uncomfortable. When we moved I left and they didn’t like it. The group broke up within weeks!!

It's a shame, Silverlining48 - I too was a volunteer administrator for a local branch of a very well known dementia charity. At least, the job title was Administrator but.......it really should have been "Doormat and Maid-of-all-Work".

I was fetching and carrying and being sent out for everyone's soup and sandwiches, being told to clean the office kitchen microwave, sort the cutlery drawer, wash the crocks piled up in the sink, etc, etc.

I NEVER once actually touched a computer much less actually do any admin.

One day I saw the light and simply didn't turn up and neither did I phone with an explanation, I was so pissed off with the lot of them (and they also never once uttered the word "thankyou" - truly.)

They never contacted me to find out if I'd been abducted by Martians, that wad how much they valued volunteers!

Making 1 cup of tea or whatever per person is fine, but 4 is a bit excessive.
Where I used to work, if you were making a hot drink for yourself, you asked if anyone else wanted a drink and then made it accordingly.
As you are only there for one morning, I have to wonder what they do on the other days?
Suggest you speak to the manager and say that you are struggling with keeping up with the admin due to the constant tea making ( I mean, 4 cups a morning - do they all then spend the rest of the time in the loo?) and if she isn't happy, leave - you volunteered , you are there of your own free will!

You seem to have been taken on as a tea making person not for admin. 40 drinks, in a morning of say 4 hours that's 10 an hour, one every 6 mins. Do you have to collect dirty cups then clean them too? No one can get work done with that amount of other work expected. Leave and tell them why!

It's not about cups of tea really is it? Gosh volunteering can be tricky. I have been in a charity shop where the manager was a sociopath ( I kid you not). The second one I tried was absolutely filthy. I scrubbed the kitchen area a few times before the penny dropped. The third one, a volunteer hated the manager, you needed a knife to cut through the atmosphere!

I would be happy to make the teas but probably only once at the morning break time or as they arrive for work if it's a cold morning. I would want a drink myself too. The paid staff should have the time to make their own drinks in their own lunch hour break though and I would tell them it's appropriate for them to use their own time to make their own drink then. If you are a volunteer surely you are there to do whatever tasks you are asked to do, within reason.

I think most people have forgotten about this work thing. I realised this very early in my life .... if you don’t value yourself enough, that you are willing to work for nothing/no pay, then why should others value you.? Just think of all those unpaid years of housework, you convince yourself it’s valuable, but nobody else.... especially husbands/partners.....think it is. Oh they talk the talk alright, but it’s housework, i.e. you’re volunteering to do it...so it can’t be worth anything in men’s (mostly) eyes. It’s also a big reason why men have to be forced to do anything unpaid. They don’t value anything that they’re not paid for. I think it’s just human nature.... all those volunteers... all thinking they are valued. If they are it’s because you’re cheap and cost nothing.

Vote with your feet. Leave.

Blimey, I’ve gone from thinking it is beneath me to being precious to being cheap. Beginning to discover that this volunteering lark isn’t for sissies. At least I have the answer now.

Another generalisation about men saggi My husband often helps people in our village and regularly visits an older lady in a residential home. He and some of his male friends also help me in my role running a voluntary library.

Why do they need 4 cups of tea during the morning? They must always be having loo breaks. You are volunteering it's not as if you are doing it for the money. Find something else.

First, I was once asked to make tea for the two directors at the my office. I said I don't tea and I am told I make awful tea. Can't believe it was the answer. Anyway brought in their tea and I was walking out I heard one say She wasn't,t blxxxy kidding, its awful. Never asked again. So you could go down this route, carryon as you are or look for another job. I work in the office of the Foodbank 2 days a week and we take it in turns to make a drink.

I work as a volunteer two days a week. We are treated as stars. The service would not run without us. It is not anybody’s job to make tea. Sometimes my manager makes me a drink. Sometimes I make one for myself, though I usually ask if anyone else wants one. Nobody ends up making more than two or three at a time, that would not be fair or reasonable. Leave if you are not happy.

Saggi, in regard to your post @12:10 today (13/07/19) I find that post entirely outside of reality in relation to today's world of work and equality between genders.

In the above, my wife and I both still work in our business, although we are also over seventy in age. In that, we both share the house and garden work when at home and both my wife and I do not value that work any less than what we carry out in the office even though one generates finance for our living, while the other is unpaid.

I also find that others who we work alongside in the business, of both genders, have the same attitude in joint responsibility to work at home and appreciation of what each other carry out in that respect.

In today's world, it has become very necessary for both adults to bring an earned income into any home, and in that combining and sharing household work is also very necessary.

Thank the powers that be that gone are the days when only the man in the house went out and earned the wages that kept the home, while the women stayed within that home "doing the chores for all." The high cost of housing and much else has placed those times now well into the past. Today, the income for the home is jointly achieved, and the upkeep of that home is also jointly shared in the vast majority of relationships.

No doubt examples of where the above is not the case can be demonstrated, but as stated the above is how relationships and attitudes have changed overwhelmingly in recent times.

All organisations, like fish, stink from the head. Look around for another organisation. Bound to be a good one somewhere near you.

A lot of it is luck, but yes volunteering isn't for sissies. My partner has a great time in a charity shop, a lovely team, nice manager who manages people skillfully and quietly.

I'm not sure quite why I find this thread so irritating. Obviously, the OP has found out, too late, that there is a task that is a part of the job for which she volunteered and which she doesn't like.
Imagine how any of us would feel if a 'new girl' and a volunteer at that, said that we were having too many cups of tea. There are of course other ways to look at it. Making the drinks is a great opportunity to get to know the other workers. As ever, it ain't what you do it's the way that you do it. A cheerful, friendly approach works wonders. It can make a huge difference to the atmosphere of a workplace.
I was reminded of a time when I was involved as a volunteer at a very large sporting event. It was before paper cups etc and there was a mountain of washing up to do. I was up to my elbows in suds when a nice lady came to help. In the course of our hours long task it transpired that she held a very senior position in a large organisation. I hadn't recognised her. I blurted out, 'Gosh, why are you doing this? Have you not got something more interesting to do?' Her reply was, 'Because it needed done and someone had to do it.'

How ridiculous and what a waste of your time - I’m afraid I would looking for another admin voluntary post.

Well, it was in the job description or at least a work list, so there isn't a lot you can do about it.

I would go through the stock and find a good number of thermos flasks, or buy cheap ones somewhere else, and make coffee and tea and pour into the flasks.

That way you should be able to cut the coffee and tea making down to once, or at the most, twice in the course of the morning.

Lots of offices and schools no longer have "tea ladies", so someone has to make it, if everyone doesn't make their own.

Have a quiet word with your supervisor and ask her if you always will have to make tea and coffee as you feel your capabilities are put to a better use doing office work than making tea. If she replies that that is your job and you will have to do it, tell her that makes you feel like reconsidering volunteering in this particular place.

When you go looking for a new place, make sure you ask and are told before starting what they expect you to do, so you aren't caught out like this again.

Jane10 Making tea for the morning coffee break is one thing. Making 40 cups every single time would not be fulfilling for everyone. Tea ladies used to have tea urns and trollies and that was what they were taken on for. How difficult is it for people to make their own tea? How often are they going to be doing work that can't be interrupted for a few minutes? It is all very old fashioned and has a feel of people trying to make themselves feel important by having someone serve them.

Who says volunteering has to be 'fulfilling'?
In a paid job if someone is unwilling to carry out part of the job description they'd pretty soon be out of a job. It's not up to volunteers to override workplace management.
I'm amazed that so many of you just don't get it!

I think the real issue, Jane10 is that the OP does not feel valued. Everyone doing a good job, whether paid or volunteer, should feel valued by those they are working for.

As for the issue of workplace management - well, it sounds very poor. I think the OP would be better finding somewhere where her talents and qualities are utilised and appreciated. The charity she is currently volunteering for could get a doormat from Aldi if it's a doormat they want.

Lots of people are not valued at work. It's nice if they are but a job's a job. It's life. Harsh but true.
A volunteer has a choice and can go elsewhere.