If people want a drink, they should darn well make it themselves.
I would quit over this.
Accents - a privilege to hear them
Certainly not a burning question of the moment but nevertheless one bugging me at present. I have very recently started volunteering at a local charitable organisation, one morning a week doing admin. Always enjoyed office work, seemed right up my street. However there are roughly ten other people in the office at any one time.
I am expected to make tea/coffee for everyone else at least 4 times during the morning. It is even documented in the office procedures. Finding it hard to get my head around this. In my first job 50 years ago we had two tea ladies, Maggie and Alice who came round twice a day offering tea and wisdom. They were lovely. In every job since if you wanted a drink you got it yourself as did everyone else. All of a sudden I am expected to provide tea, coffee, decaf, green tea, Earl Grey etc with a smile and a nod. Don’t think I am going to last much longer, especially if in colder weather my repertoire is supposed to branch out into offering sick-in-a-cup ( cup a soup) or blackberry fruit tea which smells like cats pee.
I could really enjoy the office work but not the tea making bit. Is it me? Ps, I drink tap water or strong black coffee, no sugar or sweeteners.
If people want a drink, they should darn well make it themselves.
I would quit over this.
I find it difficult to believe, in this day and age, that people expect their tea/coffee to be made for them. It comes across as very self-important to me. Having said that, there are some very self-important people working in the charity sector. 
I'd just move on from this. Plenty of charities out there who would appreciate you.
Good luck.
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The beauty of being a "Volunteer" is just that 
You can just leave if you don't like, there will be plenty more who would appreciate your skills.
In our charity shop anybody would make the cuppas.It was only a small shop.
What role do the other volunteers have? If your role is to do the administrative work, serving tea should not be included in the job description. Ask some of the others to bring you tea and see what happens. If you get a lot of push back, it's time to request that your job description be revised.
I would tell them to “bog off” and leave. It would take me forever to make that many cups of tea/coffee!
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 read your post from Saturday Saggi and I wanted to say I absolutely agree 100%. Mind you I have been told before on here that I have a strange view on volunteering!
2 years volunteering as an Appropriate Adult I suddenly clicked that I was expected to be available simply to wait around for hours for the professionals, solicitors etc, to arrive because my time was, of course, free and therefore valueless.
I'm going to carry on working for real money for as long as someone is prepared to pay me, my goal at the moment is to make it to 70 (2 years to go!)
But I would be far too precious to spend my days making tea for able bodied others, funny how precious also means valuable and of high worth! In that case I am happy to consider myself precious. 
So much tea or coffee can't be good for the in fact.
What is wrong with one round plus having a re-usable water bottle, or a water dispenser which everyone can use? Water is better as too much tea or coffee is a diuretic and you risk getting dehydrated.
That's just made me think about the only thing I liked about being a civil servant; the tea trolley!
Our lady had a lovely sweet voice, and when you heard her shout "Trolley!" it made your day.
Grandad1943 - although I appreciate your sentiment, I'd say:
1. Machine tea & coffee tastes awful to me, and I do believe a couple of decent cups a day helped my productivity (though I did make it myself!)
2. A young relative of mine has worked in 2 offices who do contract work for the NHS and where they have proper 'tea ladies' who come round morning and afternoon with free tea, coffee, biscuits and scones. They do have to pay for the sandwiches that are also provided though. They reckon it increases productivity. I spent my working life in the NHS and always had to pay for my tea & coffee as well as make it myself!
You might want to apply for another voluntary position, then leave the tea making one Alima?
I'd like to know which charity it is but I know you will be too discreet to post it on here, Alima!
Four rounds of various beverages every morning is excessive and the other workers, whether paid or volunteers, sound very self-important and not the type of people I would like to pander to even if I was being paid.
This charity must have an awful lot of admin to have 10 people in the office at any one time.
I'm wondering what their output is if they expect 4 cups of tea in a morning.
I hope it's not a charity that I donate to.
Could I just clarify, making tea was mentioned initially along with other more usual admin tasks. It was only on my first morning, when shown the ‘office procedures’ document, yes, there really is one, that I realised the extent of the tea-making responsibilities. Four rounds per morning for 10-12 people each time. That’s where my pondering came in. It is certainly not something I want to do. Would love to carry on with the admin part of the role but do wonder if there would be any time left to do any. It is definitely not something I should mention to the office manager. That is the way they do things and it isn’t up to me to tell them they are wrong. I am not right for the role. The role is not right for me. End of, there is no need to get worked up about it. Chill Jane10.
I volunteer at a charity. I don't look for recognition or 'fulfillment'. I do it as it helps others. That's quite enough for me
But surely the knowledge that you are helping others is fulfilment Jane10.
People work for two reasons. One is financial reward to enable them to live, the other is some sort of personal satisfaction, such as feeling valued by the organisation for whom they work, helping other people, making a contribution to scientific knowledge by carrying out research, improving the environment in some way, or exercising a particular craft or skill.
It seems to me that Alima’s situation is giving her none of these things.
The excessive tea-drinking by her ‘colleagues’ is ridiculous but irrelevant, as is the office procedures manual.
As she has said herself, she knows what to do!
Bit harsh apricity as Jane10 said there is more to it. I agree it seems an excessive amount of drinks but it was in Alima's job description when she took on the role. I still think it warrants a discussion with the manager as they cannot resolve a problem if they don't realise there is one.
Sorry Apricity not a Hyacinth Bucket situation. More to it than that.
Also I'm not 'being contrary'. If you can be bothered to read through my posts you'll see that they consistently state that if she doesn't like the job, as described when she took it on, she can walk away. Now I'm going to!
Never, in my 30 plus years working as a professional in health/welfate settings in Oz did I have anyone, paid or volunteer, expected to make me tea or coffee. You just made whatever you wanted, however you liked it, when you wanted it. Maybe in the UK there are some rather condescending elements of snobbery involved here. Hello to all the closet Hyacinth Buckets.
PS. I'd leave, tell them why and find another organization that values you and your contributions.
I'm not sure quite why I find this thread so irritating
Jane; Hear!, hear! Talk about a storm in a teacup!
Cheer up everyone and take a look on YouTube at Bernard Cribbins with "Right said Fred".
Thank you all for refreshing my memory over some original British comedy and remember to make yourself (if you haven't got a volunteer on hand) a nice cup of tea before you settle down.!
Followed by Bernard's "Hole in the Ground"; should get your day off to a jolly start! 
OoRoo

Why not just get a tea or coffee machine. Much simpler, quicker, more hygienic, and more efficient in terms of staff productivity.
In commercial buisness, no organisation has tea ladies/persons these days, and all members of staff get their own drinks from those dispensers.
Even though this the organisation under discussion is a charity, it should be looking for the highest efficiency so as to maximise the amount of the money donated to that charity is given to those needing the organisation's help.
Are you suggesting that those 10 people each want 4 drinks during the course of one morning, or 4 different people wanting drinks.
If the former...I think their work ethic needs reviewing.
I certainly wouldn't be a dogsbody for anyone.
Why don't they have a 20 min break at 10.30 and each of the employees take turns to make the drinks, but not a blooming menu of them.
Ridiculous.
Jane10 You seem to be being contrary for the sake of it.
A smart manager will realise people are giving their time and expertise.
Who told you you had to make tea for everyone. Go to the manager and say you are a volunteer and are only interested in doing admin work. Tell him/her that you don't want to be tea lady as well. As a volunteer you only do what you want to do.
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