to wonder about my status as a volunteer?

[DarceyBissell]

This is similar to another thread on here about working for free.
With lots of time on my hands I applied to volunteer as a local heritage site where I help out in the creative dept. This is work I used to do when I had a life/real job, so know a bit about it all. I effectively do a chunk of my boss's job, for which he is well paid. He then is free to go off on fact-finding missions, training days and junkets.
I quite enjoy the work but do feel under-valued and a bit invisible as a volunteer doing work for which he is paid ifyswim. I am the only volunteer in the dept and everyone else gets a good salary and holidays etc plus they don't seem to do very much! Are they taking the micky?

You're the volunteer, you volunteered. If you feel your work load is to heavy say so or leave.

workload, too

blardy keyboard yabu

You are free, surely, to walk away at any time if you feel unhappy in what you're doing?

Volunteering is not compulsory, if you dont like the role then you can leave at any point. If you want holidays and a salary then perhaps volunteering i not for you.

I'm a vounteer and find I have to be quite careful about my boundaries. I think paid staff sometimes forget you don't have the same level of obligation as them. I've learned to be reasonably assertive, speak up if I have too much on, be firm about needing to leave at a particular time, say so if I'm overwhelmed with training etc

Overall you have to consider what you're getting out of the arrangement, do you enjoy your time there? Will it help you get a job if/when the time comes?

Just bear in mind that this is on your terms, only do what you're comfortable with.

They may indeed be taking the mickey, and perhaps the departement coukd run on fewer staff.

But unless they've done a 'bait and switch' on you, in terms of misrepresenting what the volunteer role is, then the choice in front of you is to keep with it or give it up.

You could give exit reasons if you decide to leave. But when I left a volunteering role not so long ago (because I felt that the inconsistency and occasional shittiness of attitude towards volunteers became just too much) the organisation wasn't remotely interested.

Are there other organisations you might like to switch to?