Anyone else on a committee and think it's absolutely bull

[IceyBisBack]

I'm on a village community centre committee as chair..... not through choice but no one else will do it. Our booking secretary's husband does the cleaning. Yesterday she told me he will cean on Friday.... I said it doesn't need doing....... she said then he will resign.... so he did.... who's wrong ???? It didn't need cleaning at £12.50 per hour....

Not enough info. But if you want somebody to do work for you it’s generally considered more ethical to give them regular work in exchange for them being available when you need them.

I felt a massive weight lift off when I resigned from a scout group committee. There was so much drama!

Is there a set cleaning day? How much does the budget allocate for cleaning?

Can't tell.

If he is contracted for a certain number of hours, he could be right.

If he has an informal agreement for a certain number of hours, he could be right.

Keeping the job on with very few hours could be losing him better paid work.

If he and she are insisting he clean often when there's no dirt, that's not good - but he's resigned anyway so problem solved

£12.50 is below average for an hour's cleaning.

But honestly, nobody died, you don't want to be on the committee anyway, so I would focus on an exit strategy and not worry about this

Good luck getting a cleaner who's available ad hoc

Is it a casual arrangement and he needs some cash? Quite short sighted to not give him a couple of hours imo.

I am on PTA. only recently joined. regretting it already. the drama! there are the ones who have been on it for years, stuck in their ways, like the power, will not share information but complain that nobody helps. and there are the new ones trying to impart change and improvements. i have actually considered moving my children to a different school so I can escape the madness 🤣

Well you are not paying minimum wage for the cleaning anyway. Its now £12.71 per hour. So you need to remedy that as a minimum

No set hours just ad-hoc. Usually just Monday's. No budget but we hire for £20 an hour. We pay him more than the contracted cleaning company previously.

Exactly this.......

I felt totally unable to influence improvement as a school governor in two schools. Total bull.

When did you get rid of them? It'd be more than 12.50 an hour for a company now.

In fairness you aren't there to influence improvement. You're there to check strategic decisions and be a critical friend.

Been on a couple ptas and left shortly after owing to power games. Was a member of a village flower group which was funny and interesting! It was exactly like the vicar of dibley meetings but with about 10-15 people who took it VERY seriously.

On a board and a committee.

The committee's latest 'fun' kicked off the other day by someone asking whether the treasurer was a member and if he wasn't he's pay their fee.
Rather than ask politely if an officer of the committee.
He then gaslit everyone a couple of times over additional points he made.
One final splurge was asking 'could the secretary add a list of items to the agenda ' rather than refering to Barbara by name. When Barbara asked him to email the points he claimed he hadn't wanted anything adding.

He's either a drinker or needs watching carefully.

We use WhatsApp poll for deciding meetings and he's dipped in about five times after others have voted to alter what he preferred. It might be genuinely he's very busy and keeps having things rearranged in his life.

I’m a secretary of a village committee. I am not remotely interested in it but nobody else wanted to do it and I felt bad so I offered. I’m now stuck with it as there isn’t anybody else to ask. Can’t leave as it will just fall to the four remaining members who do enough already. Does my head in.

Ive been on WI committee for 5 years. Do not underestimate the time it takes to get a bunch of women to get on.

OP, you say you're only doing this role because no one else will. If you're not finding it fulfilling in any way, and it's driving you round the bend, then jack it in. Honestly, life's way too short

Due to retire soon. Being on comittees seems to be a favourite occupation of some retirees. Not me! I've been involved in such things via work and as a school parent and that's amongst one of the last ideas I would choose for filling my time.

As for the cleaner - sticking to a contract, whether legal or verbal, seems to be the best plan. You aren't there to boost his income on demand.

I'm on the committee of our local 'in bloom' group. It's true to say it's me and a group of older men. Every meeting works like this...They chat around in circles on every subject. They enjoy that and would talk all night. I give them 10 minutes on every subject and then say, "So, let's have a show of hands then - red or pink tulips?" Vote. Move on to next subject.

They are lovely people, I enjoy it, but nothing gets done on any committee without someone driving things to a conclusion/being diplomatic and creative with the limited resources and 'individual' personalities you're thrown together with.

In your position OP I think I'd have tried to give the man something productive to do e.g. I don't think we need a general clean Bob, but could you do a deep clean on the gents, loos please.

Why would you not want a community centre to be clean? I’d say YABU. Quit the committee and let someone else do it as you obviously don’t want to, and it’s not fair that you’d rent out the space with it being unclean

The answer to all the conundrums above is to put weedkiller on their dahlias.

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