have you volunteered somewhere that was a good experience? Or, a bad/negative one?

I’ve tried two places that were …. very different. YWCA, the one on Union St., just once. And also a week-long kids camp at the Queens Botanical Garden.

At the YWCA, I was asked to sit at the front desk. There was really nothing to do, a few people walked in and talked to the workers there. Then the director asked me to wipe the floor, even though they get a once a week cleaning service. The director was also talking to me in a swaggery voice that was reminding me freaking Donald Trump and it was giving me toxic workplace vibes which was ironic considering there was literally nothing happening and nothing to do except sit in a quiet, empty room at the desk.

kids camp at the botanical garden was good in some ways, though I felt like there was a lack of consideration for the volunteers. Nothing was shared with us re: a basic schedule of what to expect from the days (9-3), activities were very loosely structured, so we were either sitting around doing nothing while the kids ran around outside, or behaving like super babysitters when the kids had too much free time indoors. Plus the indoor room had weird acoustics so the hyper kids created a constant background noise that was making everyone tired and cranky by the end of the day.