Supervisor

I realize that as the supervisor, I have to have "thick skin" because I will always be the person who has to enforce rules and give bad news and say, "no, I don't think that is a good idea." I will not always be popular and it's okay, because if I am fair and consistent, and making choices for the good of the camp, I will still be respected and liked, and the camp community will be happy.

That being said, between the angry staff mother who called me "Hitler", her daughter that glares at me constantly, the hateful camp nurse who considered me to be unqualified and stupid, the naughty kids who had to sit in my office hating me, and the constant problems that I couldn't seem to stop from happening, I have to admit, it's been difficult to remain confident in myself and not feel like a terrible person.

The Assistant Program Director is the closest thing I have to a peer. He's a great guy, but we aren't close and because he is older than me, I often feel like he thinks I'm an idiot too. The Board President is very supportive, but he is a volunteer and not interested in day to day, "this staff hates me, let me vent about her" kinda stuff. I have wonderful supportive staff around me, but it is not appropriate to vent to them about other staff or confidential issues that are going on. My mom is a wonderful source of support because she gives great advice about managing staff and professionalism. My best friend X is my rock, because I can call her at 11pm and rant and rave for 45 minutes straight, repeating myself, not making sense and not letting her get a word in edgewise, and she patiently listens until I calm down. My close friend M is also a Camp Director and she often calls me for advice or to vent, and while she thinks she is doing it for her own benefit, it helps me more than anything to know that other people in this position are having similar experiences and feelings. But at camp, I am on my own. And sometimes, at the end of the day, it's lonely and exhausting.

Which is why, after a long, difficult week, last night made me feel immediately better. There are only nine staff here this weekend, and all of them decided to go out to dinner and bowling last night. I have 12 Leaders in Training here this weekend, so I stayed back with them. I spend the evening with the LITs and felt fine going to bed at 11:30pm, even though they were still awake and hanging out. At 1:30am, I heard a knock at my door and then my light was flipped on and a crowd of people came into my room. I thought it was the LITs, so I was a little panicked because I assumed something bad had happened. No, it was my nine staff who had just returned from their night out. Five of them sat down on my bed and the other four circled around me.

They spent the next 15 minutes telling me all about their adventure which started with dinner, bowling, and then several random stops along the way, including seeing a shed on fire, calling 911 and waking the family that owned the house (I wondered why they all smelled like camp fire). They'd had a blast, and were so bursting with excitement that they couldn't wait until the morning to tell me about it. They wouldn't have had to tell me anything at all, and I was happy that they wanted to include me enough to come in immediately. It was a good reminder that I'm doing a good job because the staff like me enough to share their excitement. And even though I was deliriously tired, it was the absolute best thing to help me feel refreshed and ready to take on another week.