Crabby Start to the Week

I'm having sort of a crabby start to the week. It is our teen week with a special schedule and there are MANY returning kids, so it should be a great week, but right now, I'm crabby.

On Friday, we assigned cabins. It's usually a pretty easy job, just plug people in and rotate them all so they get a different co-counselor and different age group. However, last week, there were 4 people (all females) on "special projects" and 2 females on kitchen week, all 6 females needed to be in cabins this week. This week is bigger than last week, but still sort of small. That left only two other openings for female counselors and 4 female staff to fill them. Of those, 3 had already been on kitchen duty.

In the end, it was going to be unfair for someone. I ultimately decided to have Counselor B in the kitchen for a second time because she is a mediocre counselor and I ultimately want my best staff working with kids.

When we announced cabin groups, she was SO upset and after the meeting, came to me in tears. I explained what happened and told her I was sorry she was upset, but there wasn't anything I could do. She decided to take the week off instead of being in the kitchen. It all worked out fine, but I don't like people to be upset and I don't know what the other staff think.

Speaking of other staff, I am also crabby about the way 8 of them spent their Saturday. This description will make me sound like a bad person and I am trying to get over it, but I'm annoyed anyway.

I have talked with the flood relief center MULTIPLE times to get volunteers and I have been so thankful and said, "thank you so much, I don't have anyone to do these things." So when 8 of my staff signed up to volunteer on Saturday, while I appreciate how giving and helpful and what wonderful people they are, I was annoyed that they didn't give their time to camp. They told me it's different because they work here and I said I'd be happy not to pay them.

I volunteered a lot in high school. And I am sure that when I came home telling my parents stories about raking yards or cleaning bathrooms, but then complained when I was asked to help around OUR house, they felt annoyed. So this is probably karma.

I suppose if staff volunteering is my worst problem, I shouldn't complain. I know there are other camps firing staff for drinking, breaking rules and other bad things.

I was a little petty and it helped me feel better about this whole thing earlier today. After a flood, often there are a lot of dead fish because the oxygen levels in the water drop. This morning, there were probably 200 dead fish on the beach. Someone had to clean them up, so I assigned all of the staff who'd volunteered to clean them up while the rest of the staff did other pre-camp projects. I know they were annoyed with me, but someone was going to have to clean up the fish and since they are such hard workers who are so motivated, I figured they'd be the best choice.

It is going to be a good week. I just need to get my attitude straightened out.