Learning Curve

I started volunteering for an organization in town last summer. I worked at an open house in the summer, essentially on my own, parked in the hallway of the 2nd floor answering questions about the house. During the holidays, I greeted and checked people in during a home tour. I became a board member in January and am now working on an annual event.

I’m learning how to work with women. I’m not doing a very good job.

I’m one of the chairpersons for the event. There’s been an issue with the permanent supplies for it. One of the women who I worked with on the first two events is a very lovely woman, we hit it off the first time we met, and she chaired the event last year. To make a long story short, My tone was sharp with her because I’m frustrated that there are no notes to refer to from the previous year and how and where and what we’ve been looking for weren’t as described. I couldn’t tell her that or how frustrating it was for her to show up a half hour late when we were initially looking for the supplies. If she had been there, she might have said, “oh, this is what we used! They must have separated the bins.” Instead she made a comment about that morning and I sharply told her how we really didn’t look through the bins the first time because we didn’t know what we were looking for, and it wasn’t until the other chairwoman and I went back and dug through each bin did we find what we needed. I could feel my blood pressure rising and left shortly after that.

I chewed on it all day and night. This morning I sent an email to her and the other chairperson for speaking in such a defensive tone, and apologized and offered to go with her to get sponsors for the event. I felt better.

She emailed me this evening and said how mean spirited I was, and how I had been so nice to work with and ever since we started planning this event, I haven’t been nice at all. But she would accept my apology. I’d get the exact words from the email, but I’m too embarrassed to read it again. She said the other chairwoman has offered to go with her so three would be a crowd. I’m sure after I left, the other women were wondering what the heck was wrong with me.

I’ll see the chair on Monday and the other lady at the board meeting on Thursday so there’s no avoiding anyone for any period of time!

Ugh I’m pretty embarrassed and angry at myself.