One of the events at Meeting of The Mind that I help with is the Goody Bag Stuffing. We get over 120 volunteers to help. Some stand behind tables to hand out items while others walk by with open bags to collect the goods.
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| Setting up to hand stuff out |
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| Ready to walk the gauntlet |
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| Not even close to all of the bags we stuff |
Before we let in the masses, a few people get everything set up. Since you get to register for convention early if you volunteer, this is a popular gig that you have to volunteer for ahead of time. There's always someone who tries to sneak in so everyone gets checked at the door.
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| They line up early! |
One of my tasks is to go through the line outside and write everyone's name on a stick-on name tag. It's a fun job for me because I get to greet every volunteer and see a bunch of long time pals.
As I go through the line, some people try to hand me their volunteer confirmation. I tell them, "Save that for inside where you'll check in and get your hand stamped. The stamp is so if you have to go to the washroom, you can get back in to the room."
I made that speech a few times out of habit. As I got to some new (to me) people, the guy asked, "What part of Canada are you from?" Since I was currently sporting a temporary tattoo courtesy of the Calgary Parrot Head Club that had the Canadian flag on it, I assumed that was what triggered the question.
Nope. It was "washroom". They were from upper New York and have heard lots of Toronto peeps use that term.
I laughed and explained my life
mission. (Yeah, I'm still working on it!) I think they got it. I hope they adopt my prescribed ways.
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