Looks Like I'm Still Looking

I did my first, training, day today with Community Voters Project, which turned out also to be my last. Possibly this had something to do with the fact that there wasn't much actual training.

We were given a talk about what we were supposed to do and how, and then assigned to teams. Once arriving at our sites, however, we each worked on our own.

True, my team leader asked if I'd like to spend some time watching him, and I declined since, in past experience, I've done well on things like registering voters, petitioning, etc. as a volunteer. Still, you'd think an organization that's serious about training wouldn't just let someone go because he overestimated how well he'd do unsupervised on the first day. You'd expect them to say, "Next time spend some time watching me so you can see how it's done."

Also, it seemed a little disingenuous of him to acknowledge that luck can be a factor but "rules are rules," since in fact, of those coworkers who gave me a precise figure when I asked how many people they'd registered, neither of them had met the quota either, although they'd come closer.

In this context it was interesting that, when I left the building, I saw someone sitting nearby with a sign reading, "Community Voters Project discriminates." He told me he thinks they wouldn't hire him because of his age, and I suppose that could have covertly been a factor in their letting me go, too. Another factor, perhaps in combination with bias, may be general incompetence. You might think, for instance, that leaders of an organization based and operating in Center City Philadelphia would be familiar with its streets. Yet, when I left with my team leader to go to our target site, he initially started us in the wrong direction, until I pointed out it was the other way.