[GPNDG]

Sub-bosses

 How-To-Boss Home  • Getting Started  • Boss's Role  • Meal Bosses  • Other Sub-Bosses  • Shopping  • Sites 

The Boss is empowered and, practically speaking, required to recruit "Sub-bosses" for many tasks. How many, and which tasks, is really up to the Boss. But certain roles and responsibilities have proven useful over the years.

Coffee Boss

For many Gatherees, coffee is not a beverage - it's the elixir of life. Somebody has to get up early and start the coffee, making sure there are great quantities available well in advance of early-rising campers. The Coffee Boss also sets out serving equipment, sugar, cups, spoons, creamer (Half-n-Half is most popular) and other beverage stuff. Tea, spiced cider and hot cocoa are popular - as are Scotch, brandy, and various other coffee enhancers. The Coffee Boss should participate in developing the Shopping List along with MealBosses.

Beer / Beverage Boss

Since very early days, we have been serving draught beer, starting with home-brew and lately commercial kegs. In the past we have had a brewery employee who helped us get discounts, but this seems to no longer be feasible. Shannon Kelley has a wealth of information about beer availability, costs and processes - a Beverage Boss should work closely with her.

The Beverage Boss's primary duties are to estimate/plan, order, pick up, transport, cool and serve the beverages. The Beverage Boss should submit a list of soft drinks other than beer to be included in the Shopping List, and pick-up and transport of those can be arranged by the Boss or other Shopper. Once they're at the facility, the Beer Boss takes responsibility for storage, presentation, cooling and serving of the soft drinks as well as the beer. The Beverage Boss should also make sure that cups are available, the serving area is tidy, and that all beevrage equipment (e.g. taps, dispensers) is working properly.

In 2003, Chris Bishop came through with the CO and Nitro powered tap setup - a big win over the old air pump taps. The setup was convenient and fun to use. According to Chris we don't need to ice the kegs if we use the CO and Nitro because no air gets into the kegs and therefore the beer does not spoil. We might use a lot less ice next time (just for the cooler gizmos), but it's very weather-dependent. The cooler block does not get beer ice-cold, which is a big drawback for many. In future, Beverage Boss should contact Chris and/or look into alternative sources for this kind of setup if possible, independent of the icing question.

Martin and Carol Golding have some great ideas and excellent track record with custom-made seltzer(s) in lieu of commercial soft drinks. A Beverage Boss should contact Martin for more information before going too far in planning of soft drinks.

Shopping

The Boss may want to appoint or accept a volunteer Shopping Boss to do the shopping and transportation of mass foodstuffs. See more information on the Shopping pages.

Camp Cleanup Boss(es)

It would be nice if everybody took responsibility for cleaning up their own mess - and doing it right away - but it doesn't always happen. Despite being a pretty clean bunch, Gather-goers do make messes. But we also stay on good terms with the facility managers, whether they be camp hosts, park rangers, church deacons, or whatever. We take pride in the fact that we are always welcome back at any facility we've used.

To get this done, somebody has to feel like they own responsibility for cleaning up, everywhere and often. The Cleanup Boss is responsible for keeping the grounds and buildings reasonably neat and tidy at all times, and most especially for making sure that everything is shipshape before group departure. The CleanupBoss should be last to leave the Gather (possibly at the same time as the Boss).

In particular, all trash disposal is the Cleanup Boss's responsibility. Some facilities require trash to be hauled away daily, some have on-site Dumpsters. In any case, Cleanup Boss should insure that trash cans are properly emptied (and cleaned if necessary) so that trash doesn't overflow or make a mess, and that the trash is disposed of in accordance with the facility's rules. This is critical in remote facilities where scavenging animals can be an issue - make sure trash is properly secured overnight.

Depending on the facility and its features, the Cleanup Boss's responsibility sometimes overlaps a bit with the MealBosses' responsibility for getting the cooking and eating facilities cleaned. This should be sorted out in advance between the individuals involved.

It often works best to recruit a Cleanup Crew and give them titles and sub-divide the work so that any given person is only responsible for a small cleanup task or a specific building. See Ideas For Titles for examples of titles/functions used in the past.

First Aid

It can be useful to designate someone toake sure that we have non-expired supplies, and someone around to administer aid and comfort if at all possible.

Parking

There will be dozens and scores of vehicles - mostly motorcycles, but also others. Anarchy in parking does not result in efficient use of space, and may violate the facility's rules. Many camping areas are very serious about parking issues, for several reasons including safety, erosion and environmental sensitivity. While advance posting to the mailing list can help, it can also help to have a person "own" this issue.

The Parking Boss should arrive early. Likely the first person to the facility, maybe at the same time as the Boss and/or Finance Minister. The Parking Boss should look over the facility and become familiar with all the options for parking, and plan how to line things up so that there's room for everyone to park safely, there's good access for delivery of food and drink and for hauling of trash. As people arrive, they should be able to ask the Parking Boss where and how to park.

Awards

Traditionally, on Saturday night after dinner and before dessert, awards are presented. Some time, some place, secretly during the Gather, a secret committee has met and decided who will be deserving of special recognition. This committee provides a list and tangible tokens to the Boss. The Boss must find a presenter (though one of the committee is often willing to serve), assemble the Gathered, and make an introduction at the appropriate time.

Website

Traditionally, H Marc has done a set of Web pages for the events. This works easiest and best, since micapeak doesn't have arrangements to make it easy for others to do web authoring. The Boss should make arrangements with H Marc well in advance if someone other than Marc will do the web pages.

Registration

This is the province of the Finance Minister. Responsibilities include deciding what data to collect, arranging for methods of accepting payment, publishing the registration instructions, accepting registrations and payments, providing headcounts (estimated and final) at various tiems to the Boss, tracking expected arrivals and checking people in, name badges or other ID as appropriate, and tracking and/or assigning of campsites or sleeping spaces (e.g. cabins).

Registration data should include expected arrival day/time and special food requests (for meal planning), emergency contact name and number, vehicle type (for parking planning), and sleeping or cabin arrangement data. Boss and Finance Minister should communicate final space/cabin assignments to everyone a couple of days ahead of time - BEFORE everyone leaves to travel to the Gather!

The Finance Minister (or a delegate Registrar) should be among the first few to arrive at the facility.

A "one price" system has worked well for several years. If the Boss and Finance Minister agree on a partial-payment system, they should expect LOTS of silly argument and hurt feelings by various guests. "But I didn't drink beer! Why should I pay for it?" and "Gee, I didn't get there until Friday after dinner, and left Saturday after dinner but before dessert, shouldn't I get a partial refund?" You might be surprised how petty this can get.

Also by tradition, everybody pays. Bosses and sub-Bosses and attendees who play instruments and breathe fire for entertainment of the masses; they all pay the same fees and enjoy the same meals and facilities as everyone else.

However, the Finance Minister has the discretion and authority to grant exceptions and scholarships. Hardship cases, special circumstances, "day passes" and the like are all within the range of tradition.

Ideas for Titles

Many of these are described in detail above; this is just a list of some things used in the past.