[matilda] Eek

[gavin at cyber-rights.net]

The email was one I sent Eric off-list, as I took on the suggested 
role of 'finding out what we lost on the bar' at Art05. I did it 
off list speicifically so it wouldn't look like I was trying to 
show Eric up or attack him. This wasn't my intention.

Eric, your reply was a bit over the top and pointlessly scarcastic, 
though. We're all trying to be civil and respectful towards each 
other after the whole c90 discussion. It's not a personal attack on 
you. Play nice, okay?

However, I do understand how you feel, having organised the c90 
night which didn't go exactly to plan in many respects, and we had 
a discussion after that to see how we could fix/improve things. I 
hope we've all learned from that discussion, which itself wasn't 
ocnducted as well as it could have been, that we can improve the 
way we organise the space without it being a matter of personal 
attacks or recriminations.

As I said in my email to you - none of this is an attack on you 
personally, Eric.

So, with that in mind...

It looks like there has been a bit of a misunderstanding about how 
we do things at Matilda on the part of the Art05 organisers. 

We're against heirachy here. It's part of how we organise 
outselves. We do things by consensus, no one overrides anyone else 
or tells anyone else what to do. Things happen because we all get 
involved. This means that despite organising into collectives, we 
don't have fixed roles and then say "Oh, that's not my job" if we 
see something else that needs doing or is a problem. It means we 
take collective responsibility, and work together.

So when Eric says

"My job was to organise the event and make sure every thing went
smoothly, part of that was to allocate jobs to people and 
collectives."

He's kind of missing the essential point about how Matilda runs. No 
one should have the 'job' of 'allocating' or 'delegating' jobs. I 
think it's fairly uncotroversial to say that we don't really go in 
for managers here.

Let me be clear. I'm not accusing Eric of being some closet 
authoritarian or anything. He might be, or he might not. I don't 
care. I AM saying:

a) that he's misunderstood things a bit. A bit like the c90 boys 
did with the event they put on. Like c90's gig, art05 was a first 
of its kind, so misunderstandings like this might be expected. I 
think that's because we still don't have clear statements on who we 
are and how we work for people. I understand these statements are 
being made up by a designated collective at the moment. So, like 
0794 says, we can learn from this in that respect.

b) The other thing is that collective responsibility is just that. 
Eric wasn't the only person there for the opening night, so let's 
not be blaming him specifically for not keeping an eye on the bar. 
If someone wants to conduct a thorough investigation of who was or 
wasn't watching the bar on the night, and so whose fault it is, 
they're welcome to. But I'm not doing it.

So let me state again, for absolute clarity, that in taking on the 
role of finding out what we lost, I'm not looking to apportion 
blame, only to find out how much we're down so we can see what we 
can do about it. If we're looking to recoup these losses, as it 
seemed at the meeting on Monday, then I do think that the art05 
event organisers are responsible for their own event in this 
respect, and they can't pass the buck to cafe collective. They two 
collectives might want to discuss this, perhaps off the list.


So, back to where I started. I'm still looking to find out how much 
beer was put out, and who has the money that WAS taken for it. I'm 
having a hard time actually ascertaining WHO got the beer and put 
it up there, as I'm hoping they'd remember what they took, roughly.

Eric's fine suggestion of a stock take is, sadly, not an option.

- Gavin.
xxx



On Tue, 01 Nov 2005 09:49:28 -0800 dan at aktivix.org wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>Yikes.  I can't find the e-mail that Eric's referring to - where 
>he's asked to
>account for what went missing from the store, but at any rate some 

>issues come
>from this...
>
>Before coming to things we need to discuss... what exactly has 
>happened? Had
>Eric made an agreement with someone running the bar that some 
>money would be
>recouped that he'd spent?  Was that agreed beforehand?  If so, it 
>should be
>honoured.
>
>I also know that, in the past, people have spent money for stuff 
>at MATILDA, and
>generally there's no expectation that we'd get it back.  I know me 

>and Rob have
>done that for the Hacklab, including buying tools and materials.
>
>But where a specific agreement's been made, that would be a 
>different matter -
>but has that happened?  If not, Eric, the general assumption is 
>that people are
>spending their own money!  
>
>The one obvious exception is Thursday cooking: cookers always buy 
>food, and then
>take it back from donations.  There's usually a surplus, but I 
>have no idea
>what happens with that.
>
>I had designated one folder for keeping receipts in - I think it 
>currently
>resides on the dresser in the corner of the gallery.  But we've 
>never decided a
>policy for recouping money, and until we do those receipts are 
>merely a
>record.
>
>So, questions:
>
>1. Can we please settle this amicably? Eric, you're really angry 
>and upset, but
>you're also saying unpleasant things about the rest of us - it's 
>really not
>going to help your case.  It needs sorting out, but without mud-
>slinging.  The
>worst crime that ever happens at MATILDA is doziness - we can work 

>with
>doziness!
>
>2. Accounts: Eric's right about keeping stock.  Both in terms of 
>beer and beer
>money, someone needs to be responsible.  I'd argue the same goes 
>for the cafe. 
>I know the cafe collective keep control over that, but I'm not 
>sure who this
>is, or what's happening to the extra money that's raised at the 
>end of the
>Thursday nights.  Can we get this clarified?  If profit's being 
>made, where is
>it going?
>
>Ideally, accounts and stock should be going up on the WIKI.
>
>Hmm... all something for Monday meetings!
>
>love n general pleasant, safe-distance vibes,
>
>Dan
>_______________________________________________
>matilda mailing list
>matilda at lists.aktivix.org
>http://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/matilda



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