Hey, that happened to me at my volunteer place last Tuesday, and was actually what I came to complain about!
So I volunteer at a children's hospital. I come in several times a week, including Tuesday nights. Last Tuesday, I arrived only to discover that a Boy Scout troop was handling the volunteer work that night. I left, since my help was not needed, but not before being told that everyone coming in that night should have been called or emailed so they would know not to come. I was a little annoyed that I was left out of the loop, but my boss has disliked me since day one, so I figured she was just being passive-aggressive and brushed it off. I worked over twenty hours at the hospital over the Thanksgiving break.
Today, I checked my email and found that she'd sent me a message on Wednesday. Here it is in full:
HI David,
I heard that you showed up yesterday when we had boy scouts here. I followed up with Josh & I did not respond to your email about coming yesterday as I knew that we had boy scouts.
Since you are a volunteer here to meet your personal goals and are temporary, you are not listed on a group list in which you would’ve been notified to not attend yesterday’s group.
At this time, we will give it one more shot, but again we are here to serve the kids that live here & not to assist you with your hour requirements. It is a pressure we are feeling from you & this is not our role here & it is distracting for us to complete our work.
I hope you understand.
Thank you & have a wonderful holiday,
(Boss)
So she didn't respond to my email the day before because I didn't need to come in. How the hell was I supposed to know that if she didn't tell me? And in fact, she did answer the email, which contained my available times for the next two months, and which mentioned that I was coming in Tuesday. She just didn't say anything about the Boy Scouts.
And I'm not doing it for personal reasons- I've made it clear that even when my mandated school volunteer hours are up I intend to keep working there because I enjoy it.
I'm starting to see that I work for the biggest bitch in the state of Oregon.