[Woodcarver] Clean up on Aisle 5

[Ron Ramsey]

Hi Maura,

It sounds like your solution is a bit confrontational.  I find it usually works better to discuss the problem politely.  I would guess that this is a lack of communication rather than a lack of consideration.  If you were to explain in a polite letter why you had left the chips in the first place, apologize and vow to clean up after yourself in the future, this would go a long way to helping them understand what role they have in cleaning up after themselves also.

Happy carving,
Ron Ramsey
http://www.carvedbyramsey.com

My class carves in an all-purpose room at the parks dept for the past 5 years.  We use a matinee broom setup, the type where the the pickup bin comes with the broom. Its all we ever needed and it works well.

Parks dept all purpose room:  When we started carving there, all was well, we were told to just leave the chips where they fell as the parks workers were paid to cleanup. this worked well for about a year till the head of the childrens afterschool program wrote a huge note to us.  It was written on a neon green posterboard and hung up in a very visible place. Quite frankly, it was embarrassing. It said that it was not nice of adults to make a mess of "their" room and asked us in not so friendly terms to clean-up after ourselves. It said we should be ashamed of ourselves. It was then signed by all 40 children who added their own little insults to the poster board.  We had a meeting with parks bigshots and were told, that the "union workers" would not allow us to use their cleaning supplies as there were people who were paid to clean-up.  We then decided to take the cleanup out of the parks dept hands as obviously they weren't doing their jobs. that was when we put up $1 each a
nd brought our matinee broom and dust pan. As a way of payback, over the next few weeks, we started to collect all the garbage and mess that the aftershcool program left behind. we stored it all in a closet until the afterschool program then began complaining that someone had stolen all their supplies and toys.  The next day, we emptied the closet and piled it all on top of the afterschool program tables.  It was an incredible amount of stuff that spilled off the table and covered the chairs and floor around the table. We then made our own neon signboard, letting the kids and the leader know that this was all the mess they had left behind and how they also need to be considerate of others if they wanted us to be considerate of them.  We never heard another word from them........and now we arrive to find a clean room each morning.

Home:Living almost alone (son is here a few days a week) no one ever yells at me for chips, however over time, after dragging chips all over the house and having to constantly chase them. I have learned that the best place to carve is in my studio/workshop. And to simply close the door when I am done.  this way I don't need to clean up everyday but once a week just to keep it workable. I have now moved a tv and stereo in there so the only reason I would have to leave it is to grab something to eat from the kitchen. lol



Maura Macaluso
Maura Carving in NYC
www.carvinginnyc.com
917-494-0008
Staten Island Woodcarvers Club
New York City Parks Dept. Instructor
NEWR Instuctor
National Wood Carvers Association



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