Contents from the ‘SMTOWN Live World Tour lll‘ concert in California will be updated on ‘KPOP on Facebook‘, an exclusive page that will be dedicated to KPOP only.
On May 21st, SM Entertainment announced, “On May 20th, contents from the concert taken place at the Honda Center in…
Damn, Seohyun, you’re slowly winning me back.
But my loyalties still lie with my hoodrat Tiffany Hwang. DIAMOND BAR!!!
Evangelion meets The Simpsons.
(source: http://moe.vg/IkQqxY)
Unit-01 looks like Bender.
“FINE! I’M GONNA BUILD MY OWN HUMAN INSTRUMENTALITY PROJECT! WITH BLACKJACK! AND HOOKERS! IN FACT, FORGET THE HUMANS!”
So this is what I had to deal with behind the scenes.
Also sorry if a bit of this is edited weird. My email kind of ate the revised draft my friend sent me after I asked her to edit it for me. Also, this is just to start to show a record of what I had to help with seeing as I never got to fulfill my job entirely as Information Desk head since I never got a table for myself and Disabled Services.
Also a lot of problems happened pre-con with the failures of our programming head. A lot of things could have been easily dealt with far ahead of time.
Outside of that, glad people enjoyed the con, especially when there were so many problems caused by a multitude of people. I’m sorry if anyone who had noticed any of these problems was affected in any way, shape, or form. I tried, as well as many others, to make things not go down so bad.
Where to begin…
Lanae(Guest liaison) does not know how to do her job. She kept an
entourage around herself. None of the guests I had interacted
with(Danielle McCrae, Todd and Crystal Graziano, and I would assume
Cristina Vee also, but of that I’m not sure) were shown around by her
or her staff. She never went over what panels they were supposed to be
at. When she would give the guests her number(written in their
programming guides), she would sign it as Penny, but when you
called/radioed her, she would have one of her “staff” answer and they
would state that it was “Lanae’s phone.” or something of that ilk.
YES! Smart, cute girls “Read So Hard!” Can’t say I can finish Tolstoy in 3 days though :( Props for the Belle reference! Ah! <3
B*tches in Bookshops, a little ditty set to the tune of N*ggas in Paris.
….I’m confused, amused, and proud to be a nerd. That shit ‘cray.
I’m sharing this because I can, and because my trust that my name not be revealed to people directly involved in a potential safety issue was broken. Frankly, I should have publicized this months ago.
If you are attending Anime Conji 2012 in San Diego next week, it may be worth your while to read the screen-capped emails above in detail. I’m posting a summarized version of them here in the text as well.
The pertinent colored out names are con staffers: Purple is the 2012 Con Chair, Green the Con Treasurer, Yellow the Head of Security.
Worth noting, our Security team dresses in black fatigues with various accoutrements, essentially cosplaying Umbrella Corp military from the Resident Evil games. Up until the middle of the 2012 con, they carried realistic-looking airsoft guns and handcuffs. These were removed from the security uniform because the host hotel complained that their presence was scaring the hotel guests who believed they were actually armed.
12/05/11
Con Chair and Treasurer,
I need this email to be in confidence. Please do not use my name when talking about this either to the person involved or to his friends. After the staff meeting yesterday, I feel the need to express my concern over this new “Loss Prevention Officer” (Tom) on the Security team. Our Security has already been overkill, and there is no evidence we need a covert team specifically to watch for shoplifting. Tom is going to be patrolling with no visible Staff badge, with 2~3 anonymous-even-to-staff underlings. He assumed and then argued after being told no that he should be allowed to carry a concealed handgun in order to perform his duties. Talking to fellow staff I learned that in a real security job he broke someone’s arm his first week on the job. I feel he has poor restraint and judgement and will present a danger and liability to the convention. Please tell me if I am overreacting here.
Me
12/05/11
You are not overreacting. There has not been a significant theft problem and the Loss Prevention Officer is overkill. Our overkill security is an issue. We need to be smarter about this.
Treasurer
12/05/11
Thank you for agreeing with my concerns. I think scared con-goers is a real issue we are only seeing the tip of because the only public feedback session requires they have the guts to speak up in front of Security. I agree that we need smarter solutions, not increased security presence.
Me
I waited a week and received no further response or indication an actual solution was being worked on. Agreeing with me isn’t doing something, it’s a platitude. So I emailed again.
12/12/11
Con Chair and Treasurer,
Can you give me some sort of update as to what is being done in the way of an actual solution here? I feel he is a danger to staff and con goers and will be a liability to the con. I believe he lacks the judgement to be a safe security officer. I cannot in good conscious advise friends to come to Conji knowing he is there. Are we actually going to see anything done about this?
Me
12/12/11
I’ve talked to the Con Vice Chair about the concerns. We are not going to allow the Loss Prevention team to be anonymous to the other staffers. We will also review the rules and expectations with everyone on the security staff to make sure they understand where the lines are.
Treasurer
12/13/12
Sorry I didn’t respond earlier. I agree with Treasurer’s and Con Vice Chair’s solution. “Thank you for voicing your concerns and trust your anonymity will be maintained.”
Con Chair
12/15/11
Let me be sure I understand this, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
Tom, who I am calling his ability to make good judgements into question, is remaining on staff. All of security will have our rules reiterated to them, and being made to promise they will behave and show good judgement during the con. Is that right?
Me
Naturally, I received no further response.
Almost a month later, I had the issue with creepy behavior from one of the con guests. I officially resigned from the con on 01/03/12, but remained friends with several staffers that keep me pretty informed of what happens within con org.
Today, I was chatting with one of these friends, and he mentioned that the Con Chair had told the Head of Security (who is Tom’s good friend) that I was the one to complain and it was the entire reason why I quit.
This, almost 3 months to the day he promised I could trust him to maintain my anonymity. I shot that asshole an email.
03/11/12
Con Chair,
I was chatting with friend X today and he mentioned that you told Head of Security that I was the one to complain about Tom and that it was the entire reason I quit.
1) That is not the entire reason I quit. It was one of the straws that broke the camels back.
2) Remember that entire promise of anonymity? Yeah. You betrayed that to precisely one of the people I asked you not to.
FUCK YOU.
Now, that same friend X (and several other staffers) were evidently with Con Chair Asshat when he got my email and he evidently went off. The “fuck her” I expected because he’s an overgrown child. He evidently went on to say some misogynist commentary, insulted my “lolita friends” (I assume he means Xaynie who is completely uninvolved with any of this save having been a panelist for the con ONCE), then started screaming about blackballing me from the con, then no, that if I went, he wanted my money. Note that one of the stipulations of joining staff when I did (you had to pay a one-time fee of $25 to join staff) included a lifetime free membership to the con even if you leave staff. He apparently stated saying I was spreading rumors about the Security staff being bullies. (For the record, I have never told anyone Conji Security are bullies. I have said I think they are dressed in an overly intimidating way, and only that Tom worries me. Most of Security are good level-headed guys.)
I encourage people to reblog this because I feel that the one Loss Prevention Officer is an actual potential danger to con goers, and because anyone working with staff should know that this is the sort of solutions and reactions to be had from the current con chair. What saddens me here is knowing that the Con Chair has potentially ruined a couple of friendships for me, bad mouthed a dear friend for no reason aside from her being my friend, and has possibly made a few people I like think less of me via lies and anger — all because I called him out on betraying a trust.
….*cracks knuckles* Who needs concealed weapons?
