Club Mannerisms

My rant today is about mannerism.

This one pretty much stems from helping others, but not receiving the same respect back, instead being thrown under the bus. I'm pretty sure all of you know at least one person who does that to everyone or have done that to you at least once. Those people aren't really your friends. They are just there to use you to gain more respect for themselves.

I really do feel sorry for those people, people who use people to gain something more for themselves. It really is a sad world we live in.

Anyways, to give you a brief overview of what I mean, I will break it down to you on events that happened in the past month, and you will see why I feel the way I feel.

Let's rewind about 3 (almost 4) weeks ago, when a car club was going on a rally. Almost all of these rallies have sponsors, and so in order to promote these companies, the clubs have decals made and stick them on the cars.

Significant other (SO) was to also go on this rally, but there's a lot of prep work that goes into it: car cleaning, putting on decals, packing etc. I knew SO needed to get the decals put on by the club, so off we go to meet the members and get the decals put on.

Keep in mind too that this was also the afternoon that SO and I should've been spending time together, but instead we are at this garage finalizing things for the car. Now, here is where it gets "too nice".

We both offered to help the club put on the decals for their trucks that will be accompanying them for the rally. It takes a few hands to make it work, especially if it's a huge decal that spans half the length of the truck. So we figured the more people, the faster this can get done and the faster that people can get out of there since it was a hot day.

What should've been a 10 minute stay turned into a couple of hours or so, because we helped them with the decals. They said thanks at least, but didn't sound too genuine.

Fast forward about a week and a half or so. There is a huge photo shoot event happening with 2 car clubs at the local airport. This is in combination with the above club. SO and I are responsible for one club, and the other club is responsible for their members.

Most of the members from our club had arrived already and were already waiting at the gates to get in. Once all the things had been organized inside, SO was responsible to direct the cars to park, while I was responsible for getting the members through the gate. Members from the other club were also at the gate, responsible for their members entering.

After a head count, pretty much all of our members arrived on time and were already parked. We were waiting on a couple of cars to come in, but they were far away. So we told them that once they arrived at the gates, just call one of us and we will let you in. At this point, our duty at the gates were done. However, the other club had members they were still waiting on (and I mean more than 1) cars so they were still manning the gate. SO and I go back to the main event to check out the event and see how things are going. Our last member arrived safely, so all was accounted for our group.

About 3/4 of the way through the event, we get a message from the host of the venue, yelling that no one was manning the gate, and no one had told security that they were leaving the gate.

(To clarify: this was at an airport, so when no one is at the gate, anyone will be able to sneak in and go on the runway. Liability becomes a huge issue, and the venue will get in trouble for it if someone is injured or killed).

Here comes the best part: the founder of the other club member tells this host that it was SO and I's duty to man the gate. That we were responsible for it and it was our fault that we didn't tell anyone that we left the gate.

This guy, the very same guy we had helped to put stupid decals on his stupid club trucks just threw us under the bus.

SO didn't know until the host of the venue told him what was said to her. Of course he became really mad. Not only that, but now the venue was charging extra money on each car that had entered because of this unmanned gate. Tried to bargain it but to no avail.

Alright, whatever so the event was over. We got our pictures. It's all over I guess?

Not really. Because I was still pretty mad about how SO was treated. The bitch mode came high on when we saw our club pictures being promoted on the models' personal page, but promoting the other club. Not only that, but our club watermark was half missing.

To clarify things even more: both club members paid for the models and the venue. Nobody sponsored anybody during this event. This was a paid event. It wasn't like one club paid for everything and the rest got in free. Nope, EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE paid for this event and for these models.

So to see SO's hard work being stomped on and not getting club acknowledgement, it made me fume. I think if you saw your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/significant other put in a lot of work in planning and helping to get things organized in the club, you would want to acknowledge their hard work. My reaction is just like any other normal human being's action.

I called out the lady with barely any clothes on, and said it was a joint event. And to also acknowledge both clubs as both clubs had paid for her, along with her other scantly clothed friends, to attend this photo shoot (AND I AS WELL. I CAN'T BELIEVE I PAID FOR THIS. I'M NOT EVEN LESBIAN).

Then this lady had said she was told to just show up by the other club, and that it was sponsored by them. Hence why she kept promoting the other club. Ok, well that ain't her fault. But it's definitely the other club then, for being sneaky bastards - to try and claim everything as theirs. Their event, their models, their hard work, their money, their time. You name it.

And come on. There is no such thing as "our models". What, do you own them? If that's the case, might as well consider yourself a pimp, because pimps own prostitutes. Models are models. They don't belong to anyone.

People now think I'm a complete bitch for being a bitch to the models and the other club. But if you were in my shoes, you'd probably do the same: You'd stand up for the one you care about because you don't want to see their hard work being thrown down the toilet. I'm not trying to gain fame from this, or try to win tickets for some lame event. I'm just trying to stand up for what's right.

I'm told that I have no class, I'm an asshole, immature. You name it. Haha once you're in the "car scene", you're pretty much all of the above. There are other ways I could've done it, but this was the path I chose and this is what I had to deal with. My thinking hasn't changed, my outlook hasn't changed these years. I'm still nice to people, but it really depends.

If people are using me to gain what's best for them, then screw them. Dragon lady will come out to haunt you in your dreams. I'm a pretty mild dragon lady. I know of worst ones than I. So I'm really not all that bad.

I don't regret what I've said. I don't regret the event happening. I don't regret standing up for someone who I care about. I don't regret anything. Because this really shows the real side of some people, if they're genuine or not. That's how you learn if they are real friends or just people out there to use you and do business. From this event, it was all about business from the get go. It's just unfortunate that the nice people got dragged into this, and got thrown under the bus. And you wonder where all the nice, genuine people went.

They died when they got run over by the bus.

Some tips?

1) Learn manners. Isn't that what mom and dad taught when we were kids? I find it scary that some 4 year olds have way better manners than 50 year olds. It's sad, really sad. And scary.

2) Say thank you. I mean really mean it. Not like a HMPH THANKS!

3) Don't go throwing people under the bus, because it will come bite you in the ass later on.

4) Don't take credit for all the work when you know another person also put in time, effort and money into the same damn event. Acknowledge them as well. Don't be an asshole.

5) Stand up for what you believe, and for your loved ones. Sometimes the best thing to do is to keep quiet, but when you know that your loved ones have been stomped on, don't stay quiet. Stand up and fight for them.

6) Don't plan car events with another group.