well, I had to pay for yet another DCMM breakfast. No breakfast was there til Bill kindly went shopping for the ever growing crowd, with my cash.
Chris did show up with yummy little cream puffs...but a good deal past 9:30. There were already several people there, but no breakfast. Kind of embarrassing, don't you agree?

If there's going to continue to be an advertised breakfast at Towson, someone has to take the responsibility to organize this a little better. Sterling takes all the guess work out it, as they put on quite a spread for us, but Towson does not. They didn't even have coffee. I guess someone brings breakfasts to Tate..I haven't been there for a while.

If the club advertises that there's going to be a breakfast, there ought to be one..and beginning at the time that's announced on the thread. It's only once every 3 months, so it's not exactly heavy duty. I did it for 3 years at Tate.

If folks just want to meet without providing breakfast, that's ok too...we just need to stop calling it the monthly "breakfast".

 

Doesn't seem fair that ANY individual should have to pay to provide supplies for an official club event. Many thanks to those of you (us) who have done this so generously so many times! If this is an official club event (it appears on our calendar), then wouldn't it make sense for the club to reimburse up to a reasonable amount for the supplies?

FWIW, Tate doesn't provide anything. We can't even park in their lot without getting grief about it. Last time several of us brought goodies to share. Maybe it would make more sense to have breakfast at a local restaurant after first meeting at the dealership.

 

I think that'd work..

 

 

+1.

 

I did it gladly for 3 years at Tate, out of my own pocket. This was before we started the dealership rotation, so it was once a month at Tate.

 

Hey Kgdblu, I wouldn't mind reimbursing you a few bucks for the "breakfast". Isn't there a cash account that DCMM keeps for events like these? Do you accept Paypal?

 

To response to your post:

I have brought things to almost every breakfast meet that I have attended since I joined the club and I've NEVER got anything back from the club, even before the announcement.



Sorry that I was late, I had to make breakfast for my kids. Actually, I shouldn't have been there at all since it conflicted with my daughter's piano recital. But I was there, wasn't I? With food.

But, who am I? Not a board Member. You are the president and you were there, and as its an official club event, shouldn't the Board be responsible for arrangements?

And to be honest, during the time that I was a board member, I attended all the breakfast meets. Where where and are the rest of the board members.



Who will be the someone that you mention, should it be one of the board members? I think it should.



So who should be the first one there? If this is an official Club event, the club officer(s) should be there.

And why do members have to pay for the food? It is the club's event, why doesn't club take care of the expense?



Good idea, it should have changed long time ago.

 

I want to add my two cents to this topic. It is true, for the longest time Katie provided the breakfasts out of her own pocket and the goodness of her heart. When I became the DCMM treasurer, I insisted that the club pay for the breakfasts. The board approved that policy, and I began to personally reimburse Katie and others for their expenses. This policy was reversed by a recent board. (Katie, please refrain from sending me any angry PMs.)

The purpose of the breakfasts is to recruit new members. The breakfasts are at the dealerships because there is no better new member than an enthusiastic new MINI owner. In my judgment is makes little sense to recruit new members by saying to them, "here, pay for this breakfast, and let's talk about joining the club."

I think Chris has done a lot for the club in the last two years and he deserves a lot better than a public scolding for arriving late, apparently at some personal cost to himself.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

 

Chris has done more "hands on" support for DCMM than almost anybody.

After leaving the Board position he took to fill a vacancy left by an early departure, he continues to serve as event coordinator even though he asked the board to replace him back in March. The duties spelled out by the Board are:

• NOT a board position
• NOT required to be at all events, nor create all events
• Manage the club calendar: Making sure that there aren't more than one OFFICIAL DCMM event on any given day
• Assisting the creator of the event to create a calendar posting, as well as a thread stickies
• Ensure the creator of each event is familiar with the guidelines the club has set up for events, has access to waivers, etc...
• Contact the local dealerships the Wednesday before the monthly breakfast to remind them we are coming

Please note #'s 1, 2 and 6..... Nothing about arranging for food.

Notice that he willingly continues in the event coordinator position since no one else has stepped up. If he quit, would someone on the Board take over? If so, they should step up now if they are so unhappy with the job Chris is doing!
I agree with Marina that the value of the Dealer Breakfasts is recruitment. A lot of clubs do this and of the three that I have personal knowledge of, all foot the bill. Note that this is usually about the cost of one membership a month.

Chris is frequently the organizer or one of the driving forces behind many events. He never shows up at a party without bringing food or drink to share. He has hosted us in his home and at his family's restaurant. How many of us have great photos of our MINI's thanks to his talent? He even tolerates me telling him that Panera bagels suck!

DCMM is supposed to be fun! It isn't fair for any of us to ruin the fun for Maxicooper! I'm grateful for all of his efforts that have helped with and continue to assist in the fun I get out of owning and driving a MINI. I am glad he is my friend.

 

Hi. My wife and I really enjoyed meeting all the new and less-than-new members at the breakfast yesterday. A big thank you for getting the pastries, and bringing it to MoT. It was great meeting and chatting with Katie, Chris, Amy "Mimi", Josh, Justin (& Zoe), Cecilia, and John. Since I am terrible with names I am amazed I remembered so many - my apologies if I left anyone out!

2 cents comment #1: My wife and I have been members and officers of another car club for many years and know all too well about personally financing events like breakfasts, stamps for membership mailings, etc. A few by-law changes helped ensure club members got reimbursed for money spent for officially sponsored functions.

2 cents comment #2: For what it's worth, I think anyone who is asked to provide eats for membership gatherings should be reimbursed. (If there is any concern about cost, then you could have the expense ok'd by the Treasurer and a board member either before or after the event). I don't mean to open a can of worms, but I think this is the fair thing to do. Mini's are all about FUN and so is the DCMM! That's why we joined in the first and it's why we keep renewing (albeit a little on the tardy side...).

2 cents comment #3: MoT lending us a table and the use of their showroom space is nice (especially on a busy Saturday) but a little more buy-in by dealerships would show a little more commitment and support for the DCMM club. After all, many of us have purchased car(s) from them, and/or might in the future and it is fair to say that MoT and other dealerships the DCMM supports have profited nicely from our business.

2 cents comment #4: I think being asked by MoT to vacate their customer lot was a bit un-Mini-like. After all, aren't we customers too? I think this was Mini-faux-pas on their part and while I willingly moved our less-than-a-Mini auto I think I might have opted not to if my wife and I still had our beloved 2003 MCS and had driven it to the breakfast! Okay, I guess this one kind bothered me a little. After all, we rarely ventured too far from our MCS (I think some of you will understand that bit of irrationality...).

I look forward to joining all of you soon at the next DCMM event. in the meantime, if you see someone waving at you or giving you a headlight flash from a non-Mini, it might be me. That will be our only means of roadside communicating until we get our new Mini. We have an order number for our 2009 JCW but we probably won't take delivery 'til the end of July (got an early allocation).

Happy & safe motoring!

 

For the record, it wasn't my"administration" that stopped the breakfast reimbursements, so don't go there please.

Chris, you're taking statements too personally again. My post had nothing to do with your contributions to the club. I wasn't expecting you to supply the breakfast and I know what you've contributed to the club. I wasn't scolding you or anyone else. I was just embarrassed that DCMM advertised a breakfast, and there was none.

Marina you maybe reimbursed me 1 or 2 times, so don't make it sound I was reimbursed for the 3 years I gladly supplied breakfast. Since you have decided not to renew your membership because I became president ( I believe your exact words were "She'll run the club into the ground"), I would appreciate it if you didn't make comments about the club, it's policies, or anything else related to the club. If you decide to renew, then you're welcome to voice your opinion. Please don't send me any angry PMs, either.

The president can't force board members to show up for anything. If they chose not to attend, that's their choice..just like any other member.

This issue will be on the agenda for the board meeting on the 25th, so it should be resolved.

 

Since this is a public forum I have the same rights as everyone to post my opinions ..and Katie if you don't like don't read it !!!

My membership was due in Jan. and you as membership liason have chosen not to send me or my husband a renewal... You became President in April - . so as you can see my life is not decided by you been a President of DCMM.

I did put on hold my renewal to see if the club was going to improve and return to the old club similar to the one that I join and served as Treasurer (BTW some of your screw up it cost me more than $500.00 but let's leave that story alone).

The Club used to have clings, booklets and little swags when runs were put together, pay for BBQs -held at MoT and TATE-with members food contributions. You were paid three times for the breakfast 'til your relationship with TATE ended, my job as treasurer was to make sure that the club was properly financed and club events paid, that's why I worked my butt off at MOTD organizing (with Matt) the Welcome and Farewell Dinners, in addition to helping with registration swags and upfronting payment of bills as high as $11K. I did it because I believed in the club and enjoyed the company of MINI onwers.. then the little politics started and I prefered to resign but continue to be a member ' til I see that things were to be different and within the last few months I see that every time someone tries to do something new for the club you find a way to say something negative..

First it was the newsletter with spelling error, then the wrong channel to pay for a picnic .. now Chris and his tardiness .. personally it's plain and simply rude, almost as your PMs to me with your name calling (like c..t).

You are correct the President cannot force Board Members to attend events etc.. but he/she like the President of a company can set the tone of the organization and energize members to make the club grow...



Now you can go and fire up e-mails to any administrator willing to listen your complains about me and ask to remove my post..

 

done

 

unbelievable. perfect example of why my wife and I stopped participating many years ago in '04 when we first joined DCMM. feel free to cancel my recent renewal and refund me.

 

Sorry Chris, I have to agree, just give me a standard bagel and blob of cream cheeze pleeze You are most appreciated by many of the club members

 

+2

 

I just want to publicly say 'thank you' to MrMellowYellow for the PM he sent me by mistake this morning (that was about me but meant for GreenCactus). Might want to drink that coffee and think it through before embarrassing yourself. This is a perfect example of why DCMM is a joke.

If you have an issue with me - man up and let's chat about it. Quit being a sniveling little troll sending others PM's about me. Got it? Good.

 

Ya know, most of the time these things come down to a lack of communication, that's all. (The issues regarding breakfast)

My gripe- The dealers should welcome our cars, they should have some room set aside for us to park and set up, we are a promotion of their product - PERIOD

Not to mention the fact that we are customers, we continue to buy cars and parts from them.

If they don't want us there, why do we want to be there ? Why should we spend our money there ?

As for us, I don't think we push the club enough to the customers, it just looks like a club social rather than a promotion of the MINI and DCMM. The non-DCMM customers seem to have a hard time weeding through the crowd and the sales staff is probably annoyed with us too. Do we offer food to the these potential members ?

I'm not trying to tell the board how to do things, just giving you an "as I see it" opinion.

I appreciate the efforts of all involved in keeping DCMM going, from the Pres to the folks putting the fun runs together ! Jobs well done I wish I could commit to more responsibility myself.

Thanks again !

Mike

 

Before this gets out of hand, I for one would like to request that PGT and MellowYellow work this out in private.

Thanks to both of you.

Mike

 

there's nothing to work out. common sense would say it's not good for any club for members to be talking smack like that behind each other's backs. nice to know it goes on with someone I've never even met.

no worries...I've sent a PM asking for a refund on my DCMM membership and we'll be done with this soon.

 

Dude, I wasn't talking smack...I just asked Laura to take you up on your offer to leave DCMM.

I apologized via PM to PGT for my error. And I apologize to the forum that this is out in the open.

Done.

Glenn

 

How's about we close this thread, eh?

 

+1.

 

By the way, it's really nice to meet some of our new members. Among those, are 3 musicians. If I recall it correctly, 2 bass players and 1 guitar player. Really cool.

I wish we could have DCMM's Jam Session some day.

Looking forward to see you again at the future events. (and don't forget the annual picnic is around the corner )