#professional responsibility

A code of ethics is a tool that establishes minimum standards. It sets a code of conduct for coaches as they advance in their careers. It’s a tool that inspires coaches to share shared beliefs and do their best work.

Coaches exhibit proper respect for all people’s human rights, integrity, and worth. Individual rights to privacy, confidentiality, self-determination, and autonomy are respected, but they are conscious that legal and other responsibilities can create inconsistency and conflict with the exercise of these rights. Coaches are keen to learn more about cultural, person, and position disparities, such as those arising from age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, and socioeconomic status.

A code of ethics is a tool that establishes minimum standards. It sets a code of conduct for coaches as they advance in their careers. It’s a tool that inspires coaches to share shared beliefs and do their best work.

Writer: okbdsm Date: August 21, 2018 Note: Unfortunately, I cannot reveal identifying information about this without revealing who I am since my BDSM activities are not known to the vast majority of my friends.

I plan on doing a few rants regarding the importance of taking responsibility for your actions because whether you’re in individual, a small business, or a major corporation, if you are not going to honor your commitments, then you are putting your own personal and professional reputation at risk.

At 4:56 P.M. on August 16, 2018, the owner of the LLC that operates the anime convention that I discussed in Rant: Take Responsibility for Your Actions, Part 1 announced on the convention’s Facebook Page that the convention was officially cancelled. The entire Facebook post (minus identifying information) is below:

[Name of convention stripped out of the post] Ticket Holders, Sponsors, Invited Guests, Vendors, and fellow Anime Fans,

Despite diligent efforts [Name of convention stripped out of the post] has been officially cancelled due to logistical difficulties, talent scheduling, and other factors beyond our control.

We understand that many of you made plans to be here and wanted to give you as much notice as possible so that you may make alternative plans for your holiday weekend. Our team worked to the last possible moments to find a solution, but with two weeks until opening we now realize it will be impossible to deliver the show we promised you.

Ticket Holders,

Please know it is our desire and intent to make full refund or issue credit voucher for future events. Please contact us at [E-Mail Address stripped out of the post] to inquire about refunds for tickets and deposits.

Within minutes of the post on Facebook, there has been a number of posts made in the comments section on the Facebook post. One of the guests that was scheduled to appear at the convention posted this at 5:11 P.M. on August 16, 2018:

“Talent scheduling”? HAH! That is ENTIRELY untrue, do not throw us talent you invited to your convention under the bus. This convention is absolutely ridiculous.

Many people on Facebook came to the defense of the convention guest, including another one of the convention’s guests. He had this to post at 5:17 P.M. on August 16, 2018:

I second that [Identifying name removed]. Unprofessional!

As of August 21, 2018, the cancellation has only been posted on the Facebook Page. The convention’s Website nor the convention’s Twitter page have been updated with this information.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I personally know many people that were planning on attending this anime convention and several people that were planning on selling artwork and other items at the convention. Those that purchased passes might be able to get their money back via Eventbrite, but I have heard that the artists and vendors had to pay through a different method (I’ve heard that they paid either through PayPal or Square, but I haven’t been able to confirm that information yet). The artists and vendors will have a more difficult time getting their money back.

One of the impacted vendors E-Mailed the cancellation E-Mail Address, and this was the automated response she has received (the E-Mail was formatted to strip out identifying information):

Thank for your interest in this production, and we apologize again for your inconvenience. As you can imagine, we are getting a large volume of requests for information on refunds. The mechanism for making refunds is not yet in place. You will receive a follow up email with steps to verify your account when it is. We appreciate your understanding and we empathize with your impatience as we have funds tied up in deposits and prepaid expenses as well. Regards, Team [Name of convention stripped out of the post]

Keep in mind, the convention is officially owned by one person.

Naturally, this did not set well with people on Facebook because between the Facebook post and the automated E-Mail, it makes it seem like that people were not getting their money back.

The situation with this local convention has even attracted the attention of local news outlets. According to a news report, one of my friends paid $440 to the LLC owner using a check dated February 20, 2018 for her vendor space.

Granted, I do not know how many vendors and artists paid for booth spaces nor do I know how much each one costs, but I’ll go ahead and throw in an example. Keep in mind, this scenario may not be completely accurate, but it should detail how serious this is.

Let’s say that the least expensive vendor space costs $250 and 30 people paid in advance for vendor space. That’s $7,500 of funds that went to a cancelled convention. In another example, let’s say that the least expensive vendor space costs $250 and 50 people paid in advance. That’s $12,500 of funds that went to a cancelled convention.

This situation is still developing, and it’ll be months before a resolution will be reached. Regardless, this situation could have been handled much better, and the fact that it was handled so poorly and so close to the original date of t he convention has many people upset. Many truly believe that the owner of the LLC is a con artist, many believe that the funds are completely gone, and many believe that she will likely face embezzlement charges due to this.

Writer: okbdsm Date: August 14, 2018 Note: Unfortunately, I cannot reveal identifying information about this without revealing who I am since my BDSM activities are not known to the vast majority of my friends.

I plan on doing a few rants regarding the importance of taking responsibility for your actions because whether you’re in individual, a small business, or a major corporation, if you are not going to honor your commitments, then you are putting your own personal and professional reputation at risk.

In the past few days, I have been following a lot of disturbing events regarding an anime convention in my area that is supposed to be occurring in the coming weeks.  Some point in 2017, an LLC purchased an anime convention where I reside. There were many in my local cosplay community that were worried about what would happen, but I took things in stride and waited to see what happened.

Starting on August 13, 2018, I have heard things that have caused me to become concerned about the convention. I have heard about the following things:

In recent days, volunteers have not been conveyed information regarding when to report for their assignments, where they are being assigned, etc.

Most of the hyperlinks on the convention’s Website being broken

The Eventbrite page no longer accepting payments for passes, despite Tweets on the convention’s Twitter page stating that preorders for passes would not end until near the end of the month

Two of the five special guests have announced that they will not be able to attend due to recent issues

The information on the Secretary of State’s Website listing that the status of the LLC is currently inactive with the reason due to being over 60 days delinquent in filing its annual report

There are many rumors floating around regarding the owner of the LLC, and I cannot verify them. As of when I typed this post (August 14, 2018), there has been no official announcement from the owner of the LLC regarding the status of the convention, and the lack of communication is absolutely appalling to me.

I was not planning on attending the anime convention due to being invested in two other conventions, one in September and the other in November. However, I do have several friends of mine that were planning to be vendors at this convention. My friends had to pay in advance for their booth and table spaces and are deeply concerned that they will not be able to recoup their funds.  With the convention owned by an LLC, if my friends wanted to recoup their funds, they would need to sue to LLC to get a judgement. Under certain conditions, the owner of an LLC can be sued, but certain criteria has to be met for the owner of an LLC to be held personally liable. However, it is currently unknown what is the current financial status of the LLC, and it is currently unknown what is the current financial status of the owner of the LLC.

I do not care if you are a large corporation, a small business, or an individual, if people have given you funds for goods or services, you need to honor your commitments.

If you are unable to honor your commitments, you need to be able to find a way to rectify things.

If a convention is cancelled, as the owner of the LLC, you need to make an official announcement instead of giving people a sense of uncertainty.

In my opinion, the professional reputation of the LLC’s owner is ruined.

As far as the convention itself, in my opinion, the reputation of the convention has been damaged beyond repair.