June 10, 2004
Dear Everyone:
The ARMA Silent
Auction took place the night before last.
(ARMA equals Association of Records Managers and Administrators.)
I took advantage of my one extra day of vacation last Wednesday
to purchase a wide range of items for the Auction.
I also stopped by “Livermore” to see the new supervisor at the
I informed him that it was “traditional” for Company to donate an item for the Auction. I explained how it works: He tells me not to spend more than $50. I go out and buy something really nice that I would like to have. I report it on my expense account, which he approves, and I get reimbursed for the money I spent. Then I outbid everyone else at the Auction for the item.
The Silent Auction, by the way, is our incentive program. Because we are the Mt Diablo Chapter of ARMA, we offer “Diablo Dollars” to our members. Attend a monthly dinner meeting and you get $500. Wear your chapter pin and you get an additional $100. Hosting a programs earns you money. Giving a presentation earns you money. Participating in the chapter in just about any way, shape or form earns you money. And donating items for the Auction also earns you dollars. (Why do you think I wanted to make a $50 donation from Company?)
As the chapter Treasurer, I’m in charge of doling out Diablo Dollars and keeping track of who has done what during the fiscal year. At the June meeting, the final meeting of the year, I hand out all the “bonus” Diablo Dollars to the attendees and they use them, along with the ones they have accumulated through the year, to bid on the Auction items.
In addition to purchasing a number of items, and donating some, I also made up tent cards and bid sheets for each item, using my home computer. Then there are the “goody bags”. These are brightly colored paper bags filled with candy and small toys. Even someone who doesn’t get the winning bid on whatever they wanted still gets a goody bag.
Then, on Tuesday, I dragged everything to the Community Center meeting room where the meeting was to be held.
This year we actually only had 11 people show up for the meeting. And we had 22 items up for bid, which worked out to two items per person. During dinner, which was a catered barbecue, people would go around and write their name and bid on the bid sheet for whichever item they hoped to win. Then someone else would follow along behind and outbid them.
Some items were hotly contested. Others sat forlornly awaiting even a single bid. Some people really wanted one thing. Others were known to erase their bid when they realized that someone else wanted the item.
With $11,000 in Diablo Dollars, I knew I could have anything I wanted. I also knew where to buy just about any of the items, since I had made the original purchases. So I bided my time and only bid on a couple of things. I bid $100 (the minimum since the only denominations are $100 and $500) on one item, which no one else bid on at all. On a couple of other things, I was outbid.
Only one item did not receive a single bid. So we made that the door prize. The purpose of the door prize is to get everyone to remember to turn their name badges in at the end of the evening. Then we put all the badges in a basket and toss the basket until one badge falls out. The person with their name on that badge wins the door prize. Whether they want it or not.
As for the Company donation, this year it was a pair of emerald stud earrings. I bid $5000. When I realized I had frightened everyone else away, I dropped it down to $1000. While that was not the highest bid of the evening, I still won.
That left me with $9900. But you can’t carry Diablo Dollars over in to the next year, so I tossed them. Throwing money away, what can I say?
Love, as always,
Pete
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