Crazy Things That Happen During Recruitment
 

What are some crazy stories that have happened during recruitment for you as an alum/advisor?

Mine today:
Today is the first day of recruitment. The Membership VP asked me over the weekend to pick up chairs from the rental, which is about 45 minutes away and in another state. I was not told how many chiars or how big they were. I took my Yukon and when I arrived at the rental place they told me 75 chairs and they were a little bigger then excepted. I fill up the back with chairs, all the way to the roof. I had my hubby take the 3 row seat out. We ended up with chairs in the front and anywhere they could fit. Then I got to the house in was turning into the back yard and ended up hitting the passenger side with the post. That's the end of the first part.

Then I gp pick up the tables from another location. I get there and I'm told the ther takes where never reserved and they don't have anymore. This after the MVP verified last night. We get on the phone and call around and find some about 45 minutes away. None of the members have trucks so I volunteered to go get them. It took about an hour to load the tables. I made it back to the house right as house checks were happening; aroundc3:30. The parties started at 5 PM. And set up still had to happen for the tables.

This is the craziest recruitment has had. This is my first year as the chapter advisor too. I'm so exhausted already.b

oh goodness!
 

I'm tired just reading this. Best of luck during recruitment!!

I told this before somewhere else, but we had a PNM receive a bid to a chapter she hadn't preffed. Somehow our recruitment software totally messed up and sent her to a chapter she didn't return to after the third round, and we had to go get her from her Bid Day party, give back her things for the old chapter and send her to her new Bid Day party. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it myself, but she was really sweet and was just happy to find a sorority home even if it was one she didn't think she would end up in. We only noticed because a chapter that would have otherwise made quota was one short and we knew they didn't miss it, so we cross-referenced the lists and found a woman where she shouldn't have been. I still don't know how it happened!

We had a COB situation where a couple of collegians were dispatched to knock on the door and invite a pnm to join. Apparently, they were given the wrong dorm room so came back with a different girl (same first name but completely different girl) that the chapter was not intending to receive. They still gave her the bid and she turned out to be a fabulous well loved member of the chapter. Sometimes mistakes are meant to happen.

I served as an advisor for 3 years and was most recently the recruitment advisor. The first night, a sister showed up to recruitment with a tray of chicken nuggets before rounds started. It was meant for the chapter's dinner. After parties. At 10:30. We started at 5:00. Since the sororities on this campus are not residential, we use classroom buildings and don't have kitchens. There were already several sisters out with the flu and I couldn't lose any more with food poisoning. This meant a run to Wal-Mart during parties for plastic baggies, ice, and food service gloves so I could put the nuggets in the cooler someone thankfully brought.

Later that night I got to unclog the toilet in the only restroom available to PNMs in our building. Awesome.

To then cap a memorable night 1, campus director was malfunctioning and we couldn't get the invite lists to post.

Thankfully the other rounds went more smoothly.

Did the other girl with the same name, get a bid?

Also, flirt5721 — Advisor of the Year!!!

"Did the other girl with the same name, get a bid?"

No. The chapter was at total. They only had a certain number of bids to share and this particular one went to the incorrect pnm. It all worked out in the end.

This year's recruitment was a doozy:

1) the only bathroom available to the members/cook/other staff during recruitment was clogged and water ended up all over the floor. I got to mop that up and then wait three hours for the plumber. Also it was a Saturday so that was an expensive 10 minute plumbing visit.

2) The brand new super expensive stove we bought for the house this summer ended up having several manufacturer defects. We can still only use one oven and one side of the stove top (we're waiting on parts).

3) At my campus the houses are required to provide water outside to rho gams/pnms via water coolers. My house only had one so I had to haul rear end around town to find another one 40 minutes prior to recruitment starting. Found one, then I had to circle the block for nearly ten minutes because PNMs were waiting in front of the houses.

I guess we could have had it worse. One house had their cook quit in the middle of recruitment and the main sewer line cracked and leaked in another.

Oh wow! What was it, 3-4 years ago when there was all the rain right before/during recruitment and some chapters' basements flooded?

In Ann Hyman's book about being a sorority house mom, there was a fire in her sorority house on one of the days of recruitment. (Small, but still!). There was some other emergency the next year at another house on her campus, but it escapes me at the moment.

Last year, we were in our old house for the last time during recruitment. It was OLD and had constant problems with plumbing. As I was being very sentimental about losing the old girl, I heard a gurgling sound in the guest bathroom. Upon investigation I found the bathtub filling with sewage. After the plumber and cleanup, I turned to another alum and said the new house could not happen fast enough!

One of my first few years advising the UCLA chapter, the girls were excited to have 1 of their faves for lunch during Recruitment - BLT sandwiches! But, during the last party before lunch, the whole house smelled like bacon. Just so much bacon ��!

We aired out the house during lunch and our chef made chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon rounds so got rid of the bacon smell with chocolate!

Something like this happened at MS State one year. I had to go pick up the girl who was mistakenly given a bid and it was awful.

The good thing was that she got a bid to the same chapter in COB in the spring.

My first year of coming back as an alum to help with recruitment we had one of the day's party chairs slip down the stairs of the student center where the parties are held and break her wrist (it was winter and the stairs were not as well salted as they should be). Two alums took her to the ER and the rest of us tried to help the remaining chair and membership director get everything together but between the insanity of the injury and getting stuff ready we forgot to set up the project and laptop for the sisterhood video and didn't realize it until it was time to play it in the first party. We got it set up to play just at the end, but I now check all of the tech first before every party.

One of my friends was advising her chapter and the bakery where they had ordered their special pref desserts for years had closed early when they went to pick them up the day before pref so alums baked, frosted and personalized new ones all through the night for the party the next day.

I forgot one-
There was a girl on crutches going through that got stuck in the elevator for almost 45 minutes and for a while the Rho Chis could not figure out where she was and went around checking the other chapters in case she had gone to the wrong party before they figured it out maintenance. Luckily it was early in a later round of parties and she was able to be added to another party for the chapter she missed but I'm glad I was Panhel and the Rho Chis right then!

This occurred in the days before cell phones and internet social media, 25+ years ago:

A small NPC chapter requested rush party assistance from their alum chapters located as far away as sixty miles. All helper alums were told in advance specific types of outfits to wear based on the party theme for the night they would be helping the chapter. Some alums were asked to bring specific types of food/drinks in keeping with the chosen party theme.

Shortly before one rush party the small chapter discovered the other campus NPC group was having the same party theme they'd planned, so the small chapter changed their own theme on the fly but had no time to inform their helper alums to have alums wear a different type of outfit. And of course the food/drinks being brought-in by alums would not change!

At the actual rush party the chapter wore all black and held a comedy sketch routine, while alums were decked-out in non-swimsuit beachwear attire---not the best mesh of genres.

When I went through recruitment at Clemson one chapter wore Lilly dresses that were otherwise uncoordinated as their second round outfit. Many PNMs (myself included) also wore Lilly dresses. I had no idea who was who without looking for a nametag!

The worst as an advisor- we had a power outage and half the sorority houses were without heat and hot water. It finally came back on a few hours before the first party, but since we are on differed recruitment and it was January in Indiana, the houses were freezing.
Worst as a collegian- back in the days of real candles, the decorations in one of the rooms caught fire. We were able to put it out and just shut the door to that room and not use it, but no amount of air freshener could cover the smell.

I haven't had anything too horrible as an adviser, thankfully.

As a collegiate member....

My collegiate chapter was very excited to have the granddaughter of an AOII Past International President coming through recruitment. She was gorgeous in her picture and we couldn't wait to meet her. During open house round, she came in and sat down across from her rusher and promptly said "I don't care who my grandmother is to you, there is no way in hell that I am pledging this house". Alrighty then! Nice to meet you too.

Yikes! Awkward. I wonder if she was open about her feelings with her grandmother, or if she simply threw your chapter under the bus (made it look like it was your fault she wasn’t returning for later rounds). Did she end up getting a bid somewhere that was more to her liking?

Yes, I believe she did. We did gather that there was some bad blood there.

At San Diego State University, I believe that the chapters have to submit what is called a "patent" before recruitment. That is, they submit their themes and such to Panhellenic ahead of time so that they can lock it in and no one else can copy the idea. Has anyone else heard of such a thing?

We did that too, although we didn't call it a "patent". The idea was to ensure, well in advance of recruitment, that no two chapters used the same theme. If a chapter did the same theme two years in a row, they could call dibs on it. Otherwise, if two chapters wanted to do, say, a Disney theme, chapter A was awarded the theme one year, and chapter B would have to pick a different theme, but chapter B got to do the Disney theme the next year and chapter A had to pick something different.

Thus, both actives and alums knew well in advance what the themes would be and could find appropriate outfits knowing they wouldn't get the rug pulled out from under them (as in the situation Cheerio described). I can't imagine traveling miles to help out with recruitment only to be told, "Surprise! We changed our theme, and, if you didn't happen to pack anything appropriate for the new theme, you have an hour to hit the mall, buy something, and get changed before our first party starts." Alums are doing the chapter a favor, for crying out loud! I'd be more than a bit tempted to jump right back into my car and head out of town and NOT to the mall.

But I digress. Most of my crazy recruitment stories, I've already posted in the weird rush stories thread.

Mine is from last year, when I was still an active...
First, we found out about an hour before the first party of day one was set to start that recruitment was postponed due to an outbreak of norovirus, and we were all terrified that it would spread beyond the one house it was affecting (luckily, it didn’t). Then, another round was put on hold for a couple of hours due to a power outage on Franklin Street (our main street and close to most of the other houses) that affected every other house except ours, as we were located farther away. Finally, we had to change our bid day plans on the fly due to the threat of a hurricane. Needless to say, we were EXTREMELY relieved when that recruitment was over!

Something similar happened when I was a sophomore. Grandma's last granddaughter was rushing and she was the only one who had chosen a school with a Sigma Kappa chapter. Grandma wrote a long letter, sent a huge collage of photos...

Rushee comes in, sister welcomes her and says we had heard so many nice things about her. Rushee says, "My grandmother is crazy, and I am not pledging here."

She made our sister cry. I remember she pledged elsewhere, and good for her.

^^^ And good for your chapter, too, it sounds like!

Fortunately my DG chapter escaped the plumbing and heating issues during formal recruitment, which back in the 1980's was typically held one week before school began. Back then we were just trying to keep from melting in our Laura Ashley dresses.


However I do recall one hiccup vividly. It was Sisterhood day and typically we would greet the rushees at the front and then escort them out the door, down the driveway around to the patio aka the parking pad when it wasn't rush. The weather was sunny and while warm, typically was cooler outdoors than indoors. In our minds it was a far better alternative to walk them around the house rather than leading them through the narrow hallways. That route would have taken the party past the kitchens, pantry and all of the rush accessories, props and more that had accumulated over the week. We believed that asking the rushees to climb over a five foot tall chicken wire anchor attached to a three foot wide base sent the wrong impression. :D


Now it was a long driveway that went from the street to behind the main house and it could handle the crowd of sisters and rushees easily. Decorations had held up in the early afternoon sunshine and gentle seabreeze. The Country Time lemonade was chilled. The DG cocktail napkins were neatly fanned on the tables. The patio was as clean as it could possibly be. For three of parties held earlier in the day, the space had worked perfectly. Or so we thought...:rolleyes:



On this day our chapter adviser had tried to be extra efficient and interview a new housemother while sitting in as an alumni observer. She'd planned to meet with the applicant during the lunch break in the small chapter office which would have been away from the rush activities. Unfortunately our new prospective housemother was late due to some city road work and a lack of parking spaces in which to park her enormous, early 1970's dusty, pea green Chevy. (Yes the future DG housemom had her own boat so to say.) Not wanting to be even later than she was, she decided to park in the driveway. Yes the very driveway that the actives and sisters were to use to access the patio. :eek:



So instead of calmly leading our next rush party down the steps and around to the patio, the Laura Ashley clad actives and rushees now found themselves inching past the housemother's car and the wooden fence that bordered the property. It was either that or try ducking under the dusty Cypress trees that were always a spider magnet despite our hasty pre-rush clean up efforts. (As a chapter we really were not into landscaping in our late teens/early twenties.:p)


Upon being apprised of the situation, the President and Rush VP immediately dispatched the speediest sister to find the Alumni advisor and the prospective housemother to request that the car be moved ASAP! A few minutes later in the midst of a sister's solo of "When You Go Away To College," we could all hear the sound of repeated attempts to turn over an engine and then a backfire. Fortunately by the end of the party, the PHM was able to move the car and find a close parking space. (Yes she did get hired.)



To be honest I can't say that it was our best rush party that year, but it was the most memorable. :)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_24hB-vENCA...0/csulb-dg.jpg

Ok, I *have* to post a photo so that we can all appreciate why Potential House Mom's parking job became a problem! :D


Hahaha! Oh no! I hope that the PNMs got a little chuckle out of it and that the background noise didn't detract from the presentation!

We had a somewhat similar PNM *mumble mumble* years ago. Her mother, aunts, grandmother, and great-grandmother were all ADPis. She didn't even want to go greek, and made it very clear. We asked our EO and were told in no uncertain terms that we could NOT cut her, and she ended up pledging. Worst.Pledge.Ever. She was initiated at Convention, then transferred to a school without ADPi, and was never heard from again.

The kicker? On her Linked In page, she lists Alpha Delta Pi!

The only other thing I have to add happened at more chapters than ours: Pref parties meant evening wear with lots and lots of hairspray used. Many a near disaster came from the combination of lit candles and so much hairspray!

When I was assistant sorority advisor at an SEC school, I was at one group's lovely pref party by a school. There were wild ducks in a pond nearby. The president began to speak..."Why would you want to be an ABC?" The ducks jeered, "Waaanh waaanh wanh!"

Every time the president opened her mouth, those ducks dissed her. It was hilarious. The alums fled inside the house so they could laugh,

I wish someone had filmed it.

Navane thank you for finding a photo of the chapter house! Way back when this happened, there wasn't a gate across the driveway and where the lone Cypress tree stands now there were at least two of them. The trunk of that enormous Chevy was sticking out almost onto the sidewalk! :D

:D That is hysterical though I feel badly for the president who was trying to make it through her preference night speech.