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| Recruitment 101 | Started by: Brick_Pollitt on Apr 20, '09 17:29 |
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Brick came to the streets in a bit of a different mood today. So he made his way to the most populated street corner, took a sip of the Dr Pepper he always carried with him, tossed the empty bottle in the trash (don't litter) and began to speak. It seems as though we all need a lesson on recruitment. I've decided to teach this lesson, because apparently nobody else is willing or can find the time. So, pick up your pencils and write a few things down. So, story time (and yes, I love to begin my lessons with a little story, so deal with it): This young civilian approached me the other day. He shall remain nameless because frankly, I care so little about him that I don't want his name to appear in lights. Anyway, he approached me and told he he'd die for me if I let him join my family. He'd DIE for me if I sent him an invite. So, what is a crewleader to do? Well, we'll get to that. First I'm going to tell you what I did. I sent him a nice mail. It said something along the lines of I appreciate you coming to me. But can you please tell me about yourself. What else can you do for Elegido besides die for me. And would you like to hear the response? Yeah, me fucking too. He never responded. Instead, he joined one of the other five families he mailed. I'm sure he sent the same exact mail to every one of the families he mailed. Why did he mail only five? Hmmm...dunno...probably because there were only five of us on at that particular time. What a pathetic attempt to show somebody you are worthy to become part of their crew. I sit here, now, and wonder why I didn't kill that idiot. Probably because he's not yet a gangster, or probably because - again, I just don't care enough about him. But I care enough about this community, which is why I'm here today, teaching this lesson. Another brief story: I saw a RH of a crew's profile the other day ( and no, I don't know when the other day was - could have been today for all I remember ) and it said something along the lines of: If you want to be a member of this crew, come to us with an intelligent reason as to why we should invite you. I think my profile has something similar. And my question is - why fucking bother? You think that civilian will actually get to you before 16 other people have approached him/her? No. Not a chance. And people are going to come in here and say this: "It's like that because there are too many crews." So, don't bother coming in here and telling me that. I already said it. It's bullshit. It's like that because we allowed it to get like that. We are the ones who have chosen not to have any standards. If we could control ourselves, we could get it back to the way it should be. Civilians should have to approach us. They want to enter this life, they should have to stand on their own two feet, think of something intelligent to say, and wow us. So, here's the lesson you should take from this: If you're the leader of a family - think about it. Is having 50 members that important to you that you disregard any standards at all? To the Right Hands and Left Hands - same question. Can you learn everything you need to learn from somebody by a one line request to join ur krew? For those who are new to these cities - learn this lesson: If you cannot string together an intelligent sentence, or two even, to present yourselves in the best possibe light, then why should we allow you to join any of the families in these cities? I know at least one family that you shall not join. I hope there are at least a few more out there that have some standards. I think there are plenty. Things can change. You just have to be willing to put in the work to change them. That's your lesson for today. And by the way, I don't hold myself out to be above these issues. I was just the one giving the lecture. I shall do better. I hope others will too. Debate amongst yourselves. I'm off to get ready for my next rant. |
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Not everyone speaks fluent English here, some civilians are mere children who have just begun in this life because they have no other choice, some are those which have little education but also have little choice when it comes to employment. There ability to articulate themselves well might not be the best but shit, we can teach them the principles here. I've known a few pretty uneducated guys to be uncondtionally loyal to their families, so basing somebodies loyalty or respect on their accent isn't the best way to measure a person up. If we didn't bother with those who struggle with words, there'd be a fair few more homeless people lying around the place, and damn I know a few leaders around that can barely string a few sentences together, so wtf? End of the day, you guy's are leaders, you need to lead and teach those below you, if that involves training up some guy straight off the boat so be it, sometimes you need to see past the standard bullshit and take a chance. If the guys not working hard after a while, then dump him back on the streets by all means, but you need to let some people prove their worth over more than just a couple of conversations. There'll always be fuckheads who abuse the system, that's the chance you will have to take sometimes and in most cases it can be easily remedied. The example you gave should be dead and if he isn't by now I suggest you see to it he does infact die. |
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| Reply by: Scully at Apr 20, '09 18:05 | |
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I don't buy it. I understand what you're saying, but I don't buy it. If you've made your way to these streets, you speak some english. It may not be your first language, and I certainly wouldn't fault you for that. I, frankly, don't care if you spell words correctly. I don't care if you use them correctly. I do care about effort. Certainly with every rule, there are exceptions. But for the most part, what I see is a total lack of effort. And that's not necessarily the civilians' fault. They don't have to exert any effort because they have 5 knocks on their door before they unpack. That's the bigger problem. |
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| Reply by: Brick_Pollitt at Apr 20, '09 18:18 | |
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| Over the course of the next few hours I will be actively seeking out a family to take a chance on me. Should I find myself in a situation whereby I am in talks with a family who did not make first contact with me, I am sure my facile tongue will play a large part in securing me a home. While my efforts during this endeavour will outshine a simple one line request, there is still the question of validity. Are my words my own? Are they even true? Can any of my articulations really be taken as a true representation of me and what I may be able to offer to a prospective family? I would content that there can be no certainty irrespective of the quantity of hoops jumped through by an unsponsored like myself. | |
| Reply by: SeanMackey at Apr 20, '09 18:44 | |
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In which case, how do you measure effort? You're right, there is a lot of recruitment going on, some may call it whoring, some would just call it neccessity. Leaders need to recruit in order to make money, grow, be stronger etc, this isn't news to you I'm sure. It's expected that 1 person will be approached more than once due to the number of families of course, but what else do you expect? People to back off and let the mafioso's join the biggest crew they see? This won't help the newer families much and with new families the best way to gain new members is to recruit. I fail to see it as a problem to be honest, if a family recruit an idiot then that's there own problem, not yours, not mine. In older times, we would expect the members to approach the leaders for jobs, not vice versa, but those who are fresh off the boat will usually be attracted to the biggest family, rather than the smallest, so it would be expected that somewhere along the line someone is going to try and recruit these civilians. |
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| Reply by: Scully at Apr 20, '09 18:46 | |
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For the most part, Don Pollitt, I agree with what you've said here. One part confuses me, so if I may:
I agree, in some cases, but oftentimes it can go the other way around as well. Personally, I don't touch and recruit, I will, however approach civilians off the boat and see if they need a nudge in the right direction. If I see them putting forth the effort, I will approach them about joining but only under the stipulation that they're showing some kind of promise to be someone within this thing of ours. I don't feel as if them approaching us all the time is the most effective way of going about things. I think we need to find a happy medium, to be honest. PG bows back out to listen. |
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| Reply by: Phantom_Ghost at Apr 20, '09 18:46 | |
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Dynamo walks by, and notices the discussion going on I am not a crew leader, but I agree with PG. Sometimes a leader can talk to a Civilian, and help them out. Then (like PG said) if they are showing some sort of enthusiasm, and are working well with the leader, then the leader should be able to kindly send an invitation to their home. I do agree that Leaders and/or RH's/LH's should NOT send invites to every single new mafioso fresh from the boat. I think they should have some time to inspect their surroundings. They are protected by the Gods, and cannot be shot, so why overwhelm them with so much? Give them the chance to get to know some of the people here. Constantly inviting new people can get you to invite the wrong person, and no one wants to invite the wrong person, do they? I will end my say in this discussion with that. Dyn steps away, and waits for others to discuss |
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| Reply by: Dynamo at Apr 20, '09 18:54 | |
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With all due respect Don Pollitt, please consider this; these thugs and civilians are exactly that...thugs and civilians. As far as im aware it has never been a prerequisite to hold a diploma in English to join the mafia? Many of the people I speak to are straight from the shores of Sicily and Italy, English is their second language, they as you put it, 'cannot string together an intelligent sentence.' Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments about the disrespect shown by turning your family down for another, I feel that it's an inevitable fact of life. These people who are fresh off the boat simply do not know any better, they are looking for sanctuary and as quickly as possible in some cases. It is dissapointing but sadly I fear it's inevitable. A wiser man than me recently said something along the lines of 'The cream will always rise to the top'. You should feel secure in the knowledge that you are recruiting people who are potentially the cream whilst the waste is heading elsewhere. |
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| Reply by: Tommy_Gunn at Apr 20, '09 19:06 | |
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| I seriously wrote this befor, same idea thanks. | |
| Reply by: Rampage at Apr 20, '09 20:03 | |
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I agree with much of what Mr. Pollitt has said here. But I am also of the opinion that there is a way for active recruitment. I'm fresh off the boat and I was approached by a RHM who did not just jump on top of me asking me if I wanted to join his family. He opened with a conversation starter to see if he would get an acceptable response. It was a very good way to gauge if it was even worth the effort to pursue recruitment any further. Now I'm in agreement that spelling and grammar mistakes do not necessarily indicate one's ability to be a valuable crew member. But you can get an idea if this person who you would attach your crew's name too has the basic intelligence to learn the ways of thing of ours. The number of sponsored people dying is rather alarming. Perhaps some of this can be avoided with a somewhat more selective recruitment process. I hope people would read Mr Pollitt's words and take the message to heart even if you don't agree with all of the specifics. |
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| Reply by: La_Machine at Apr 20, '09 21:16 | |
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I truly believe some of you have misunderstood Don Pollitt's intent on some of the points he's made. I do believe for the most part you can tell the difference between someone speaking with an accent and someone speaking lazily. But I believe the bigger issue is the lack of effort put into requests to join a crew. No one expects the next Romeo and Juliet to be written nor recited by anyone. How ever more than four words is generally more effort and looked upon a lot more highly than "Hi I need a crew". That example that I just spoke contained no spelling errors but I doubt it would be up to Elegido standards. Now yes some are new and not sure how to get into things and if they do send a short request to a leader and that leader replies for more clarification, said leader should get a response. Even if it is to explain the situation that the civilian has chosen a different path for themselves, it is better than ignoring a Don all together after initiating the conversation to begin with. I am all for helping people new to our shores get on their feet and showing them the way of our life but there has to be a point where we appreciate each member for their unique abilities and not just as a number within the crews. |
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| Reply by: Munchkin at Apr 20, '09 21:29 | |
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Wow I seriously wrote something like this but did not get the enough attention becuase at the time I was a goomba. [not trying to disrespect considering the fact I said the same thing] |
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| Reply by: Rampage at Apr 20, '09 21:31 | |
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Yes, Rampage, you already made it clear that you had a similar speech. Yours was not the first, and this one here will not be the last. It is a frequently recurring topic, and as long as the issue at hand continues to be a problem, it will be brought up over and over again. It can do no harm, either. FYI, my great-great-great-great (x10) grandfather made a similar speech, too. I expect both of you to send me royalties. |
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| Reply by: Butt_Ox at Apr 20, '09 21:38 | |
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I myself rising in this world as a leader, I saw these exact things happen. One would message me looking for an invite and as soon as I messaged back asking about them, I noticed they where already sponsored. You can rest assured it pissed me off and many a times I came close to shooting them. To me if you approach me and ask for an invite then you better make sure that until I tell you No that your not wearing another families tag. I see this as a total lack of respect for myself and for the other leader joined. How can you claim to be loyal if your juggling families for invite? With the amount of time these civilians have its not hard to wait on a response from a family before messaging everyone trying to find the easiest family to join. |
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| Reply by: JimmyTheLionHeart at Apr 20, '09 22:12 | |
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Stands on a under a balcony Romeo oh where far out though Romeo ??? Would that get me into a crew Munchkin : Seriously, I agree fully... BUT to me the larger picture is this bullshit concern for those not in families... Why should a Civilian have to prove anything to us ? We offer our protection before they are even 1 hour old in out world. They don't have to prove they can read the many flyers we have offering suggestions and hints. Instead we kill already loyal and proven members for killing those to stupid to accept or figure out an invite with 24 hours. Prepares for the onslaught of crap that will surely be thrown his way |
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| Reply by: Sewati at Apr 20, '09 22:17 | |
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I'll agree with the fact that an intelligent request merits more respect than a one liner from a civilian. Though, I can recount when I was new to these shores and didn't know who to turn to. Navigation can be a little rough if you aren't familiar with everything; Occasionally, I will approach an unsponsored and ask them if they know their ways around, fully anticipating that they are overwhelmed with requests to join a crew already. Hopefully, if they are respectful enough to appreciate the guided effort, they will request membership with your own crew. This is a role playing community; we can expect a well written request from those who know how, while those who are newer to the concept may need a push in the right direction, as PG alluded to. Blatantly approaching an unsponsored right when they 'step off the boat' does seem unfair to those that are trying to build a solid crew base. Some civilians may feel that they have no option but to accept a member-whoring invite because of the 48 hour innocence rule. Sewati, the protection given civilians is so that those who are new to the mafia life have time to navigate and feel around before getting completely pummeled. It's already been noted that there are powerful hitmen and IA hunters out there- so if there were no protection and unsponsored civilians were free game, then there wouldn't be any people left to build up our crews. As for the killing of our own members, they know the rules, and it is up to every CL whether the member merits death or not. It's just how families work. |
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| Reply by: Ember at Apr 20, '09 22:35 | |
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Sewati nods towards his respondant With out getting into a great detail in regards to protecting them... That protection is God given with in our world... They can accept entry into a family while still a Civilian or Thug, all the while not having to worry about being killed. Why should we offer more solace than that ? Looks for pigeons, loves pigeons |
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| Reply by: Sewati at Apr 20, '09 22:38 | |
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...if there were no protection and unsponsored civilians were free game, then there wouldn't be any people left to build up our crews. That isn't exactly true, Ember. This protection is a fairly new concept, relatively speaking. Years and years went by when there was either no protection, or none that was enforced, and SURPRISE! People found their way into families and Our Thing flourished. The difference was that they had to be on their toes and use their heads. It seems we do not expect common sense out of anyone these days. But I really don't want to turn this into yet another debate on unsponsored protection. We've had plenty of those and they just go in circles. As to the point of this speech, it does not seem like too much to ask to expect a minimal effort and respectful dialogue. Really, if someone does not have the tiny amount of intelligence it takes to understand these concepts that Brick is discussing, then I personally wouldn't want them in my family. Make no mistake about it...the reason we have lazy and stupid people is because WE ALLOW them to be lazy and stupid. It has nothing to do with speaking ability. It has to do with effort. Looking through my forefathers' scrapbooks, I have seen invitation requests from mobsters who could barely speak a word of English, but the effort was there. It may not have been very comprehensible, but you could see that the guy was trying. That's all a Boss asks for...to be shown a little respect from someone trying to get into his or her family. If no effort is made, what does that say about how important it is for the young thug to join your family? To me, it says "Ehhhh, I'll take an invite from this guy if he throws one at me and I don't have to exert much effort to get it". No, I would rather have someone who really wants to join me and shows it through his effort. |
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| Reply by: Butt_Ox at Apr 20, '09 22:47 | |
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Ember smiles at Sewati We may be convicts, drug lords, and killers, but we are not without heart and reason. There are other factors that distract from this world, and many CLs acknowledge that. We've all been there at the beginning, and it's showing the kindness that we all perhaps once needed to find our bearings on these streets. |
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| Reply by: Ember at Apr 20, '09 22:49 | |
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Brick I can agree with most of the stuff you said. Joker than disappears through the crowd. |
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| Reply by: Joker at Apr 21, '09 00:03 | |
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