Douglas Ridge Rifle Club

[rick benjamin]

308 comes from Eugene (I think) and is a fine DRRC member.

Wood portable target stands. Member dues and labor your money my money to repair, replace.
$50,000 a year, yes, that much.
Only takes a few bad, unthinking shooters to make them into toothpicks.

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

The size of the "half-empty, half-full" glass is not the reality, but the expectations.

The contents in the glass represents the reality.

OP, you have the wrong size "glass" sir.

Bring your dad to CVSC, I'll host you guys.

 

[P7M13]

The size of the "half-empty, half-full" glass is not the reality, but the expectations.
The contents in the glass represents the reality.
OP, you have the wrong size "glass" sir.
Bring your dad to CVSC, I'll host you guys.

That ^^ is a solid invite!

 

[Jayborg]

Just saw the more recent posts from the douglas ridge apologists. You guys keep failing to get it. Let me say it again so you maybe you understand finally. Nowhere in the manual does it specifically provide an answer to my specific easy question I tried posing to the volunteers of Douglas Ridge. My question was CRITICAL to my purpose. It was also an easy one to answer. They chose NOT to answer it...repeatedly. The reasons why they chose not to answer are illustrative and are the point of my post. You say those volunteers are not there to serve the needs of the members but rather the needs of the club. What the hell does that mean? The club IS the members. The members constitute the Club. If I asked one of the volunteers to change my oil or bake me cake I would understand that is not in the list of their responsibilities. Answering a reasonable question from a paying member without a load of passive aggressive neurotic drama IS absolutely their responsibility. I am glad some of you have had no issues with Douglas ridge. I hope that continues. The club itself is great. All the members I came I had contact were great. The 3 volunteers I had the misfortune of dealing with a complete asses. Perhaps one of them can jump on this thread and explain themselves. Maybe you Rick are one of them? You seem to think you know something about it.

 

[Schultzey]

Within a matter of minutes I was able to find the answer to your question within the user handbook. My last two posts in this thread have the specific language from the handbook which addressed your concern. The answers were there in plain english. Furthermore, this was covered in the orientation as @rick benjamin pointed out. It seems you received the responses you did because you didn't comprehend the information given to you.

 

[308]

Why don't you become a volunteer or a RSO so you can make sure the terrible things you have faced at DRRC never happen to anyone else?

Sort of like taking a risk and filling the need rather than bubbleguming about it.

 

[Kimber Custom]

As the Executive Officer for DRRC I was cc'd on one of the messages. I was taken aback by the reply from our CRSO to what seemed like an innocuous question (albeit a question that is answered in the member handbook). That motivated me to do a little research into the situation.

What I heard from some of the people directly involved is that this was not Jay's first question. He had repeatedly asked things easily found on his own; such as, looking up the club calendar for range availability, guest policy questions and other things clearly covered in the handbook and at orientation. Several times he had been redirected to the handbook and even suggested a review of the new member orientation (class is offered monthly).

I do think Mike's reply was over the top. We are all human and have our buttons and bad days. I'm sorry that this couldn't have been resolved to greater satisfaction; however, a refund of dues was issued.

 

[Jayborg]

Schultzey - you still don't get it pal. Let's assume you are correct (you are not even though you cannot be convinced of that fact) and that all the info to my question was right there in the manual. In that case why couldn't they just either (1) answer the question or (2) refer me to the specific page? They did neither. If they referred me to the specific page it would STILL NOT answer the question I was asking. Getting real bored of repeating this.

308 - I am a full time dad with a 60 hour a week full time job. I don't have time nor the inclination to volunteer and would certainly not do so at douglas ridge for all the reasons I stated.

Again....bottom line is the CLUB is THE MEMBERS. You can argue the volunteers serve the club and not members but that is so patently absurd it doesn't deserve a response. If they don't serve the members then they serve no one other than those they feel like serving. I would be more than happy to meet with any of the douglas ridge volunteers and hash this out in person if they are interested. This is far beyond blog posts. If they are interested in a little performance appraisal by a former member in the interest of either improving their customer service or convincing me that I am a horse's bubblegum and off my rocker I am game.

 

[Joe13]

Kimber is salt of the earth people and seems like this has been addressed and is done with.

No one likes people who complain constantly and ask questions about things that can be answered with the resources provided.


Jay, you constantly post that no one gets your point.... it should occur to you that maybe you are the one not getting it.

Hell, you've only been a forum member for 6 days now????

You've stated your grievance, so let it go at that and stop trying to get everyone to understand your feelings got hurt

 

[rick benjamin]

The 3 volunteers I had the misfortune of dealing with a complete asses. Perhaps one of them can jump on this thread and explain themselves.
Maybe you Rick are one of them? You seem to think you know something about it.

Hi, I'm Rick (DRRC Secretary, RSO, destroyed target frame collector).
I get it, you feel victimized.
You received your dues money back, so aren't a club member any longer.
You have your answers, our sympathy for the loss of your mom.
Don't know how I can help you past your speed bump.

 

[308]

Hi, I'm Rick (DRRC Secretary, RSO, destroyed target frame collector).
I get it, you feel victimized.
You received your dues money back, so aren't a club member any longer.
You have your answers, our sympathy for the loss of your mom.
Don't know how I can help you past your speed bump.

You forgot to add "long range day road blocker" to your reszoomay

 

[Goosebrown]

DRRC is amazing. If it were closer I'd be there in a heartbeat. Even more so now given the response of the staff here. Thanks guys for being here and responding.

 

[rick benjamin]

Thanks for noticing.
Road block is part of RSO duty. Some folks gripe they cannot go down the road. Don't understand bullets flying nearby, real close nearby. Long Range shooting closes 7 of 8 ranges on the property.

 

[Jayborg]

Jay, you are wrong. The officers, board, directors, serve the club.
Members pay dues to (under rules) use club property.

Speaking only for myself, I share my paper targets with folks that didn't bring their own (member handbook)
Help them hang cardboard. Share my stapler and staples. Share my telescope.
Share my shooting and gun repair knowledge.
Carry an (IFAK) emergency trauma kit and maintain med training. Encouraged but not required by the club.
Just a few of my many other super powers
Oh yeah, and re-orient members (where did your bullet go after hitting the paper?).

Everybody be nice to others.
That old fart you just chewed on was freezing in Nov-Dec 1950 while killing NORKs.

 

[Jayborg]

Hopeless. I will turn off the auto email notification so I don't keep getting pulled back into this. Too funny. Best of luck to you gents!

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

Hopeless. I will turn off the auto email notification so I don't keep getting pulled back into this. Too funny. Best of luck to you gents!

You didn't respond to my invite; it's OK because I didn't expect you to...

 

[Ironbar]

Well, I just read through the entire thread, even going so far as to re-read several posts. Although Jayborg may have some valid beefs with the club, the overall impression I've gotten from my many experiences at DRRC leads me to believe this may be more Jay's issue.

I know Rick Benjamin and Kimber Custom personally. Both these guys are aces in my book. Rick did a lot of hand-holding with me during my first AR build. He personally invited me to the club to help me sight in, and even loaned me some of his AR specific tools.

Kimber I've known for many years now through Appleseed. As was stated before, he's salt-of-the-Earth.

Jay, I do believe you when you say you had these difficulties getting your question answered, and there may even be some validity to your beef with the general attitude of some of the RSO's. But I believe in taking a more proactive approach to solving systemic issues than just posting about it on an Internet forum.

I plan on joining DRRC this month. (Ben, the first of five reminders I set for myself popped up on my phone yesterday BTW!). If I experience any of Jay's aforementioned behavior, I suppose I will politely, but with conviction, call them to the carpet on it. If it's an ongoing issue, then I imagine there are more productive ways of addressing it than taking my ball and going home.

At any rate, I'm sorry you had these experiences. As a whole, I feel that we in the shooting sports community need to be as friendly, helpful, and accommodating as we can to all while still emphasizing safety as the highest priority. And there's no need to be a dick on either side of that particular coin.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

OK, I get it. Jay appears to be a high maintenance member, and both he and DRRC are probably better off going their separate ways. It might be a good time for both entities to do a little self examination.

For DRRC, my first time, first hand experience was less than wonderful. Maybe the fact that the club is so large and volunteers are so overworked is an issue. Maybe frustration and fatigue set in and it's easy to make a bad first impression by yelling at somebody in the parking lot. Maybe an organizational attitude adjustment is in order.

As for "stupid" or unwarranted questions, my wife is a nationally certified child passenger safety technician. She does inspections of car seat installations for people on her own time without charge. She recommends car seats, and instructs on their correct installation. She also voluntarily moderates a group with 50,000 members on line. Each and every child car seat comes with a manufacturer's manual. Those manuals detail height and weight limits for seats both forward facing and rear facing, and proper installation and use. She gets the same dozen questions 100 times a day, mostly paraphrased as "Will my child fit properly in this seat?" Because lives are at stake, and a guess or an incorrect reading of the manual might cost lives, she answers EVERY one of those questions, no matter what, without attitude. It takes an amazing amount of patience and understanding to do so. Her attitude is extremely important because parents who might be put off by a bad attitude would be tempted to stop asking vitally important questions.

It strikes me that DRRC is in the same high stakes, life or death endeavor. A lot of the rules are there to prevent injury and loss of life. If it's not OK to ask "dumb" questions DRRC runs the risk of members not asking for clarification, and instead doing their own thing, risking injury or death, and creating more opportunity for yelling at them. At a bare minimum, bad attitudes are contagious, and destructive to the club as a whole. I know that in my case it discouraged me from becoming a member. So maybe a locker room pep talk would be in order. I have no dog in this fight, except that what's bad for DRRC, in some small way, is bad for all of us gun enthusiasts, so I'm an interested bystander.

 

[Squidly]

I've been comparing Jayborg posts to Jruby posts. If I put on my tin foil hat just right, they look awfully similar.

 

[nickmil]

I became a member after another long term member and RSO took me in on a tour on his own time. He even suggested the tour and visit to show me the facilities. As a noob at the range I made a few careless stupid mistakes the RSO or other members spotted and very nicely corrected/reminded me about. Never has anyone been rude or out of line in any respect. I experienced plenty of that at other ranges. Since I have become a better member with these folks help. I've even participated in a couple competitions.
Everyone has a bad day. Everyone has different expectations. My experience has been not all ranges are a good fit for all people. If one doesn't work, then move on and find another. I was a member at another range much closer to me but found the fit was not good so I found a club that was a good one and moved on.