This week, the much anticipated Melbourne cat cafe incited social media uproar for asking volunteers to care for their kitties (with an implication of long term servitude). The Reddit post received plenty of contempt and Facebook fans quickly reacted.
“I would feel bad going to this place now. Getting people to volunteer in the hope that they one day get paid is just awful. I fear vulnerable people will be taken advantage of, “said one commenter from Reddit, who followed the statement with an apt NSFW pun.
“Hang on, you are a for-profit business not a shelter or charity. You should be paying staff to do that job,” said another commenter on the cafe's Facebook page.
The cat cafe has since edited their website from “we need reliable and committed people that aren't volunteering for a short time thrill” to “The volunteer positions are only until we open to the general public in approximately 3 weeks time. At this point we will be hiring staff and volunteers are welcome to apply.”
Founder Anita Loughran said the call for volunteers came after they received hundreds of emails from people who want to help.
“We didn’t want to bring people in to do the horrible stuff like refurbishing. If they want to spend time with the cats it will help them get used to people.”
Whether the cat cafe tried to exploit free labour or used the wrong words, it’s clear that there are lessons to be learned.
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| Up Next: The Cat Pub n' Grub near you. |
Mince and Analyse your Words
The internet makes it so easy to blast your thoughts. Twenty years from now, teenagers will cringe at Google cache pages of their Tumblr stanning ( a.k.a. obsessively worshipping a celebrity to the point of making fan fiction) accounts. They can blame it on puberty and move on. You lose your audience even before you can get users.
Read your content aloud and seek a second opinion on the message you're conveying. Ensure that it's aligned with business goals, branding, and style guide. Unfortunately, the internet doesn't have a filter. You can only hope that online readers have their sarcasm detectors and sense of humour switched on.
Be Honest
The cafe responded that the business needs “stability” and “our friends and family volunteering their time can only go so far”. These are two understandable reasons when phrased humbly.
There's no harm in asking for help, especially if it's genuine and can benefit the customers. Crowdsourcing for funding is really no different from begging for donations, except that it’s less embarrassing (unless of course your crowdsourcing effort is ridiculous).
Context Matters
It’s only after the backlash that we get to see the whole picture from the founder. If they mentioned that the volunteer applications resulted from offers, it could have given the initiative some context. If they specified that the volunteers are only meant to work with the cats for two hours so they can get used to people, this could have all been avoided (granted that the cafe didn't change their tune just because of the backlash).
Keep it simple and concise. If you're going to ask for a favour, be sure to explain and provide the value of the contribution. The backlash made valid points - they are a business, not a charity, and there's no grace period of not having to pay employees.
Social media has enabled anyone with a computer and a decent internet connection to become a social justice crusader. Businesses should always be careful on how they communicate online where words are open to interpretation.
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