General guidelines and Procedures

[kaylag]

General Guidelines and Procedures
In light of recent unfortunate events, I think it's imperative that some general accepted practices be implimented and adopted into our daily "Occupy" routines. Please add anything which may be of value to the group. Anything that you feel should be discussed, please do so in the COMMENTS before removing anything.

GREETING NEWCOMERS ON-SITE

ALWAYS be pleasant and polite, even if they disagree with our stance. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and, by them coming to the site, this gives everyone the opportunity to be educated regarding BOTH sides of the argument/debate. Everyone who comes on-site (regulars included) should be greeted with a smile or a "Hello" or some other kind of positive acknowledgement. Make a point of offering both pamphlets as well as personal opinions. While everyone is there for a reason, not all of us are there for the SAME reason. Be respectful of everyone.

CLEANLINESS AND SANITATION

While we're still in the early stages of getting organized, many people have tried to make the Occupy space more livable. Everything has a "spot". If you're not sure where something goes, either ASK someone, or find a logical spot and label it so everyone else knows where to find it. For many people, this has become our HOME. Treat the Occupy space accordingly. If you make a mess, clean it up. No one appreciates when roommates leave things strewn all over the place, so don't be THAT roommate that annoys and frustrates everyone. If you find garbage, pick it up. If you know who's left it there, remind them politely where the garbage is. We've all got a million things on our minds and can be forgetful. Let's not let a trivial thing like garbage escalate unnecessarily. As for the washrooms, let's all take the initiative and keep it clean and safe. Most people are on the ball about this, but doing a quick peek in the stalls while you're in there simply proves to people that we're willing to take responsibility for anything that's directly (or indirectly) affected by us Occupying the space.


KITCHEN AREA AND FOOD PREPARATION
(Hot Topic Alert)

While we're all quite capable of eating food, not all of us are capable (and certified) to handle food properly. There is already an accepted system in place (OHSA) which we need to abide by. Unfortunately, everyone seems to have a different opinion about what's "hygeinic" or "sanitary". Things like hand sanitizer and bleach have been brought on-site for the specific purpose of keeping things clean and disease-free. As stated in the previous section, everything has a place in the kitchen. Things need to be VERY organized as there are both edible and hazardous items in close proximity. This is why only certain people have been allowed in the kitchen as not everyone is trained and/or knowledgeable in dealing with potentially toxic chemicals. Please be aware that we are not the "Soup Kitchen". There is already one in existence just up the street. Many people have come to expect hot food and, while we really try to accommocate everyone, it's not been feasible. When people come on-site demanding to be fed, we should be politely referring them to other places in the community where they can safely get a nice hot meal.

TENTS AND SLEEPING

We are very lucky to have the ammenities that we do. Let's be respectful of those donations and recognize where we'd be (or wouldn't be) without them. When people come to us expecting to find a place to sleep, we should politely remind them of how limited we are. Asking is one thing, but expecting is something entirely different. It seems to be the general consensus that there should not be any sleeping inside the main area. This is both for health/safety reasons, but also for convenience. No one enjoys having to walk over sleeping bodies in the middle of the room. Space is limited.

GENERAL COMMON SENSE

Try to be polite and respectful of everyone. If a debate gets heated, you've ALWAYS got the option to either walk away, or diffuse it. Let's keep it peaceful. Let's be respectful of other people's belongings. For some people, that bag or coat or pair of mitts may be all they own. Sometimes, we may be called upon to teach them how to respect their own belongings and that's okay. Let's do it with grace and dignity. We have been having more and more minors at the site. It's great to have children around, but we all need to be sensitive to their little hearts and minds. Let's keep the language clean and the topics generally positive. We should be aiming to be a positive influence for the children, as well as adults.