Museum Stories

[historyfemme]

Hi guys I'm new here, so its a pleasure to meet you all and I hope to get to know you better in years to come!

I thought as my first post I'd start a thread of wacky stories that have happened to you during your museum careers.

Once whilst working at the Royal Albert Museum I caught two teens doing, lets just say naughty things in a replica wigwam! It was quite embarrassing and I wasn't sure what to do! They seemed rather eager to leave after I'd peeped in though. What a place to do it!

How about you guys? I bet you've seen some crazy things!

[StephGaub]

So mine isn't quite that wacky, but it was kind of funny at the time...

I was working my first internship, and a woman brought in about 3-4 boys from a half-way house. She was a new counselor and this was her first trip out with students. She let all of the boys go to the restroom at the same time. About 15-20 minutes later whe noticed that they hadn't come out of the restroom yet. One of the men on the staff went in to check on them and found the bathroom window open - the boys had escaped!!! The counselor paniced, and I'm not sure what happened to her aftewards.

Well, I was driving home and saw the boys about 5 miles outside of town walking along the main highway. I called the police when I got home and told them where they could locate them. Not sure what happened to the boys either.

Anyway, I thought it was a pretty funny story at the time

[Sidecar]

I have tons of hilarious stories. I wish I could share all of them. Here's one.

One day we had been dragged out of our offices for a rather silly reason (another story in itself) and we were out on the museum grounds. We move around the grounds in golf carts as the property is too big to walk (if you are on a work schedule). So, we had finished up with what we came out for and started back towards our offices. We were all in two golf carts--I was riding shotgun in the first cart. My boss was following in the second. On the way back we passed another cart. I said to my co-worker who was driving, "Who was that? I didn't recognize that guy. Is he another new volunteer?" My co-worker shrugged that he didn't know either. We went further on and then we saw two of our restoration department staff running towards us. One of the guys was nearly 60 while the other was over 70--seeing them running was strange! "Have you seen our golf cart?" one of them yelled. I replied, "No, but I saw some weird guy I didn't recognize in a cart." I looked at my co-worker and told him to punch the accelerator pedal with his foot. With that the great golf cart chase was on!

We caught up with him and he finally and very reluctantly stopped the cart--after I had yelled at him to stop the cart several times. After we had stopped, I told him he needed to step out of the cart. As he climbed out I noticed was that the guy was either drunk or deranged--I have no idea what he said, but by the time he was done saying it all, my boss pulled up with the Resto guys. One of them jumped off the cart and and screamed at the thief "I bet you think you're funny, don't you, mister?" and I thought he was going to punch the thief. So, the other Resto guy pulls the other away and they climb on the cart and prepare to drive off. I then tell the thief that the carts are staff only and he slurred back at me, "Well, I've been called a lot of things in my time, but never staff."

Anyhow, my boss told the guy he was free to walk around but if he caused any more trouble he would be escorted out.

And so ended the great golf cart chase.

We still laugh about "Well, I've been called a lot of things in my time, but never staff."

[sfaford85]

I work in a small county museum in Illinois and unfortunately artifacts were not always properly respected.

I had heard stories about the staff and volunteers eating lunch together on a large table that was part of the museum collection. I thought this was odd, but as we now eat in the kitchen (on card tables) I never really thought much about it beyond that.

This summer we had a change in directors, with the former board president taking over the executive role. My first task...find the large table and bring it back out for a more proper lunch room setting. By this time I had become familiar with our collection and politely told my boss no such table existed. She asked to be shown the storage room and immediately pointed to a large desk in a corner, proclaiming that was the table. When I saw what she was pointing to I couldn't believe it; they had been eating lunch on the desk used by President Grant to sign the Treaty with Russia that gave us Alaska. (This was purchased at auction with proper paperwork and given to us by a local resident several years ago.)

I was able to convince her for awhile that the desk was a valuable piece of history and our collection and shouldn't be used for meals. However, any time we have a special event coming up I am still asked (and forced to politely decline) to bring out the large table.

[lindsey]

What a great story to share - I know others can relate.

I'm impressed that you are able to put your foot down and say no, and your boss respects your decision. Keep up the good work!