Every year there is a list of club duties published that have been approved by the clubs and their Reps. If you belong to a club they pass them out before the first meet of the year. They assign those duties to the members and you should know when you go to the meet if you have assigned duties. 
Correct. Every year I did exactly what was asked of me, and then some. I was told Patrol, PM, October. I did Patrol AM and PM. At no time did anyone tell me "Cones" until 30 minutes after the event, and there was no way to use the cone trailer. You would think since I was contacted 3 times prior to the event, that the subject would be mentioned so I'd be ready to do it. And we would not have told our wives we would be home before dark to fix problems at home if we knew.
Roll all the eyes you like.
Seems like you folk believe we didn't work the patrol all day, nor call in problems. That is incorrect. Nor were we requested to assist at the accident even though we had the equipment and training. Not just a single vehicle and a fire bottle and some gloves.
TIP: If Patrol is actually recovering cones after the event, spend $2 and print that on the Patrol instructions. Spend 10 seconds and mention it during the Patrol meeting. Heck, perhaps put it in the Elmo Procedure?
Like I said, I'm not a good fit for this kind of organization. I'm neither a mind reader, nor do I assume everybody is perfect. At work, I make sure we always a backup plan, because I can't tell a customer their work is not ready because something broke. It doesn't work that way in real life. Nor do I fire people because they are human. We have exact procedures for when things screw up, or I'd be out of business 20 years ago.
In order for us to screw up a job, 3 people and two machines must fail exactly the same. After 30,000 jobs this has not happened. It's a math thing.
More importantly this should have never been a point of discussion in somebodies tech thread.
But here's a question:
Which is worse:
1) Running off course because you can't see the track and refuse to lift the pedal.
2) Blowing out the back door, because you didn't walk the course.
3) Injuring someone in the pits because you do not know how to tow a vehicle.
4) Deliberately running an illegal entry to get an advantage over the other racers.
5) Missing part of a duty because you weren't told.
The answer is #5.
