ANST - Ranting over Gulf War dates and Business practices

[Casey&Coni]

Okay... after much deliberation and with many reservations (pun intended)
I'll enter the fray.  Manfred wrote:


>Someone started this with:

[snip of his quotation of some of the posts we've seen here]

I disagree.  I think this started when someone, with no malice in their
heart, said, "Sure, let's do this on the later date next year."  A
gentlemans agreement, a verbal agreement, and although it was posted to
several places on the internet, a *non-binding* agreement in the legal
sense.  Then the conditions of that gentlemans agreement seemed to change
and it provoked a reaction here in our kingdom.  Action, reaction.
Semantics are important here.

[snip]
>But people, this is getting seriously out of hand!!
>
>I mean, all this talk of "business practices" and "customer service" is
absolutely >ridiculous and unwarrented!!  Are we forgetting that Gulf War is
HOSTED by people like >our selves, who are doing it for the enjoyment of
it?!  Sure, money is involved to cover >costs - not become a business!! Nor
be treated like one!  Adjust your expectations!!  Get >real, folks!!

I don't think anything is getting out of hand.  If the information we've
been given over the last few days is correct I sure understand people being
upset.  If I had kids or couldn't take time off of school for Gulf War for
the third year in a row I might well be cussing a storm right now.  I'm not
in that position, but I certainly sympathize with those who are.  If things
are as they appear I'm only out about 50 guys on my side of the field come
'lay on'.  The flipside of that is that they'll have 50 more and less of us
to do the killing so it all evens out.  I agree that if anyone has
commentary on the subject it might be best to wait til Burke has spoken with
his counterparts in Meridies and Trimaris so that we can have a more
dependable framework (as Kazamir has already said) but I also believe that
it's a darned shame that he wasn't consulted on such an important matter in
the first place.

I'm going to save the bulk of my commentary on business practices and
customer service until I hear from Burke... but I will say that I think
you're being very naive to think that such discussion is "rediculous" or
"completely unwarranted".   To wit: Meridies may be the 'host' of the event
but they deal with the site owner on a *business* level.  He makes money in
exchange for a service... it's a fact.  Just like a hotel.

>
>I've found that a pretty good test of behavior is whether I'd like it done
to me. If any of us >went to the trouble, work, sleepless nights, long
hours, etc that a war requires - what >would we think if our guests began
acting like we are acting now?!  The people we are >working for... our
friends...   lets not forget this, folks.

Okay, Manfred, I give you full marks for generosity.  But look at it another
way for a moment... if you had agreed to hold a meeting for two friends and
told them to be there at a certain time and then sent out invitations with
another time on them would you expect a phone call asking why?  Especially
if your new time excluded one of them?  Would you feel it's reasonable for
them to explore alternatives?  Could you identify with their frustration if
they'd adjusted their social calandar, their work schedule, and their budget
to accomodate the first time?

It is in our nature in the sca to behave as Manfred is behaving...
forgiving, accomodating, and overlooking... but we have to keep some kind of
real world perspective.  If all is as it appears (we await Burkes next post
with much anticipation) then people will have an absolute *right* to be
upset.  We cannot ridicule them for their anger.

>
>Stop and think a moment - our expectations seem to be high because the War
has been >so well run in the past!!

I am quite sure that we don't all believe Gulf War has been run so well in
the past.  I give credit to all the people who have worked hard to make it
so and I thank them for their toil and tears- but the thing can *always* be
done better.  The last two years in particular have had their _memorable_
moments of management and to say otherwise would be spewing horsefeathers.

>We've all had a grand time there, and the idea of missing it makes us
angry... maybe we >should stop and think a moment that the people organizing
it know what they are doing >and are not out to "get us?"  There's no
conspiracy that I can see... how about you?

I believe, Manfred, that you are the first person to use the word
'conspiracy' in this discussion.  I know I've used 'poor judgement',
'insensitive', and 'change without the exploration of other possibilities'
in the privacy of my own home but never have I thought that any branch of
the sca had its act together enough to generate a true 'conspiracy'.

The point?  Wait for word from our senechal for a factual account of the
situation.  Then, let people be mad if they so desire; they may very well
have a good reason.

Dieterich

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