SC - feast cleanup for the head cook

[Susan P Laing]

Aelfwyn at aol.com wrote:
> 
> Our
> servers were 90% under age 10, and they did a remarkable job.

Naturally! Assuming they have the physical strength to do the job,
children usually make excellent servers, because they generally
genuinely wish to please. They also are probably easier to instill with
a sense of honor, because they don't have a lot of arrogance and other
mental attitude mumbo-jumbo in the way. Especially when the honorable
thing to do also happens to be a blast!   

> Our local
> Knight and Pelican did serve, however made it clear they were only serving
> the royal table, would not wear the Provincial tabards the other servers wore
> and made "demands" in how they wanted things to come from the kitchen to them
> that nearly caused a small war.

Obviously it's been too long since these peers have been children. I'm
glad to hear things seem to have been at least partially resolved. I'd
have fired them both, or at least asked them to explain their view of
service so conditional as to represent a net loss. Of course being a
peer presumably makes a difference in how you deal with others. Those
knights can be awfully scary ;  ). (Sorry, Your Majesty!)
 
> Freya had a fit when she found all of us
> still in the kitchen doing the cleanup and made me promise not to do again
> next time.

It's hard to keep a promise like that when you don't know what Fate is
going to hand you on the day. But, you can hedge your bets to some
extent, and make it less likely the necessity for you to break your
promise to arise...

> But I can guarantee our local Pelican will not be caught washing
> dishes, unless maybe Cariadoc's quote is reality and the schmooze factor is
> raised high enough.

Cariadoc's quote _is_ reality, sometimes even now, but probably was more
common in the legendary "old days". But then since I'm merely a
Neanderthal, or possibly a mastodon, compared to the SCA dinosaurs out
there, and I remember the concept of the Royal Potscrubber as being a
fairly common occurence, it was probably commonplace until fairly
recently. Any of you folk of fair AEthelmearc remember a song about Duke
Sir Morguhn Sheridan and his propensity for potscrubbing? In the East we
have Duke Sir Timothy of Arindale for that kind of thing.  

> Many of the people that had signed up ahead of time to
> serve and clean up decided not to attend the event at the last minute for
> other reasons. Yup, we have local political problems. Any advice on how to
> avoid the 50+ member Province always having the same 10 people doing the
> grunt work?

Sure. Sometimes the measures are even effective. Once the event becomes
a Real Thing, as in a site found and a date determined, etc., the event
steward/autocrat should start making phone calls and attending meetings
and other events, and get tentative commitments for specific jobs from
as many people as possible. It's like going around canvassing votes in a
political campaign. Say something like, "We're going to be holding X
event in such and such a month, and we're going to be doing
such-and-such, and it sounds like it's going to be fun for reasons X,Y,
and Z. We were wondering, though, if we could get your help with Job X,
and the help of as many people as you can bring along, because we'd hate
to see any one person do too much and be burnt out...we want everyone at
this to have fun! I'll give you a call in a couple of weeks to firm up
details, okay? I really appreciate your help! I think this is going to
be a blast!"

Or words to that effect. Follow up early and often. Also, I find getting
entire households to commit to particular departments generally works
well. Clan Floormopper can do the floors, House Potscrubber can work on
dishes and pots, etc. If there are households or individuals that don't
get along, try to get them both to work, but in different areas. _Don't
be shy_ about appealing to the heads of households as leaders in the
community who will, naturally, want to set a good example for their
people. Same for Peers of the Realm. They may have conditions or certain
circumstances to be dealt with, but I have yet to meet either a peer or
the head of a household who will respond to a simple, "I know you're an
honorable person and will be happy to help with this noble task" with
anything other than a resounding "Yes!" That's the beauty of dealing
with peers! Usually you can tell them how much respect you have for
them, and get them to do almost any insane thing because it's the
honorable thing to do! All right, maybe I'm exaggerating, but a peer who
always puts his/her personal wishes or plans before what is right is no
peer at all, and the head of a household needs to set an example for his
people by leading them in public service if he expects to keep their
respect for long. (Unless they're _all_ louts, of course, but that seems
unlikely.)     

Always, always, though, the simple rule to follow is to do your best
with what you have at the time, and when there's a problem, adjust the
circumstances and do your best with those. If you can't get what you
think is your best, aim for the next best thing and keep moving.
  
HTH,

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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