SC - cleanup

[Mary Morman]

On Sun, 11 Apr 1999, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

> I've been seeing a disturbing trend developing over the years, in which
> people who attend an event feel they paid for the privelege, and act
> more or less as if they're in a restaurant or hotel. Now I'm not
> claiming Old-Timerhood (tm) by any means, but I remember when it was
> customary for just about everyone to check in at the troll, ask for the
> autocrat or kitchener, see if there was anything that needed doing
> before getting into garb. Then again after changing into mundane
> clothes, before leaving. Some people would bring (and some still do)
> "grubby" garb specifically for such jobs as pot-scrubbing.
> 
> Have we lost our roots and our sense of being part of a community in
> which we all (as in all attending) are putting on an event?
> 
> Adamantius

Well, I will claim to be an old-timer, and I say the answer is yes.

Time was, and I'm neither joking nor exaggerating, when you could tell who
the nobles were - without looking for crowns, belts, or spurs - but the
fact that they were in the kitchen scrubbing the pots or in the hall
scrubbing the floor.  I have seen -many- kings and queens in their
"grubbies" among the last on site carrying pots and boxes to the
autocrats car long, long after the festivities have ended.

Sadly, I haven't seen much of this lately.  The Society today seems to me
to have developed a large number of people who consider their status to be
too high for manual labor.  Noblesse oblige no longer means what it did 20
years ago.

I think that Master Adamantius has hit the nail right on the head - we are
'teaching' newcomers that paying a fee entitles them to be a guest at the
event.  The money fee is only part of what it takes to put on an event,
the other fee needs to be paid in labor and sweat, and each person needs
to pay their share, just as each person pays their money fee at the door.

Elaina

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