SC - Feast Fees in Ansteorra

[Siegfried Heydrich]

    In any group, you're going to have people who are going to try to get
away with SOMETHING. Doesn't matter what. Also, bear in mind that the SCA
has a tendency to attract folks who operate on the periphery of society
(every local group has got at least one person who's just congenitally
unemployed, and no one will loan money to any more, right?). This isn't to
say they're necessarily bad people, just weak or with some unresolved
problems.
    We had a guy who's a store manager (and his wife)  sneak into a medieval
faire we did, claiming to be staff, parked in a restricted area reserved for
handicapped, and then got into a physical fight with the real staff when
asked to move his car. He makes good money, but he just wanted to get away
with something, and got violent when caught out. He and his wife were
escorted off site by the rangers, and was lucky his car wasn't towed.
    I don't understand the mindset, but there you are. Fortunately, this
doesn't happen very often, and the overwhelming majority of SCAdians are
good, honest, honorable folks. But when a club gets as large as we have,
you're going to get that statistical minority who are deadbeats. Especially
when we get big enough that everybody doesn't know everybody any more.
    Maybe we need to start a thread on ways to secure the hall and control
access. One of the problems I find is that people will come in, set up,
leave the hall, run back and forth on errands, and there's so much coming
and going that it's virtually impossible to keep track of who's who. Smokers
go outside all the time, and there are usually too many doors to control
effectively. You can't lock them, due to fire codes, and putting guards on
each would take too many people. I had thought about using hats (cheap felt
Robin Hood type hats) as feast tokens. (Lidsville!), and would like to hear
some ideas from others on the subject.

    Sieggy


> This is VERY, VERY sad. In this Society that prides itself on honor, to
> have people behave like this?
> I would be mean. I would get up a bouncer at the door. No token, no
> entry. Forgot it in camp? I'm sorry- you'll have to hurry then, won't
> you. Friends vouch for you? That's nice, but rules are rules... maybe
> their friend will run back to camp to fetch it then!
> There is no excuse for crashing in the SCA. We aren't talking $50
> tickets for the Stones concert here. We're talking (usually) less than
> $15. We have so few real rules- dress up pay your site fee, and behave
> yourself. If they can't comply with a minor issue of paying for the meal
> and presenting the token, then they are at best lacking in the baseline
> grade of honorable behavior. Who needs 'em around? Bounce 'em. Of
> course, I like your idea of making them grovel before the crown and then
> clean the kitchen...
>
> 'Lainie, who is mildly irritable because of hot water issues in the
> house this evening... TAKE NO PRISONERS! Flush that toilet while the
> shower's running!

>Feast tokens are not used by a number of groups. My personal feeling is we
>are a society that bases a lot on honor.  I expect people to do the
>honorable thing and state whether or not they bought feast.  Naive?? Maybe,
>but i'd like to think that  people are honorable in this society.  Is this
>never caused me to go over budget on my feast OR lose the barony I a great
>deal of money.

>Meadhbh