[conspire] Housekeeping, again

[Edward Cherlin]

On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 12:03 AM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> Quoting Edward Cherlin (echerlin at gmail.com):
>
>
> > I was thinking of a sign put up on meeting days only with just a few
>  > things that newcomers might not know, like leaving bags outside. And
>  > something put up on the Net for reference. All the rest to be taken
>  > care of by people who are sufficiently enclued to tell others what the
>  > house rules are as needed. As long as you don't mind the guests
>  > pointing out to other guests, quietly, that they are being yabanjin.
>
>  I not only don't mind but also have repeatedly _pleaded_ with the
>  regulars to do exactly that.  This has been one of my prime areas of
>  dissatisfaction.

Well, that's settled, then. I know my part in this.


>  > As to the not-yet-garlic bread, their choice, their loss, nicht wahr?
>
>  Well, it _does_ deprive me and everyone else of the loaf -- or at least
>  of the portion of it they take.

Just consider it to be what they would have taken a little later, had
they been enclued, so it's a wash. They have only deprived you of the
chance to be as gracious a host as you desire. I merely suggest that
you regard it as _their_ problem, not yours.

> Above and beyond that, I'm just utterly
>  amazed at people missing that (1) it's food I'm _working on_ (i.e., just
>  got through slicing five seconds before, and (2) is right in the middle
>  of the food-prep area, not the serving area.

Deirdre is right. (Her comment appears further on.)

>  And what the fsck happened to _asking_, in situations where there's
>  reason for doubt?

They weren't in any doubt, as far as I can tell.

> I'm led to suspect that the prevailing logic was "I'm
>  hungry and that looks delicious; the hell with courtesy.  I'll just
>  assume it's for me."  As a cook, I'm flattered.  As host, not so much.

I believe that the prevailing logic was just as you say, except
without any thought of courtesy or discourtesy, given that the rules
was not known to all.

>  > But now that I know that food on that counter should be treated as not
>  > yet served, or not yet done, I can observe it. The cake and a few
>  > other things confused me.
>
>  Granted that those one or two items were confusingly misplaced.  (As I
>  said, Deirdre tells me the convention about proper use of counterspace
>  is too subtle.)

Yup.

>  > I like the Buddhist version better--base behavior on an understanding
>  > of its consequences, not on somebody else's opinion.
>
>  Me, I think I labour from a horrible mish-mosh[1] of Taoism, Veblen,
>  Stanley Milgram, the Eddas, dad's horribly unfashionable Existentialism,
>  mum's Midwestern sense of duty, Ambrose Bierce, and way too much I.F.
>  Stone, Kurt Vonnegut, and Paul Krassner.  No wonder I turned out wrong.

Lantsman!

>  [1] Leo Roston reports that Groucho Marx offered this word of advice to
>  a visiting Congressman on "You Bet Your Life":  "You'll never get votes
>  in the Bronx if you go on saying 'mish-mash' instead of 'mish-mosh'."
>  (I may be goyish, but I'm not _that_ goyish.)

Unlike me, who was raised Reform, which to many of the Orthodox _is_
goyish. None of my relatives ever spoke Yiddish, or even Yinglish. I
had to get my Yiddish from books until the Klezmer revival started.
And only books that didn't give the pronunciation, unlike Rosten, who
explained that Hyman Kaplan pronounced his name Keplen, but others
said Koplan, Kahplan, Kaplin, and so on.
-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay