Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!apple!rutgers!phri!roy
From: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
Subject: Re: conference refreshments
Summary: Resource contention
Message-ID: <3688@phri.UUCP>
Date: 19 Feb 89 14:48:39 GMT
References: <219@v7fs1.UUCP> <4429@hubcap.UUCP> <1220@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu>
Reply-To: roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith)
Organization: Public Health Research Inst. (NY, NY)
Lines: 27

fuat@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu (Fuat C. Baran) writes:
> I saw one attendee get yelled at for peeking under the covers before the
> "10:30 sharp" coffee break, and another had his coffee cup confiscated
> because he dared to pour himself a cup before the official break time...

	Considering that the people who didn't get out of the conference
rooms until 10:30:01 were sometimes reduced to hunting for something to eat
or drink because there wasn't any left, I think confiscated early-bird
coffee wasn't such a bad idea (if somewhat draconian in its implementation).
Actually, much more of a problem than the (probably unavoidable) rush of
2000 lunging for coffee and danish were the people who got out fast and
grabbed 2 or 3 danishes (yes, I saw of people with stacks of danish on their
plates).  Considering that after all these years we still havn't figured out
an efficient and fair way to schedule CPU time, I'm not surprised we havn't
figured out an efficient and fair way to distribute coffe and danish either.
My pet peeve was that there wasn't any lemon for the tea.  Whoever ran the
catering was obviously a coffee drinker!

	BTW, the box lunches on Monday and Tuesday were a good idea.  They
weren't the best, but the time saved was well worth it.  Most people were
done eating lunch this way before they would have even been seated if they
had to look for a restaurant to eat in.
-- 
Roy Smith, System Administrator
Public Health Research Institute
{allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers}!phri!roy -or- phri!roy@uunet.uu.net
"The connector is the network"