Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!ico!rcd
From: rcd@ico.ISC.COM (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
Subject: Re: conference refreshments
Summary: rude, perhaps, but perhaps justified
Message-ID: <15209@ico.ISC.COM>
Date: 22 Feb 89 05:10:18 GMT
References: <219@v7fs1.UUCP> <4429@hubcap.UUCP> <1220@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu>
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp, Boulder, CO
Lines: 20

> The food was ok, though the waiters guarding the tables were
> incredibly obnoxious.  I saw one attendee get yelled at for peeking
> under the covers before the "10:30 sharp" coffee break...

There's no call for them to have been obnoxious about it, certainly--there
is never a call for rudeness in service professions.  (There are other ways
to deal with the inevitable pushy people.)  However, there's a problem here
which is at least slightly addressed by holding off the goodies until the
break really starts--i.e., the end of the last presentation before the
break.  That is the commotion created by people bopping out early to be
sure they don't have to wait for their cup of coffee.  By promoting the
idea that the refreshments aren't available until the break, you improve
the situation inside the (inevitably very large) hall.

It's bad enough as it is with the constant coming and going through the
doors to the hall.  No sense encouraging it.  There's a fair contingent of
folks devoid of social graces (there, was that subtle enough?) at USENIX.
-- 
Dick Dunn      UUCP: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd           (303)449-2870
   ...Just say no to mindless dogma.