We had the same problem on Friday. We needed two seats and the 'Maitre'd '
said there were no seats left. He said they had seating for 800 (yea,
right) because that's what the SCCA told them to plan for. He suggested we
find Tasha because she was in-charge of the event. We found her and told
her we needed two seats or wanted our money back. Afterall, we paid for the
seats and they weren't able to provide them so we should be entitled to a
refund. She wandered around for a bit, appeared to be trying her best to
ignore us. Steve Johnson was standing there so I thought I might have to
speak with him about the situation. I guess once she saw we weren't going
away they finally found two seats. I saw several other people still looking
for seats and saw some of them leave.
No way was there 800 seats. There were 8 people at our table so that would
mean there had to be 100 tables. I didn't count them but there wasn't
anywhere near that many. I overheard someone say that Topeka estimated this
event brings in around 3000 people. If those are split between the two
banquets (1500 per night), that means they only expected about 50% of the
people to go to the banquet each night.
I worked Nationals registration and most people that were only going to one
banquet didn't pick up their ticket to the other banquet. Suggestion for
next year: Everyone take the extra tickets, anyway. If you don't use them,
sell them or give them away. Save someone else the extra $20. The banquet
seating was based on the number of tickets picked up or sold. If everyone
takes all their tickets there should be plenty of seats.
Randy
rande@mwis.net
>
> But seriously, it happened Friday night too. And somehow this seems goofy.
> Better to put out a few extra tables that aren't filled. There was room.
The
> meals are a lot better (remember the first year?) but at $20 per -- the
> extra-meal price -- they don't have to cut it that fine. At the least,
have
> some extra tables behind the curtain they could roll out.
>
> But another thing -- people reserving seats they don't use! We found a
> 10-seat table Friday with six seats reserved (napkins over the seats) and
> took the other four. Those six people NEVER came back all evening. A table
> next to ours had four seats similarly reserved that went unused. That's a
> whole empty table because of pure thoughtlessness. Probably found friends
> somewhere else and sat with them. Later we learned two of our friends --
> attending their first Nationals -- could not find seats and left (and
then,
> on Friday, could not find a restaurant with less than a 2-hour wait). They
> saw the six empties at our table, but assumed someone was coming for them.
>
> People, if you save a seat, use it! If you decide to sit somewhere else,
go
> back and un-save that first one. Other people cannot read your mind (and
> likely don't even know whose mind to read).
>
> New worker position: Maitre'd -- his job is to be handy (and easily
> recognizable) to coordinate with the Expocentre to get extra tables and
> chairs out if needed, and otherwise assist in finding seats.
>
> At least it meant we had enough salad dressing.
>
> --Rocky
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