About Last Night - g33k d1nner recap

The geek dinner last night was a mixed bag. It was awesome to be back at the Electric Lotus. The food was great, the tables were overflowing with over 20 different dishes, our waiter Arthur kicked ass and there was pie! Dave Bullock also took awesome photos! (Can't wait to see them! I still owe you that drink.) There were 3 in attendance (other than myself) from the original LA geek dinner: Crystal, Jory and Sam.

Yesterday I wrote a post collecting the geek events happening in SoCal through the rest of the year. There are 15 events on the list and I forgot to include LA Flash Stuff and CodeCamp. Two years ago, I could not find one geek type event. Today, there is something happening almost every week in all areas of the LA Metro Area. This is AWESOME and a testament to our community.

But it's not all good. We have growing pains. Last night, those growing pains came in the form of 20+ no shows to a $20 price fixed dinner. They didn't update their RSVP or even email me to say they weren't coming. (This doesn't include the two people who were physically ill and contacted me. I had people waiting to attend and people took your places.)

$20 x 20 = $400 to cover the no-shows. In addition, some people didn't pay their bar tabs and/or didn't tip the waiter. The total additional we had to cover was about $450!!!!!

Which we did it thanks to everyone chipping in additional $$ with Sanjay and Bino covering the majority. CJ took care of the shirked bartabs and tips. You guys totally rock!

But the situation did not rock. It showed a lack of responsibility and was unfair to those who did show up by increasing the cost of the dinner.

20+ people flaked on their commitment. Almost 50% of the RSVPs. Other people didn't pay for what they consumed and the community had to cover their ass. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE behavior for ADULTS! Instead of unleashing my wrath (remember, I'm into guns, fire and unicorns) on the no shows (many of whom I am friends with), I want to ask the community, what should we do about this?

I have the names of everyone who RSVPed. I printed the closed list and checked off everyone who showed up and paid. I know who flaked. Should I -

1. Contact the noshows and ask them to paypal $21 ($20 + fee) to pay back the people who covered their ass.
2. Publish the names and publicly humiliate the people who didn't show up?
3. Take a chill pill and say, "It's just money."
4. Give me a better option

I try to make the geek dinners as accessible as possible by keeping the cost down and as easy to attend. I organize this event without any remuneration, using time from my billable hours (I'm independent and don't have a corporate day job). I do this to build the community I want to participate in.

Should I enforce pre-pay? Should we skip dinner and move this to a drinking/bar environment? What can be done to make sure this doesn't happen again? And please let me know what we should do about the no-shows. I don't think it's fair that we had to come up with $450 to cover their asses.

Comments

[Vissago]

I'd say post the list of peoples names, and what they owe - then update them by striking out the list as they pay.

Either that or restructure the geek dinners so that you dont have to foot the bill every time. Have it setup in such a way as that 'admission to geek dinner' equates to them say, paypaling you their 20 dollars - that way if they dont show up, nobody has to sport for them. Same thing with cruises and airlines. You pay in advance so nobody gets screwed if you change your mind or flake.

--Dan

[Jennifer Fader]

I count myself among the infants and would like and feel obligated to look at that behavior vs the value of what you've cultivated for all of us and like anything of value will pay in kind for my missing spot via paypal. I'm sorry that I am amongst those who get the most out of YOUR work and yet at the same time let my self get in the way of recognizing your efforts - this thing doesn't grow on a tree nor is it common - it's a garden you've grown for us and I for one apologize and have agreed to really think through how lame this is just for myself. Everyone else can take their own level of accountability.

[Jason Cosper]

There's a really good discussion about this topic on the BarCamp LA Google Group. I know you already know about it, Heather - I'm just trying to be helpful to any of the interested parties reading this blog entry.

http://groups.google.com/group/BarcampLA/browse_thread/thread/de6a04a806437b7

[daMongolian]

First Heather, thank you for organizing such an event.....I know such things can be a great undertaking and most time consuming. When you "work for yourself" as you do time is money.

1) Contact the noshows....explain the situation to them. if they don't pay or respond with a really good reasonable explanation, within say a week; Post the list. Let them know that you'll be posting it. Keep it posted and cross off names as they make good.

2) Tips....in the future, perhaps it would be prudent to include a standard 15% gratuity to what people are already paying. Or make it clear that the gratuity is NOT included in the price and that they are still responsible for that.

3) Bar tabs...ask the wait staff to either charge on a cash basis or open a tab for each individual/group ordering drinks. It's more of a hassle for them, so maybe increase that 15% from above.

4) yeah....request/require prepayment.

[heathervescent]

Fader - you didn't rsvp to this one. You're in the good. :)

[heathervescent]

Viss - yeah, we talked about doing that last night, but everyone has their reasons for not showing up - some of them are good. But I wanted to let everyone know what happened, so we can not have it happen again.

Jason - yup

daMongolian - thanks for your thoughts. It's the restaurants that have different deals. We'll find one that works out though.

[lonelysandwich]

i, for one, had a great time last night. i was too shy to take leftovers (for my dog and for my girlfriend). but there were a lot of leftovers. like 20 people worth of leftovers. 20 miserable, insensitive, ungracious people worth of leftovers. come to think of it, they would've tasted terrible. like regret vindaloo and tandoori thoughtlessness.

next time, i'll have my paypal ready when i RSVP, and so should everyone else.

PUBLISH THE NAMES OF THE ELECTRIC TWENTY

[Rob Poitras]

Next time, find a place that is more flexible if there are no shows. For the bar, each person should have their own tab. Way too hard to keep track of that if its a group.

Or have everyone prepay for the event. That seems like a nice idea.

[J.J. Toothman]

"I'm into guns, fire and unicorns" may be the best self-descriptive line of all time. I would definitely not want to have a debt to that person.

[Chad Boyda]

Make future events pre-pay registration. It works for other events and prevents issues like this. You had people who wanted to attend but couldn't because of the no shows, those people would have paid, so just let them pay in advance and filter out the flakes.

And if it were up to me? I would PUBLISH THE NAMES!

[Patrick Barry]

Heather: I'm one of the two that contacted you from the venue to tell you that I was there too early (having mis-read the start time) and that I would leave due to not feeling well. Sorry for my no-show. However, I will step up and pay if requested, since I RSVP'd and therefore am accountable for my actions (and in-actions). Also, I agree with the post that suggests payment in advance for future events. While you'll get less RSVPs due to (non-committal) people who keep last minute options open, the RSVPers who pay upfront will be more qualified and authentic. Those who pay in advance will be inclined to show up due to "use or lose".

[heathervescent]

Everyone - thanks for your comments. I've contacted the no-shows and asked them to pay.

LonelySandwich, Chad - I know the bloodthirst is out, but I'm sure no one forgot on purpose.

Rob - That is a lot easier said than done. Do you have any suggestions?

J.J. - Heh! Me either!

Patrick - I'm going to try a couple things. More flex if the restaurant allows, and if not, I'll set up an online pre-pay option. The next few dinners will be a bit of an experiment.

Thanks everyone!

[I'll pay. I RSVPd and something came up at the last second, forgot to cancel]

I'll pay, and everyone else who read the agreement and didn't show up should think about doing the same. I RSVPd and something came up at the last second then I forgot to cancel. Whose paypal should I send the $20 to?

Alex Peake

[Lars P]

I for one REFUSE to pay!

[heathervescent]

Lars - WTF? You don't even live in LA! Smart Ass! ;)