Helpful note to retired people.

[rivka]

(a.k.a., "Why we left the first planning meeting for our church caring circle more than an hour early.")

1. If you are planning an event which you expect working people to attend, "Thursday at 6:45pm for coffee and dessert" does not show much consideration for their likely schedules.

2. If your event is important enough, some working people may plan to attend it first and eat dinner afterward. If so, they will probably be chagrined if you hand them a structured agenda extending to 9pm. Especially if the advance information they were given made it sound like a brief discussion over cookies.

Comments

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Ook. Yeah, no good. You have my sympathy. Make sure you say the same thing to the person who planned the event -- people don't know, or forget.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Yuck. That is amazingly thoughtless.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

I think it can be hard for people to remember how different other people's schedules are.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Pretty much all of the evening events I go to go until at least 9:00 (teevee club, various political meetings, etc.), and they're all attended by working people. Or is it the early start that bothers you? (My events tend to start at 7:00 or 7:30.)

-J

[platypus]

Well, if you are assuming everyone's already eaten dinner (hence the inclusion of dessert in the event), there's no reason to end early. But I know that with my schedule, there's no way I could work, have dinner, and then make a 6:45 event.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Gotcha.

People in my household tend to get off work at 5 or 5:15 and be home by 5:30 or so, so it wouldn't be a hardship for us. Though come to think of it, 6:45 does sound like it's in the middle of most people's dinners, and therefore a rather strange time to start a meeting.

-J

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Whereas at our house, Michael may not even get home until 645, and when I was working I tended to get home around 545.

When I have long meetings at 7 or 730 on a weeknight, it's often understood that some people will be bringing their dinner with them. But this was a social event in someone's home. I think it's weird to have a social event during the classic dinner hour (we had to leave home at 630 to get there on time) without serving dinner. And I'd have to know someone a lot better than I know this person to feel comfortable asking, "Hey, is it okay if we bring our own food to your party?"

[richtermom.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. You're taking for granted that they want to be inclusive of people with Real Jobs. :^\

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

That's a given, I think. Rivka's a Unitarian Universalist, and inclusion is essential to UU. Failing to think things through is a human failing without sectarian boundaries.

Not really here, still on holiday

[ailbhe]

Here (right now, that's Ireland and England at the same time, in my head...), a commute of 60-120 minutes each way is not unusual...