Solatium

[Lid]

Quoting knight time hippy from 19:46, 28th Mar 2008
As such, the society will foot the bill. Please consider the matter closed.

A necessary step, I feel. Also a necessary step is to have a discussion on the organisation of the ticketing, one way or another, of debates dinners, to prevent a repeat. I will be more than happy to give my £0.02 worth there, but I look forward to that being a discussion that will need to happen at Board.

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Mathematical Anti Telharsic Harfatum Septomin

[OhhMy]

As a former steward and the only one, since Dicky (I believe) to have had every dinner break even I think I have something to add.

The situation on Wednesday night was obviously unfortunate.

An agreed set price with a restaurant and numbered tickets with food only served to those with tickets is the only way to ensure that the bill is settled in full and no one has to pay extra.

I also believe that it is entirely possible that people payed a little less than was owed because the price of the dinner was advertised at £13 pounds on the night.

I would say that this situation will give the new steward some lessons to learn from.

Also as had been said thee is no problem with charity law with subsidising a dinner.

I am glad to see that everything is settled and that the UDS has hopefully learnt its lesson in terms of ticketing for Dinners.

IT IS THE ONLY WAY!

[Dickie]

Quoting ohhmy from 23:58, 29th Mar 2008

I also believe that it is entirely possible that people payed a little less than was owed because the price of the dinner was advertised at £13 pounds on the night.

I do believe that it was £13.95 that was charged per head...

And not all tables were told of that fact.

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[Jamie potton]

It is a shame that this detracts from what is usually an enjoyable night - the last Solatium I attended the Convenor left very early and the rest of the Board probably weren't in a fit state to run the proverbial curry dinner in the Balaka, and still it was one Hell of an evening (and certainly didn't lose money).
Hopefully the dereliction on the part of the Steward will not be paid from the LPH budget. A valuable lesson for the holder of that office, and the Society, which should not be paid by all.

[Kizzy]

Boy, am I glad Ewan and I paid by card! I'm no expert on these things, but it does seem that we need to tighten up the way we approach the methods of those dinners.

I appreciate that there are often as many hassles ticketing dinners in advance as there are not ticketing them. Might a possible solution be:

1. Dinner advertised as per usual.
2. Steward prints out lots of tickets.
3. Debaters make their way to Balaka.
4. Steward stands at door. Debaters exchange money for tickets.
(at this point, anyone who wants to prove they did so, might want to initial the back of their tickets. Makes it much easier later on)
5. Those who want to have wine (if it's not included in the meal) order it at the bar. Yes, it's a hassle, but saves us the problem of horrible bills later.
6. The wonderful folk at the Balaka come and take our orders. They take tickets from us at the time of ordering.
7. Wine flows and curry is consumed!

This avoids the difficulties at the end of the night, where - dare I say it? - alcohol can confuse even the best of us, people are keen to get home/to the pier, and nobody wants to hang around. All monies are exchanged either before the dinner, or at the point of wine purchase.

Incidentally, [assumes what Ewan calls the Scary Voice, honed over years of practice herding schoolies to debates] I think it's bloody shameful of any individuals to enjoy the excellent food, wine, conversation and hospitality of the society without paying their way. I can understand why in this case it's not ideal to pursue an investigation of who these people were, but I hope that if there were any individuals for whom non-payment wasn't an accident (and I'm really hoping it was just a moment of forgetfullness that prevented payment) that they feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

[back to normal voice] In other thoughts, though, I really enjoyed the debate and dinner. Great fun!

[Laura]

Quoting ohhmy from 23:58, 29th Mar 2008
As a former steward and the only one, since Dicky (I believe) to have had every dinner break even I think I have something to add.

The situation on Wednesday night was obviously unfortunate.

An agreed set price with a restaurant and numbered tickets with food only served to those with tickets is the only way to ensure that the bill is settled in full and no one has to pay extra.

I also believe that it is entirely possible that people payed a little less than was owed because the price of the dinner was advertised at £13 pounds on the night.

I would say that this situation will give the new steward some lessons to learn from.

Also as had been said thee is no problem with charity law with subsidising a dinner.

I am glad to see that everything is settled and that the UDS has hopefully learnt its lesson in terms of ticketing for Dinners.

IT IS THE ONLY WAY!

The solatium you orgainsed was fab. Aside from that, I thought I would use this opportunity to let you know that someone has left a lovely umbrella in my flat and I think it might be yours.

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"When I came back to Dublin, I was courtmartialled in my absence and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence."

[Tweedle-Dum]

Quoting Jessica from 17:32, 27th Mar 2008
90 Quid

How much?


(sorry I'm late)

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Tetragrammaton is a four letter word.

[Tweedle-Dum]

On a more serious note it is embarrassing and unfair to be left at the end of the dinner feeling awkward and being accosted by Balaka employees telling us that we're £90 short on our bill, purely because we're the last to leave. Why the steward can't organise dinners that they or a nominee can stay until the end of is beyond me.

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Tetragrammaton is a four letter word.

[Dickie]

Quoting Tweedle-Dum from 14:51, 31st Mar 2008

Quoting Jessica from 17:32, 27th Mar 2008
90 Quid

How much?

Thats cheap.

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