So how bout that Maid Cafe eh?

[Jun-Watarase]

I hate to sound skeptical, and this doesn't really affect me per say, but Fanime really is approaching fast, and what are any new maids going to do about uniforms? If we wait much longer, will there be enough time for any new maids to order their uniforms and make sure they fit correctly (as we had some issues with that last year)?

So nothing's changed.

The commentary isn't really necessary.

It is something to worry about though, if you think about it. Fanime's only a couple of months away, and there haven't been any announcements, meetings, or visible improvements in general outside of the activity concerning Extravaganza. Last year, the volunteers already were poorly kept up with what was going on, and now there's even less activity in terms on information.

Precisely my worry and reason for my comment. And while, yes, this that and the other thing may be going on "behind the scenes," it would be nice to be kept up to date or even directly aware that things are even happening. As a confirmed maid next year, I have yet to receive anything, and if not for the fact I ran into Sydney in a book store in SC a few weeks ago, I wouldn't even be certain it were still happening at all.

But Mikey's comment really didn't add anything other than add to the already well-know fact he's discontent with the way things are handled.

Not to actually defend him on this point, but from what it looks like, I don't think anyone considering participating should be content with how things are handled right now. Though, I'm pretty sure that it's still happening-- there's just a null on any updates or information and people are sort of left in the dark. It was a bit of a problem last year, so you figure there'd be some improvement this time.

But there are more staff members in charge of the event now, it seems. I'm sure there are other people other than Sydney to contact, like Julia or Tony.

[Fructose]

I hate to sound skeptical, and this doesn't really affect me per say, but Fanime really is approaching fast, and what are any new maids going to do about uniforms? If we wait much longer, will there be enough time for any new maids to order their uniforms and make sure they fit correctly (as we had some issues with that last year)?

So nothing's changed.

The commentary isn't really necessary.

It is something to worry about though, if you think about it. Fanime's only a couple of months away, and there haven't been any announcements, meetings, or visible improvements in general outside of the activity concerning Extravaganza. Last year, the volunteers already were poorly kept up with what was going on, and now there's even less activity in terms on information.

Precisely my worry and reason for my comment. And while, yes, this that and the other thing may be going on "behind the scenes," it would be nice to be kept up to date or even directly aware that things are even happening. As a confirmed maid next year, I have yet to receive anything, and if not for the fact I ran into Sydney in a book store in SC a few weeks ago, I wouldn't even be certain it were still happening at all.

But Mikey's comment really didn't add anything other than add to the already well-know fact he's discontent with the way things are handled.

Not to actually defend him on this point, but from what it looks like, I don't think anyone considering participating should be content with how things are handled right now. Though, I'm pretty sure that it's still happening-- there's just a null on any updates or information and people are sort of left in the dark. It was a bit of a problem last year, so you figure there'd be some improvement this time.

But there are more staff members in charge of the event now, it seems. I'm sure there are other people other than Sydney to contact, like Julia or Tony.

I'm not saying it's an invalid point by any means, it's just rather old hat from him by this point.

I at least have the leeway of already being prepared and familiar with how things will happen, I just worry for those who would possibly want to participate and may be unable to. The fact that there are others in charge now really only makes the silence all the more dismaying, as that means that there are more people who could be informing the (involved) masses who just aren't, for whatever reason.

[Jerry]

I do admit on feeling in the dark as well...

if i could only just get to a meeting instead of being stuck with circus folk all the time...

Ill have to find out and see what info i could dig up.

[jemz]

As much as I would like to announce certain things, I am still working with key people on getting the details set before declaring it out to the world. 

Yes, Maid Cafe will still happen in a bigger location and with longer hours. We are still working out the details for the menu. As for the volunteers for the maids and their outfits, we are working on that still, so all those interested will hear about it shortly.

Just because there hasn't been any official word does not mean that we're not working hard on on various functions.

If there are any concerns or questions that aren't answered by any of my department heads, feel free to email me at [email protected].

[KamijoIsLove]

http://www.limebarbmaidcafe.com/index.html ??

Limebarb = <3

Maybe? I dunno how their pricing works, and I figure it's too close to the con to arrange them coming, but it could be an idea for the future... ^^;

[xiaomei]

i would like to volunteer at the maid cafe~ ^o^

so are the costumes provided? and do volunteers have to attend training?

[PyronIkari]

Limebarb takes months in advance to do orders, and if you're asking for like 6... it'd take her like a year to get it to you.

If the con wants, they could always just ask someone in Japan to buy uniforms at Tokyu Hands, and have them shit that. Costumes are only like... 60-70$ and they're pretty well made, shipping would according to how many bought. They'd have to do it soon though, just in case customs decides to be a douche about the package and takes a month to get it through.

[KamijoIsLove]

Oh, I wasn't talking about ordering costumes from them. It seems they actually have their own traveling maid cafe...that's what I was thinking. =3

I ordered some clothing from Japan recently, with the super fast EMS thing and it only took a week. >_>

[Jun-Watarase]

You know, the con is nearly 2 months away. There haven't been meetings, volunteer sign-ups, and time seems pretty tight for ordering uniforms. While I won't doubt that hard work is being done, the lack of announcements is unnerving.

[Tony]

Right, well, both Julia and I prefer to let the department do its announcements/PR themselves, otherwise we'd be telling you all about the things going on behind the scenes... but for the sake of the people reading the forums, I'll clue everyone in as much as I can.

Unfortunately we had to clear up contractual issues before maid cafe could even get a real start, and that only just got cleared up. These are basic issues like the size and duration of service, and have been under negotiation for... nearly 6 months now. (It's useless trying to plan when you don't know how long or how big the event is run, since an event like this doesn't scale up or down easily.)

Obviously, we expected it to take much less time, and we planned as such - but with the successive delays, it began to have a "boy who cried wolf" effect that made us skeptical about planning until things were finalized. Now that things are solid, there's been a lot of activity. The biggest issue left is probably the training - which isn't unimportant, but is relatively straightforward.

On top of that, Maid Cafe enjoys a delicate PR situation on the forums, so we're extremely conservative about what we say.  :P

I hope that helps.

[Jun-Watarase]

Thanks for letting us know.

But time is running quite short. Last year, we had been told to order uniforms online, and they were supposedly custom made to our measurements, and some of which needed time to gather money to pay for them. Not only that, but it was hoped that the maids could undergo some training this year. It's a bit questionable whether or not enough people could volunteer, order uniforms, and train within that span of time.

[xiaomei]

Ohh.. we have to buy our own costumes? :[

T__T; Oh well then..

[Jun-Watarase]

Ohh.. we have to buy our own costumes? :[

T__T; Oh well then..

That's what we had to do last year, but that was the first year. It might be different?

[Chun]

I hope that helps.

You've done more than anything in terms of last minute - last year.

Though, if there aren't any meetings/training/actions within the next two months, I call Deja Vu.

The biggest issue left is probably the training - which isn't unimportant, but is relatively straightforward.

Do your research! No research = otaku-grapevine = red sales.

~Chun

[Kazuko]

Training is very important, I think pyron is probally going to stress it or has in some posts ago but the maids are to interact with customers, being a maid cafe there are activities, small talk and whatever they do at a maid cafe, so that the customer comes back and even brings friends. How they present themselfs and what not is also important especially since there might be some shy girls who are volunteering to do this. (to be honest if you are very shy you are going to have to put that aside since you will be dealing with alot of customers. ESPECIALLY interaction such as conversations, ect... but if you cant you probally shouldnt be a maid. Im not being mean just honest)

=( I kinda had high hopes for this year to be an improvment but with the delays and the con comming arround so soon there should have been signups, orders for uniforms and training about months ago. Im really hoping that the uniforms are an improvment than last years since they were a bit...well the images i saw were faar from the actual uniform. Especially the price since I had to drop out of the maid cafe last year because it was like what $150 for the type of uniform I wanted to get.

[Jun-Watarase]

I don't know if Pyron had brought it up with Julia yet, but I recall him mentioning it earlier in the thread that uniforms could've been ordered from Tokyu Hands for roughly 60-70 USD. They're not custom fit, but they're sold like normal clothing in sizes like XS, S, M, L, XL but in Asian proportions. I'll ask him to check with anyone to see if they have general measurements of bust, waist, hips, etc later on.

My biggest issue with the uniforms last year wasn't so much the quality (eg, the cloth and lace was stiff-- a notorious trait of ordering ebay-commissions from seamstresses in China.) but their appearance. They looked more like EGL costumes than actual maid uniforms, and were excessive in detail. Pyron gave me a photo earlier of some of the maid uniforms in display at the front of the store. More detailed ones aren't shown, but are also more expensive.



Time is really short... and while Pyron probably thinks I'm just being too optimistic, I was hoping that now more people are apparently working on organizing the cafe, there'd be some noticeable improvements. The costumes do require money, and unless someone will actually turn in the budget for them and have Fanime fund it for the volunteers, people also need time to come up with the money.

Someone had mentioned to me that meetings will happen soon, once they're organized, but... I really wonder who'd go to them if no actual volunteer list had been made yet. Things were pretty rushed last year, but they weren't nearly as disappointing.

[xiaomei]

http://www.tokyu-hands.co.jp/

Is that the Tokyu Hands website? Or is there an English one?

How would people order costumes..? I can only read a little Japanese x.x;

[Jun-Watarase]

http://www.tokyu-hands.co.jp/

Is that the Tokyu Hands website? Or is there an English one?

How would people order costumes..? I can only read a little Japanese x.x;

There's only the Japanese website that I know of, as they don't have any franchises anywhere else but Japan and Taiwan, but no Chinese site. I'd assume volunteers would list their size and give them to someone to order. Sounds fairly simple to me.

[Kazuko]

I remember last year I suggested cosmates since they do sell maid uniforms
http://www.cosmates.jp/shop/index/cp-43_222.html
the prices are decent well not including shipping and handling fees.

Tokyu Hands has cute maid costumes from the picture

[xiaomei]

Huh..

Wouldn't it be better if everyone's costume matched? x.x;