So how bout that Maid Cafe eh?

[Jun-Watarase]

Part of my earlier post.

As for it being just a name, it isn't that simple. It's false advertising. From what I, and the people of this project had experienced from our debut year, an authentic maid cafe was I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E to have in FanimeCon. Though, a cosplay cafe would work a lot better. Not only that, but it'd be more flexible and easier on the workers maintain, and easier for the fans to accept.

I don't know. It being okay that it went well, solely for the fact that most attendees were too ignorant to tell the difference, seems pretty stupid to me. Fanime is an official organization, and if they're incapable of properly managing an event, advertised as an authentic maid cafe, they shouldn't have it. What's wrong with... just a cosplay cafe? It's somewhat of a compromise, and doesn't have as many expectations. They can still all be maids if they wanted to, because a maid's role in the maid cafe is more than just wearing a costume and serving people food like waitresses... but those things are impossible for Fanime to be able to do, or people are unwilling to work with it.

Most of the actual opinions I've gotten when asked was that as a whole, the maid cafe was mediocre... for what it was, with reasons why. Any positive comment was pretty much "Oh, it was nice." as a natural, obligated response without much thought put into it. In all truth, the cafe was poorly ran (Not that there was much that could be done about that. I admit things looked pretty tough.) Its success is pretty much made up of the curious, the ignorant, and those who don't really care... with that percentage of people who were disappointed.

Changes that could be made, if it remains a maid cafe is... training the maids to at least properly represent what the maids are supposed to do, to the simplest denomination, and doing the very basic of what makes up a maid cafe. It still isn't much, but it's more in comparison to just waitressing. If this much somehow isn't done, it just isn't a maid cafe, and the discussion on what it is goes back to square one.

From the beginning, I knew a full-blown authentic maid cafe was impossible. I thought, "well... it's a maid cafe, an American anime convention. Sure, it doesn't need to be perfect!" But not even the basic could be done. It was pretty disappointing...

[Tony]

Just a few notes-

- Let's not rehash last year's drama. Now that the event happened, there's a whole new set of problems - including overcoming last year's momentum in making changes for the better.

- Maid Cafe is now under the Extravaganzas division, not LP. Sydney is still running it. Incidentally, I'm Extravaganza's div 2nd. And believe it or not, I'm paying attention to this thread like a motherfucker.

To get the conversation started about what's going on for next year: we're moving it to a much bigger spot on the opposite side of the convention center. It's planned to be where the Internet Cafe was last year, on the second floor directly above Starbucks - about twice the size, much less claustrophobic, and with better line control.

We're going to look into disposable oshibori.

What else?

[Jerry]

To get the conversation started about what's going on for next year: we're moving it to a much bigger spot on the opposite side of the convention center. It's planned to be where the Internet Cafe was last year, on the second floor directly above Starbucks - about twice the size, much less claustrophobic, and with better line control.

We're going to look into disposable oshibori.

What else?

Whats Oshibori? ... Google/Wiki's it.
Oh cool.
We may have to use those for the Hentai rooms too.

Safety On-Sites (The group formerly known as Rovers) are going to be involved as well. Now that there's bigger area, line control won't be much of a fuss.

And Hey, it would be cool to work with you Tony.  :)
I'd like to know as much input you would like to add to the "extravaganza!"

sounds like good times all around.

[AngelKawaii]

To the guy that keeps saying he knows a lot about the maid cafes: you quoted my last post and I was too lazy to quote it back.

Anyway, since you know so much about the cafe, how about you type out some things that should be done while in the cafe or just about a maid cafe in general. Then people can go through the list, I will for sure, and see what can be done for next year and what will have to be done the year after that. Then we can contact the people in charge suggest and see what will be used.

[EvilBunnyKid]

Plain and simple......I want butlers this year  :P  That would be really nice, you know, me being single and all.  :P :-*

[Jerry]

Butlers werent really a big thing last year.

for the most part they semi turned into bus boys and semi were a male presense supposedly if any patrons made our maids feel uncomfy.

We were hashing out a random thought for a Yaoi/Yuri related theme night, but some of the guys didnt want to dress up as maids (at least sober) ...

I think Yaoi Con did something with male service staff, but I didnt know much about that version of that type of cafe either.

[Chun]

You keep talking about Chun being kicked out, I went to the first meeting.  His thoughts for the project and that of the people who were put in charge of it were very different.  Then he spent the rest of the meeting looking at something up in a laptop ignoring the meeting.  Now I don't know about him getting kicked out or not, but in projects if you don't work because your views are being believed to be unreasonable at the time being and with the group...well I don't see why not you should take them out.  Why give credit where credit is not deserve?  Yes the thought was brought into by people outside of who are taking in charge, but the job to get it done...well those original people did not want to take the time or effort.  So again if you think it should be change to what you think is "authentic" maid cafe, go to a meeting and talk.

I don't think we went to the same meeting.

I've been keeping quiet up till this thread came swimming up again, and I don't want to get too deep into it (Save you the ranting, give you fact), so I'll state exactly what happened, raw. I advocated Sydney as head of the department at the time when we were at the preliminary discussion statistics. Lisu had head of designs, Sydney took up the logistics because we ALL AGREED ON THE PRELIMINARY STAFF. We had a good plan, and I was given Sydney's number later on the line to continually check on updates and give direct info because I went to an authentic one.

So what happens after a fairly productive meeting after I prepared all the basic reference material and discussed reasonable culture agreements (This is the "rest of the meeting looking at something up in a laptop ignoring the meeting" bit in DLZ's post. Core of the project structure was based EXACTLY on what I had that day. Did you conveniently forget my "Venn Diagrams", basic maid outfit design, discussion in space allocation for the future site, "Nice Cookies" plans for basic snacks (No Chips Ahoy!), and face value appearances, too DLZ? Spiritsnare made the minutes.)
The "against productivity" remark is the whiplash of what I did when I formally called Sydney about what was going to happen. The time I called I get a basic plan that did none of the cultural instigations I implied, but instead something akin to a Denny's with funny costumes was drawn up; because that's, and I quote over the cell phone that day in my dorm room in UC Davis over my cell phone,  "what a maid cafe is, based on our prospects". Wouldn't give me 10 minutes when I could clearly hear a dog barking in the background.

Did I mention I called because I heard NONE of the advertising, ordering of supplies and outfits were prepared by notifications from both the Design Team AND the Advertising Team?  Also the project went dead fish for a few months after the first meeting (Which was in October), and I was excluded "fired" sometime in April because it had to be "Business-like"? (By the way, I wasn't hired, I VOLUNTEERED. This isn't a formal workplace, so it shouldn't have happened as it did.)

This "against flow" interjection with its logical fallacy was me trying to push over the revised ideas that I came up with to meet cultural minimums but at the same time do what Japan did. In other words, unlike the false perception that I supposedly was angered by the fact the cafe wasn't authentically Japanese (I know limits), I was more displeased with the fact that I had come up with these "Met Halfway" plans and yet no one wanted to listen. Sydney simply ejected me because I had ideas that conflicted with her own. And those ideas, in itself, were nothing like the original cafe project altogether; that's the most frustrating part. Those that have no familiarity with something like a maid cafe have no place in teaching what is "correctly done" and "against workflow".

Tony, as you are the secondary on this year's project I'd like to provide you with exactly what went wrong last year as a best wish.

Essentially, it was a giant mess and here's why:

Inactivity/No Contact Control Whatsoever in the time the materials were supposed to be done.

  When multiple departments of a project ask me rather than Sydney on what to do and what the status of the project should be when I'm at UC Davis, something's not happening, and that's bound to kill the end product, thus the last minute printing ad issues and the costume cost fiasco. Since Sydney's still head of the project I think the methodology will more than likely stick to the failed attempt of last year, so I implore you to actually work hard on the "cultural halfway". I never got the chance because the "head" denied me even a minute of her time because of her own confidence.

The General Public is not stupid; OR Beware the Otaku Grapevine

  Even if the project finishes in the end and looks decent, there are bound to be people that know exactly what the culture is before the convention. Don't go into the project thinking most people don't have the slightest; go into the project assuming people know what the nuances are. Don't trojan horse it and mask something in the everyday (Basic Denny's) in an attempt to recreate the experience. If you want, I can provide you the ideas and reference material if you PM me. On second thought, given the amount of credit the rest of the staff recieved compared to Sydney and Ted, I retract this statement. I've contacted 7 different parties of people that went to fanime and asked their earnest opinion on this year's experience; UC Davis Fanime goers, UC Berkeley Fanime Goers, Casual SJSU communities, SFSU community, Golfland Arcades, and other such sources. They were all displeased; they expected more but got so much less.

Time over Money: The Base Structure of the Fanimaid Cafe now is Flawed

  The cafe this year held a typical business structure of profit to catering and staff with a small time flow, thus resulting in a plethora of customers but not enough interaction. This is only solved by two things; extended hours and appointment making. The only way any sort of cafe experience can be implemented (Minimally) with person to person interaction is to appoint 10-15 minute personalized time slots at the least. People pay for the experience, not for the food. If an appointment structure is not possible, 10-15 minutes still need be there. If one or both of these conditions are not met, expect a rehash of disorganizational failure.

Train Only those by those who know how to Train

  When I talked about training in the first meeting I was not referring to holding cups, busing tables, and how to take out/serve food (This was Sydney's thought as to what I meant by training). If anything, the basic mannerisms are the most important. A Maid must try her best to express interest in whatever inane thing the customer begins talking about (This is sometimes self-explanatory because it becomes fun). The maid keeps her composure, and smiles. Smiling, proper "courtesy" for their masters-- not to be confused with giving up rights or degrading behavior--  is the most important thing. The farewell, and then the customer leaves satisfied. I suggest either someone like PyronIkari to explain the nuances, but if it's reasonable I wouldn't mind helping on a set date (Training day was NOT PLANNED this year, resulting in more than half the staff clueless at their posts). Again, it's something as basic as "how to say hello and warm up a customer", "what to reply in light of difficult situation", and composure.

The cafe lacked preparation, attentiveness, correct priorities, and most of all, a model head figure. I sincerely hope you can direct it in a more positive direction, with or without my help.

~Chun

[PyronIkari]

To the guy that keeps saying he knows a lot about the maid cafes: you quoted my last post and I was too lazy to quote it back.

Anyway, since you know so much about the cafe, how about you type out some things that should be done while in the cafe or just about a maid cafe in general. Then people can go through the list, I will for sure, and see what can be done for next year and what will have to be done the year after that. Then we can contact the people in charge suggest and see what will be used.

And if you read my thread, I said I would not be wasting some odd 3 hours of my time writing a 10 page list and explaination on what I think should be done when I know 99% of it will be skipped or not taken into consideration due to the fact of union rules and regulations of the convention center.

I'm willing to help, if people show they won't screw me over the same way Chun was screwed over, and actually given acknowledgment that they actually want my help. When people are actually willing to ACTUALLY TALK TO ME, concerning it, instead of giving me this snooty "well fine, do a bunch of free work for us and send it to us, so we can look at it and not care who wrote it, probably take credit for it, and not give a damn afterwards" like you so fairly put it... Then I'd be willing to. I'm not going to help a bunch of people that look down upon me, because I pointed out how they messed up, and stated how they could improve(and was then ignored, and insulted).

Chun put it pretty well about what happened, why things went wrong... and frankly, I think you guys are making a huge mistake letting Sydney run it again, seeing that most of the problems can be rooted back to her. Not my decision, and I'm sure most of the staff heads don't give a damn about the project as a whole, so they won't be doing crap about it. She takes more pride in running it... than the project being for the fans. But that's just my observations.

[AngelKawaii]

To the guy that keeps saying he knows a lot about the maid cafes: you quoted my last post and I was too lazy to quote it back.

Anyway, since you know so much about the cafe, how about you type out some things that should be done while in the cafe or just about a maid cafe in general. Then people can go through the list, I will for sure, and see what can be done for next year and what will have to be done the year after that. Then we can contact the people in charge suggest and see what will be used.

And if you read my thread, I said I would not be wasting some odd 3 hours of my time writing a 10 page list and explaination on what I think should be done when I know 99% of it will be skipped or not taken into consideration due to the fact of union rules and regulations of the convention center.

I'm willing to help, if people show they won't screw me over the same way Chun was screwed over, and actually given acknowledgment that they actually want my help. When people are actually willing to ACTUALLY TALK TO ME, concerning it, instead of giving me this snooty "well fine, do a bunch of free work for us and send it to us, so we can look at it and not care who wrote it, probably take credit for it, and not give a damn afterwards" like you so fairly put it... Then I'd be willing to. I'm not going to help a bunch of people that look down upon me, because I pointed out how they messed up, and stated how they could improve(and was then ignored, and insulted).

Chun put it pretty well about what happened, why things went wrong... and frankly, I think you guys are making a huge mistake letting Sydney run it again, seeing that most of the problems can be rooted back to her. Not my decision, and I'm sure most of the staff heads don't give a damn about the project as a whole, so they won't be doing crap about it. She takes more pride in running it... than the project being for the fans. But that's just my observations.

if you are not going to "waist your time" to post tips on this thread or let people know here what is supposed to be done then stop posting here, because everytime you write some comment that has no valuable information in it you waist your time.

you keep complaining that noone knows how to do anything, well mister if you know EVERYTHING why not let the rest of us here know it too?

Instead of starting arguments that half the people don't even read, post useful information. Here's a tip: if you get enough of people to care about this project and enough of people to want to make the right changes this whole thing will improve. So, stop arguing, give usuful information.

[Jun-Watarase]

To the guy that keeps saying he knows a lot about the maid cafes: you quoted my last post and I was too lazy to quote it back.

Anyway, since you know so much about the cafe, how about you type out some things that should be done while in the cafe or just about a maid cafe in general. Then people can go through the list, I will for sure, and see what can be done for next year and what will have to be done the year after that. Then we can contact the people in charge suggest and see what will be used.

And if you read my thread, I said I would not be wasting some odd 3 hours of my time writing a 10 page list and explaination on what I think should be done when I know 99% of it will be skipped or not taken into consideration due to the fact of union rules and regulations of the convention center.

I'm willing to help, if people show they won't screw me over the same way Chun was screwed over, and actually given acknowledgment that they actually want my help. When people are actually willing to ACTUALLY TALK TO ME, concerning it, instead of giving me this snooty "well fine, do a bunch of free work for us and send it to us, so we can look at it and not care who wrote it, probably take credit for it, and not give a damn afterwards" like you so fairly put it... Then I'd be willing to. I'm not going to help a bunch of people that look down upon me, because I pointed out how they messed up, and stated how they could improve(and was then ignored, and insulted).

Chun put it pretty well about what happened, why things went wrong... and frankly, I think you guys are making a huge mistake letting Sydney run it again, seeing that most of the problems can be rooted back to her. Not my decision, and I'm sure most of the staff heads don't give a damn about the project as a whole, so they won't be doing crap about it. She takes more pride in running it... than the project being for the fans. But that's just my observations.

if you are not going to "waist your time" to post tips on this thread or let people know here what is supposed to be done then stop posting here, because everytime you write some comment that has no valuable information in it you waist your time.

you keep complaining that noone knows how to do anything, well mister if you know EVERYTHING why not let the rest of us here know it too?

Instead of starting arguments that half the people don't even read, post useful information. Here's a tip: if you get enough of people to care about this project and enough of people to want to make the right changes this whole thing will improve. So, stop arguing, give usuful information.

That's just silly. Pyron, Chun, AND me have given decent information on how things should be done, how to compromise with it, and even on occasion wrote up posts, e-mails, and/or notes to the maid cafe staff and yet... none of it was considered. Anything we've talked about in said notes were pretty much disregarded, and I'd say... it was quite a waste of time.

All of the information was generally similar, but presented in different ways. Chun did a good amount of work to have things meet half-way between authenticity and what the con would allow-- he wasn't blunt, he wasn't "complaining", either... but his work was ignored too. So far, it seems no matter what is said or done, no one is actually willing to improve.

[Sunara Ishi]

Inactivity/No Contact Control Whatsoever in the time the materials were supposed to be done.

  When multiple departments of a project ask me rather than Sydney on what to do and what the status of the project should be when I'm at UC Davis, something's not happening, and that's bound to kill the end product, thus the last minute printing ad issues and the costume cost fiasco. Since Sydney's still head of the project I think the methodology will more than likely stick to the failed attempt of last year, so I implore you to actually work hard on the "cultural halfway". I never got the chance because the "head" denied me even a minute of her time because of her own confidence.

I just want to second this as a problem area. Along with this, there were lots of miscommunication.

I was part of the adv/design groups and I didn't get any material until a couple weeks before fanime.
I didn't really mind getting things late but I suppose I minded the delays.
Apparently, there was quite a bit of miscommunication and my designs were never used.

While we're on the topic of fanimaid cafe, is there meetings going on for this coming year? I already had someone ask me about them.
Additionally, I would like to help out with the designs again. Either this year or coming years. Though I think it might be better to work with a key person in charge (who can give the go ahead) rather than to go through a grapevine... >.>;

Though in defense of the maids, we did hold proper conversations.

If you can't post here, please pm me with any information concerning volunteering for maid and design areas.
However, I have no intention on any sort of debate. So please don't bother me with that.

[PyronIkari]

if you are not going to "waist your time" to post tips on this thread or let people know here what is supposed to be done then stop posting here, because everytime you write some comment that has no valuable information in it you waist your time.

you keep complaining that noone knows how to do anything, well mister if you know EVERYTHING why not let the rest of us here know it too?

Instead of starting arguments that half the people don't even read, post useful information. Here's a tip: if you get enough of people to care about this project and enough of people to want to make the right changes this whole thing will improve. So, stop arguing, give usuful information.

And this post proves my point exactly. This is the exact mentallity I was talking about.

I posted A LOT of useful information in the past. I wasn't super specific and didn't go into too much detail but I posted lots of ideas, things to put into consideration, and things that should be avoided. What the focal points should be, and what the main purpose of Maid Cafes and how they work. How much of it was considered? NONE... absolutely none of it was brought up according to people I know that were in the project etc. etc. etc.

And instead of even acknowledging or admitting that "hey, maybe we should listen, or admit that we didn't listen before", you bitch at me for "not doing things". These posts have a lot of useful information... it's a lesson in humility. It's making certain people own up to their mistakes, and showing that they should listen to others when others try to help them with a subject that the prior doesn't know much about, and the latter knows quite a bit about.

PS: I'm sorta even lying, seeing that in this thread alone I point out quite a lot of things that were done wrong and offer advice as to how to fix it. So I *AM* wasting my time seeing that you didn't even bother to try and read or listen to a thing I said.

[AngelKawaii]

if you are not going to "waist your time" to post tips on this thread or let people know here what is supposed to be done then stop posting here, because everytime you write some comment that has no valuable information in it you waist your time.

you keep complaining that noone knows how to do anything, well mister if you know EVERYTHING why not let the rest of us here know it too?

Instead of starting arguments that half the people don't even read, post useful information. Here's a tip: if you get enough of people to care about this project and enough of people to want to make the right changes this whole thing will improve. So, stop arguing, give usuful information.

And this post proves my point exactly. This is the exact mentallity I was talking about.

I posted A LOT of useful information in the past. I wasn't super specific and didn't go into too much detail but I posted lots of ideas, things to put into consideration, and things that should be avoided. What the focal points should be, and what the main purpose of Maid Cafes and how they work. How much of it was considered? NONE... absolutely none of it was brought up according to people I know that were in the project etc. etc. etc.

And instead of even acknowledging or admitting that "hey, maybe we should listen, or admit that we didn't listen before", you bitch at me for "not doing things". These posts have a lot of useful information... it's a lesson in humility. It's making certain people own up to their mistakes, and showing that they should listen to others when others try to help them with a subject that the prior doesn't know much about, and the latter knows quite a bit about.

PS: I'm sorta even lying, seeing that in this thread alone I point out quite a lot of things that were done wrong and offer advice as to how to fix it. So I *AM* wasting my time seeing that you didn't even bother to try and read or listen to a thing I said.

I have not seen any of those posts that had information in them from previous times or from now. So far all your posts are about bitching back at people and saying that the "cafe" title should be changed. That's not much to go on. Got anything else?

Besides, I know for a fact that there are things that maids can do, mannerisms and such, that do not need to go through the head. Why not post those? That stuff can be passed on to other maids.

to ishi: miscommunication should be underlined,higlighted and in italics. xD jk, but seriously noone really knew hat was going on. I e-mailed Sydney a bunch of ties asking about the cafe. I dunno when and where the meetings will be, she said she'll send an e-mail to people who want to be maids later...this was about a month ago...Might as well ask her during the next meeting.

[PyronIkari]

I have not seen any of those posts that had information in them from previous times or from now. So far all your posts are about bitching back at people and saying that the "cafe" title should be changed. That's not much to go on. Got anything else?

Besides, I know for a fact that there are things that maids can do, mannerisms and such, that do not need to go through the head. Why not post those? That stuff can be passed on to other maids.

to ishi: miscommunication should be underlined,higlighted and in italics. xD jk, but seriously noone really knew hat was going on. I e-mailed Sydney a bunch of ties asking about the cafe. I dunno when and where the meetings will be, she said she'll send an e-mail to people who want to be maids later...this was about a month ago...Might as well ask her during the next meeting.

Then you're failing at reading my posts. I posted a lot about different mannerisms, mentioned the different "types" of maids and roles, the main basis etc. etc. etc.

In the past I went on about what the focal points should be, and they were ignored.

Now you're saying, that *I* didn't do these things? Frankly, the way I look at it, even if I did throw out all these ideas right now, it wouldn't matter, because staff will just ignore it like they did last time. Staff needs to get off their ass and organize this better, learn to communicate, and Sydney needs to stop thinking she's so great and listen to people that know better.

It doesn't matter how many ideas you get, or how great they are, if they aren't implimented, and staff doesn't work to make things happen. You need to change how management works, and the workers need to be willing to accept their roles and not go out of them which comes from management.

Until that happens, then my "ideas" will be ignored just like last time.

[AngelKawaii]

I have not seen any of those posts that had information in them from previous times or from now. So far all your posts are about bitching back at people and saying that the "cafe" title should be changed. That's not much to go on. Got anything else?

Besides, I know for a fact that there are things that maids can do, mannerisms and such, that do not need to go through the head. Why not post those? That stuff can be passed on to other maids.

to ishi: miscommunication should be underlined,higlighted and in italics. xD jk, but seriously noone really knew hat was going on. I e-mailed Sydney a bunch of ties asking about the cafe. I dunno when and where the meetings will be, she said she'll send an e-mail to people who want to be maids later...this was about a month ago...Might as well ask her during the next meeting.

Then you're failing at reading my posts. I posted a lot about different mannerisms, mentioned the different "types" of maids and roles, the main basis etc. etc. etc.

In the past I went on about what the focal points should be, and they were ignored.

Now you're saying, that *I* didn't do these things? Frankly, the way I look at it, even if I did throw out all these ideas right now, it wouldn't matter, because staff will just ignore it like they did last time. Staff needs to get off their ass and organize this better, learn to communicate, and Sydney needs to stop thinking she's so great and listen to people that know better.

It doesn't matter how many ideas you get, or how great they are, if they aren't implimented, and staff doesn't work to make things happen. You need to change how management works, and the workers need to be willing to accept their roles and not go out of them which comes from management.

Until that happens, then my "ideas" will be ignored just like last time.

I read your posts in this thread and all I am getting is arguments and nothing else. So far the ideas are schedule and arguments about the cafe's name.
Since this subject seems important to you, since you do post a lot and respond alot. Why not puch to get thigns notice, go to different heads, spread word around, and eventually they will have to do something and use some of the ideas because so many people agree with them. So what if you get kicked off, that just means you gotta try harder.

[Chun]

Why not puch to get thigns notice, go to different heads, spread word around, and eventually they will have to do something and use some of the ideas because so many people agree with them. So what if you get kicked off, that just means you gotta try harder.

Great idea. That's exactly what we did last year, and what I posted above. I humbly advise you to stop with the incessant circular logic.

~Chun

[Tony]

... am I posting in invisible colors? As I said, as interesting as it has been, let's not rehash last year.  ;D

Chun, the description of the work you did last year sounds really interesting. If you still have the particulars laying around, I'd be curious to see it. (I'm not saying that I'll using them, or presuming that you want to help. Just curious.)

[Chun]

... am I posting in invisible colors? As I said, as interesting as it has been, let's not rehash last year.  ;D

Chun, the description of the work you did last year sounds really interesting. If you still have the particulars laying around, I'd be curious to see it. (I'm not saying that I'll using them, or presuming that you want to help. Just curious.)

Most of the ideas I had are outright deleted or just non-existent in folders because many people from the previous team was as displeased as I was (To the point we had many discussions about the flaws in the work, and will not be associated with 2008's attempt), but decided for the sake of the convention to finish the project anyway since it had started.

To be honest, all of my ideas and work are in memory (Not a computer, my skull). However, given the fact the same head of department is running it, I would rather not disclose that information (Because I am convinced it will follow the same "prospects" from before).

I've left you a good amount of information from the post I made above Tony. Good luck with this year's attempt; you'll need it.

"preparation, attentiveness, correct priorities, and most of all, a model head figure"

~Chun

[Sucrose]

There's a lot going on here, but there was one specific thing I wanted to throw in, for what it's worth. I was a maid in the cafe, and I know there were a lot of problems, what with it being the first year and various clashes and all. I admit I went into the actual cafe work not really knowing what to expect; I had a basic idea of how maids in authentic maid cafes act, but I wasn't sure how much of that was supposed to be reflected in our activities as waitstaff in our particular cafe. One of the biggest troubles for me was that many of the customers that came into the cafe didn't know what to expect either--while I wanted to get more into the maid cafe role and hang out and chat with the customers (and was able to do this a few times) and really interact with them, many people that came into the cafe in groups of two or more spent the entire time talking amongst themselves and acted confused and offput when I did more than take their order or ask if they needed anything else, as if I were pestering them. I'm admittedly not the most socially ept person out there, but it was a lot easier to strike up proper conversation/interaction with individuals who came in on their own, rather than those who were already in their own little bubble. Not to say that this has anything to do with changes that should be made to the cafe in the future, but I just wanted to comment on that from the perspective of a server. Most people who came to eat just seemed happier left to their own devices, and what's one supposed to do when the ostensible purpose of an establishment and the desires of the patrons are at odds?

[PyronIkari]

I read your posts in this thread and all I am getting is arguments and nothing else. So far the ideas are schedule and arguments about the cafe's name.
Since this subject seems important to you, since you do post a lot and respond alot. Why not puch to get thigns notice, go to different heads, spread word around, and eventually they will have to do something and use some of the ideas because so many people agree with them. So what if you get kicked off, that just means you gotta try harder.

Then you apparently didn't read my entire first post in this thread, nor any of the time I respond to someone asking about something directly. Nor were you around for the first run of threads.

Sucrose: The issue here is that, they come in not what to expect, so you shouldn't change what your job is, because they don't know. If they don't feel comfortable with a "maid cafe" they won't go to a maid cafe. The idea of a maid cafe isn't supposed to cater to everyone and it won't. It's like expecting to make a fetish... a fetish for everyone. The Maid Cafe has its purpose, and a lot of people will be turned off by the idea, that's no reason to short others from the experience though.

A description of the cafe in the flier, etc. should be presented, so people SHOULD have a general idea of what they're getting into, trying it out or otherwise.

It was a first year thing... so mistakes are excusable, yes that is true. But most of the feedback seems to be, that these mistakes aren't being looked at, acknowledged, or changed.

I was stating that, there are a lot of mistakes that were made, and you need to recognize them. The general feel in reply I'm getting is "What can we do to make the cafe better... without admitting we messed up, or did anything wrong in the past, and fixing those problems first, before trying to tack on new stuff."

If the cafe wants to get better, it should first fix the major problems it already has before trying to think up new things to make it better. Once there is a strong grasp on the basic, then try to expand.