So how bout that Maid Cafe eh?

[Jun-Watarase]

It's funny how interested I am in this despite being such a tomboy XD

The Maid Cafe sounds like a lot of fun, although I'm a bit surprised at how heated the discussion got in this thread.

I wasn't at Fanime last year, so I had no idea how it went, and to be honest, I know very little about Maid Cafes to begin with. ^^;;;;  Still... a few ideas?

Typically, maids are to be calm, collected, polite, and sweet to their patrons by helping them relax in the maid cafe and having them in their company. They typically greet customers with a bow and say, "Welcome home, Master.", but since it's slightly controversial, at Fanimaid Cafe, it's a simple, "Welcome". They're like companions for them while they eat, do work, play games on their laptop, etc etc. You serve them food and interact with them, but the amount of interaction is based off the person and his/her responses. Make yourself loveable. Customers should be able to like your company and be able to talk to you from time to time... you should go back to check your table, see how your customer is doing. Never leave the tables without saying a word, and without bowing. Since maid cafes were initially maid for an anime-fan crowd, they can talk about similar interests, ask for opinions on cosplay or merchendise, or have the maid cheer (Not loud and energetic cheering, but personal, quiet, "You can do it!" and "Do your best!" them on while playing a game, and even congratulating them. Now-a-days, even normal people visit maid cafes, and then... you could just have a nice and normal conversation, asking simple things like, "How was your day?". Interaction.

That's the short gist of it.

Since the space is supposed to be in a bigger room this year, that probably means more maids/volunteers would be needed.  Also, a big issue about the maids last year seemed to be their lack of "intimacy" with the customers.  It's been reiterated several times about how they're "maids" and not "waitresses," so for those who are familiar with maids/Maid cafes, I guess it's pretty understandable that a certain level of "cozyness" would be expected.  But of course, that doesn't have to include touching and stuff, if either side is uncomfortable with that.

No touching is included, as that'd violate, not only the customer's personal space, but it'd be beyond the maids' actual jurisdiction.

I dunno if anyone brought this up (I kinda skimmed the thread...lolsorry =_=; )but maybe the Maid cafe could be divided up into several "sectors," each with a designated Maid(s).  That way, you don't have an understaffed group trying to cater to that many people at the same time.  It'd ensure a certain level of more personal attention to those who expect it, and might be a bit more organized and easier to handle [...] In addition, maybe there could be different Maid "types" serving the different sectors, so if a customer wanted a certain type of maid, they'd just have to sign up for a table in a particular sector.

Or assign a specific Maid to a specific table.  The problem with this, though, would be that we'd probably need tons of volunteers... D:

That's pretty much what we had to do, and is one of the only ways of organizing it.

Out of curiosity, about how many tables were there last year?  And how many maids?

If I recall correctly, there were about 6 small tables seating 2 or 3 people, and 4 big ones that seat about a dozen. But it's just an estimate, and not an official statement. There were about 6 to 10 different maids working each shift.

I'm browsing through some Japanese Maid Cafe sites right now and they all seem like pretty small, cozy facilities.  One site I saw had a roster of about 15 maids... Seems like a pretty decent number.  Of course, if there are going to be more tables/space, there's gonna be a greater need for more maids... Huu~

Imitating an authentic maid cafe would be beyond what the maid cafe is actually allowed to do. The facilities would be more like the maid cafes you see at school festivals, as it's impossible to decorate the space they have without being able to put anything on the walls, painting, and etc.

Anyway, I hope to see a new and improved Maid Cafe at Fanime this year.  Good luck to the staff working on it!

There's still hope for that. I think.

[Chihiro]

The maid cafe was definitely.. Interesting.. Two maids came by our table (Apparently, one got bored of us.) and she had a one minute small talk session with us. We ate some food (Cake and a sandwich.. Some soda.) and got our picture taken.

Totally worth waiting in line and spending so much money.

Damn regulations +_+..

[Mister_E]

God I hope some like a soda doesn't cost $4.00

[kuroi]

Le sigh. Why do I bother trying? I reply back, but unlike the others I reply back with more reasoning and basis as too what I'm saying. I say "This doesn't work because of x and y it would never work due to x and this is how x works" and you guys reply back with "NO YOU!" I go "-_- Look, you are ignoring this because of this" "NO YOU!" It's not my fault you people refuse to focus on stuff.

I should just stick with e-mailing Julia since this is rather hopeless trying to get people that don't want to listen to listen.

...I feel a little odd jumping in on this, but I think people would be more willing to listen if you stopped attacking them so harshly. One of the reasons people are getting so defensive and circular is because you're taking a very harsh stance against them. Debate them on it, that's fine, but (and I know I'm going to be attacked for this) get a grip. This is a discussion about a maid cafe that will be run for a weekend at a convention. Yes, people are putting lots of work into it, yes, people are looking forward to it, yes, we'd all like to see it run well and succeed, but remember. This is all volunteer work. Not paid professionals; there simply isn't enough time to get everyone trained as well as I think you'd like them to be, and this is just the second year. There's a lot to work out, and a lot of people are very excited by the concept. Relax a little; from what I've heard, the maid cafe was a success, even with all of its shortcomings. I feel that the customers are probably willing to accept the fact that it's not going to be perfect, or even like a real maid cafe, as it's being run "by fans, for fans", and while that doesn't mean we should be lax about training or trying to make it the best we can, it does mean that it doesn't have to be point-perfect. There's room for learning and error.

Also, on the note of the cue cards. Personally, I don't think it's a very good idea; it clutters the table, takes away from the cafe feel, and is quite honestly a little odd, but your reply wasn't very helpful. You basically said that a maid should be able to read a person's mind as to how they want to be treated. Yes, someone who goes to a maid cafe probably doesn't want to be left all by their lonesome and just be served (if they did, they'd just go to a regular cafe for cheaper), but the girl can't know just from looking at her customer whether they want to be called master, or just want conversation, or what they want. The girls aren't psychic, and you can't expect them to be. Perceptive, yes. You may be able to pick up on small clues, but let's face it; the guys who would want to be called "master" by a maid would probably hide that fact in normal society, and wouldn't exactly shout it to the world.

Getting your point to people is a lot easier when you aren't insulting them or their intelligence. Some of the people who were arguing against you were making valid points (granted, not with solid proof, but not the 'NO YOU" you accused them of)

Personally, I'd like to volunteer for the Maid Cafe. I wanted to do it last year, but I had a lot on my plate Fanime weekend. (and when I say a lot, I mean having to leave San Jose to drive up to Oakland or SF and back every day during random points. however, none of that this year \o/) I like waitressing, and think it would be a fun way to volunteer at Fanime while getting to wear a cute costume, and would be willing to go through some training before the con to prepare for the event, as well as willing to do my best during the event to make sure that I don't screw up in some way and that the people I interact with are happy. However, if it's going to be run with such high expectations of mere volunteers who are themselves just con goers out for a good time, I see this as being a lot less fun and a lot more grudging work for everyone involved.

[sunrise-oasis]

never mind, one of my questions has answer O_o...
but still curious about it!

knowing price range (i assume 5 dollars to enter and foodwise is over 6  bucks O_O!..(guesses for new changes here >_<!)

[NSC]

i liked the cafe. to my standards it was just a little overpriced, but not really. they could have used a bigger area for the cafe but oh well. the only thing that really frusterated me was the resevation arrangment. on the 07 site it said you could either make a reservation in advanced online BEFORE the con or wait in the line. me and my friends (6 of us) put down our names on the list and we had to wait for about an hour and a half in a line of other guest. an hour before we got our table, these other people we knew put their name down for a resevation for 3 people. when we got to the front and were just about to be seated, the other 3 came back but with 12 more people and they seated them EXACTLY before us! so they put alot of the table together for them and our group was seperated in half. I wanted to punch those other people.

[Mister_E]

i liked the cafe. to my standards it was just a little overpriced, but not really. they could have used a bigger area for the cafe but oh well. the only thing that really frusterated me was the resevation arrangment. on the 07 site it said you could either make a reservation in advanced online BEFORE the con or wait in the line. me and my friends (6 of us) put down our names on the list and we had to wait for about an hour and a half in a line of other guest. an hour before we got our table, these other people we knew put their name down for a resevation for 3 people. when we got to the front and were just about to be seated, the other 3 came back but with 12 more people and they seated them EXACTLY before us! so they put alot of the table together for them and our group was seperated in half. I wanted to punch those other people.

You got to freakin' kidding me!!! I hate waiting!

[NSC]

i liked the cafe. to my standards it was just a little overpriced, but not really. they could have used a bigger area for the cafe but oh well. the only thing that really frusterated me was the resevation arrangment. on the 07 site it said you could either make a reservation in advanced online BEFORE the con or wait in the line. me and my friends (6 of us) put down our names on the list and we had to wait for about an hour and a half in a line of other guest. an hour before we got our table, these other people we knew put their name down for a resevation for 3 people. when we got to the front and were just about to be seated, the other 3 came back but with 12 more people and they seated them EXACTLY before us! so they put alot of the table together for them and our group was seperated in half. I wanted to punch those other people.

You got to freakin' kidding me!!! I hate waiting!

i kid you not and it angered me so much. they shouldn't have let those other people in if they made reservations for 3 PEOPLE! there were 15 of them! and they should have waited in line like everybody else!

[Mister_E]

i liked the cafe. to my standards it was just a little overpriced, but not really. they could have used a bigger area for the cafe but oh well. the only thing that really frusterated me was the resevation arrangment. on the 07 site it said you could either make a reservation in advanced online BEFORE the con or wait in the line. me and my friends (6 of us) put down our names on the list and we had to wait for about an hour and a half in a line of other guest. an hour before we got our table, these other people we knew put their name down for a resevation for 3 people. when we got to the front and were just about to be seated, the other 3 came back but with 12 more people and they seated them EXACTLY before us! so they put alot of the table together for them and our group was seperated in half. I wanted to punch those other people.

You got to freakin' kidding me!!! I hate waiting!

i kid you not and it angered me so much. they shouldn't have let those other people in if they made reservations for 3 PEOPLE! there were 15 of them! and they should have waited in line like everybody else!

Dammit and it might be even bigger this year, the line that is since more people might try it out, oh well I'll either try my luck or skip the whole thing.

[JohnnyAR]

I found this place for rent, It looks perfect for a maid cafe, I'll try to post a picture of it.

[Kazuko]

I found this place for rent, It looks perfect for a maid cafe, I'll try to post a picture of it.

ummm The maid cafe for fanime con is just for the Con event only so it stays inside the con

[JohnnyAR]

i liked the cafe. to my standards it was just a little overpriced, but not really. they could have used a bigger area for the cafe but oh well. the only thing that really frusterated me was the resevation arrangment. on the 07 site it said you could either make a reservation in advanced online BEFORE the con or wait in the line. me and my friends (6 of us) put down our names on the list and we had to wait for about an hour and a half in a line of other guest. an hour before we got our table, these other people we knew put their name down for a resevation for 3 people. when we got to the front and were just about to be seated, the other 3 came back but with 12 more people and they seated them EXACTLY before us! so they put alot of the table together for them and our group was seperated in half. I wanted to punch those other people.

yeah there should be some sort of reservation system.

I found this place for rent, It looks perfect for a maid cafe, I'll try to post a picture of it.

ummm The maid cafe for fanime con is just for the Con event only so it stays inside the con

Opps! I posted in the wrong thread, I got confused with another maid cafe thread.

[Jerry]

actually there was a "rough" reservation system last year. it was so underground that by the time i found out (and I worked there) the reservations were already filled.

with our new larger space we'll hoepfully have enough room to accomodate you guys and we'll do our best to keep wait times down.

again thanks to everyone for both ur feedback and comments about our 'little' project.

Huz zah!  :D

[OniCourseMusha]

U know I since the space sound much bigger I am interested in checking it out.  Looking forward to it Mai-chan and Jerry.

[PyronIkari]

Also, on the note of the cue cards. Personally, I don't think it's a very good idea; it clutters the table, takes away from the cafe feel, and is quite honestly a little odd, but your reply wasn't very helpful. You basically said that a maid should be able to read a person's mind as to how they want to be treated. Yes, someone who goes to a maid cafe probably doesn't want to be left all by their lonesome and just be served (if they did, they'd just go to a regular cafe for cheaper), but the girl can't know just from looking at her customer whether they want to be called master, or just want conversation, or what they want. The girls aren't psychic, and you can't expect them to be. Perceptive, yes. You may be able to pick up on small clues, but let's face it; the guys who would want to be called "master" by a maid would probably hide that fact in normal society, and wouldn't exactly shout it to the world.

Here's the main thing though. Why are you going to a maid cafe if you don't want to be treated like that? People are too busy focusing on "what if random person X doesn't like this" so that they're de-tracting from what a maid cafe is. You don't go to a strip bar and expect girls not to flirt with you(because they're trying to get tips). You definitely shouldn't get angry if it happens, becuase that's what they do. If you don't like it, you shouldn't be there in the first place.

There's a bar called "Dick's" in Vegas. I love this place. Everyone there acts like total assholes to each other. You sit down the bartender screams at you "What the hell do you want?" You order your drink he slams it on the table, spilling some of it and screams the price at you. Everyone acts like... you know... a dick.

You don't walk into this place and get mad that a server isn't pleasently smiling and nice to you. A server won't change how he's acting because 1 customer doesn't like that they're rude there, when that's their thing. The same is said about maid cafes. If you don't want a waitress acting like a maid... DON'T GO TO A MAID CAFE.

Getting your point to people is a lot easier when you aren't insulting them or their intelligence. Some of the people who were arguing against you were making valid points (granted, not with solid proof, but not the 'NO YOU" you accused them of)

Personally, I'd like to volunteer for the Maid Cafe. I wanted to do it last year, but I had a lot on my plate Fanime weekend. (and when I say a lot, I mean having to leave San Jose to drive up to Oakland or SF and back every day during random points. however, none of that this year \o/) I like waitressing, and think it would be a fun way to volunteer at Fanime while getting to wear a cute costume, and would be willing to go through some training before the con to prepare for the event, as well as willing to do my best during the event to make sure that I don't screw up in some way and that the people I interact with are happy. However, if it's going to be run with such high expectations of mere volunteers who are themselves just con goers out for a good time, I see this as being a lot less fun and a lot more grudging work for everyone involved.

But this is being realistic. Volunteer work is hard and takes quite a bit of commitment. Sure it'll be fun, but it doesn't change that there's a lot of hardwork in what you do. If people don't want to dedicate the time and try to actually learn, then it's probably best that they don't. But if they do want to do it and have the mentallity to learn and what not, then they can have a great time.

[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)?

[PyronIkari]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.