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Sorry guys! I forgot to mention, the try-out will end at approximately 12:45, in case any of you need to schedule around this.

And again, good luck!

~ Jun

[February 18th, 2012]

Hey lovely ladies,

Get ready, because we're about to begin the new year with our first annual try-outs! This year, we will be holding our try-outs in two locations. The first one will take place in San Francisco Japantown during AOD 2012, and the rest will be held at the SJCC where FanimeCon is held.

Our first meeting will be on February 18th, 2012 at promptly 10:00am during AOD. It is very important that you show up on time, as we will not repeat any of the information that we offer during the try-out, and it is asked that you choose to go to only one try-out, as attending more than one will not aid in our decision for new recruits.

It will take place in the court-yard in front of Shabu-sen. Here is the address.

1726 Buchanan St
(between Post St & Sutter St)
San Francisco, CA 94115

What to expect:
The try-outs are roughly like a short course on what a maid cafe is, what we do at Fanimaid Cafe, and basic training on tasks we expect our maids to be able to fulfill. Please dress to impress to show off your personal style, and as it will be at AOD, we are okay with you being in cosplay during the try-outs if you don't want to change your clothing. Prepare a pen and a notebook in case you would like to take notes and answers to any questions you may have.

Please hold any questions regarding hours, uniforms, and what have you for the try-out, as we usually go over everything you need to know. We will release more try-out dates scheduled for March as we go, so keep your eyes peeled!

As for veteran maids, please expect emails regarding your invitations back to Fanimaid Cafe 2012 sometime this week. Not all maids will be invited back this year, as our roster has become much larger than it had been the previous years, and we want to be able to give everyone a fair chance. But everyone is welcome to try-out again if they wish to do so.

Good luck, everyone! We at Fanimaid Cafe are very excited to get to know our new additions to our Fanimaid Cafe family. Please don't be shy to make friends and ask us questions, as we have a very friendly and supportive environment for our girls, and many of us have build lasting friendships from our experience at Fanimaid.

Much love,
Your Fanimaid Cafe Head, Jun

Thanks for all the supportive testimonials, girls!

To answer some of the questions in this thread, I will first address uniforms. Uniforms are discussed at the try-outs, and approvals are discussed after recruits have passed. From then on, recruits send in their designs/product images to be approved by staff, after the uniforms they've chosen meet our requirements and are considered tasteful.

For personality, at Fanimaid Cafe, we try to keep it mostly a classic moe-kei type scene, as many attendees have never been to a cafe or are unfamiliar with different character-types, Fanimaid Cafe mostly offers the experience as an introduction to what a maid cafe is. However! Many of our girls vary in personality. We've got a very diverse group here. And since our environment at Fanimaid Cafe is a little more chill than what a commercial maid cafe is, here in America, many of our patrons and fellow maids encourage you to let your own personality shine when working with us.

And as for age... 20 is in no way old! XD

Hope that helps!

- Jun
Head of Fanimaid Cafe 2012

Happy New Year, girls! Are you excited for FanimeCon 2012?!

Us Fanimaid Cafe staff are working hard to bring us upon a wonderful new year for all you fans, maids, and general attendees to enjoy! We are currently working on setting up to send out official try-out dates to all of you, but unfortunately, they are somewhat late due to some unforeseen circumstances. We ask that everyone could be kind and patient as we try our best to get these dates out to you.

As for veteran maids, we will also be sending out acceptance emails for girls who are invited back to Fanimaid Cafe from the previous year sometime this week. Those who are invited back are not required to attend the try-outs, but are encouraged to stop by and help out our new recruits!

If you wish to try-out, please refer to the general requirements listed on this page: http://www.fanime.com/exhibits/fanimaid-cafe/tryout-information/

If you wish to be put on the Fanimaid 2012 mailing list, please email maidcafe@fanime.com All updates will be archived in posts on this thread, so keep your eyes peeled for updates.

We will be sending out information on the first try-out date within this week, so stay tuned!

- Jun
Head of Fanimaid Cafe, 2012

Greetings everyone!

Fanimaid Cafe has their final headcount of maids prepared for 2011, and we are officially clearing the mailing list for this year! Maids who have passed this year will receive a final confirmation email almost immediately after this announcement.

Meaning, for those who did not arrive at a try-out date or has not made it to the final headcount will not be receiving any emails from Fanimaid Cafe after this. This includes veteran maids who have not responded to their invitation back into Fanimaid Cafe. If you are a veteran maid that has participated in the previous years and received invitations back, and are still interested in participating in 2011, please email us to let us know. For those who did not make it, we apologize for the inconvenience, and we hope to see you at FanimeCon!

Thanks to everyone for their support thusfar, and congratulations to our new maids of Fanimaid Cafe 2011!

- Jun, Head of Fanimaid

[April 10, 2011]

Hello girls!

As the turn out was rather small this past meeting, we will be holding a last-minute try-out on April 10, 2011!!! Please inform anyone that is interested in joining Fanimaid Cafe.

Hope to see you guys there!

- Jun

Hi, regarding the volunteer hours, hopefully I can offer a simple explanation that will answer your questions thusfar.

You do need to purchase your own badge. It is one of the requirements that you are able to provide your own registration. When you pick up your badge, you sign up to be a volunteer at the con itself to receive a volunteer badge.

You need a general total of 20 hours to fully reimburse a weekend-badge, and 5 hours for a day badge. There are no partial reimbursements. You can fulfill this depending on how many hours you offer to the cafe, this includes in and out of the convention.

However, as the maid cafe is only open from 11AM-6PM for two days, and shifts are typically 2-4 hours (depending on how you are scheduled) you generally do not get enough hours for a reimbursement. What other volunteers do is sign up for another department seeking volunteers to fulfill the total hour requirements. Most maids that I've recruited in the past generally don't bother becoming volunteers, however.

A maid can receive up to approximately 8-17 hours. 4 hours for try-outs (this only applies if you pass), 2 hours for the at-con meeting, 2 hours for 2-hr shifts, 4 hours for 4-hr shifts, 1 hour for each performance, and etc. It adds up, but sometimes maids stick around and contribute more than we ask for.

To most, it isn't really so much about "what we are getting back", but from my experience, most girls come for the experience of being a maid and being a part of Fanimaid Cafe. I don't mean to say that we're just people looking for free labor, because that isn't it at all. We do this because it's fun, provides joy and a sense of accomplishment for staff, our maid volunteers, and our customers. We all just simply work hard every year, and ultimately, have lots and lots of fun.

We do discuss volunteer hours at try-outs, and feel free to ask us any questions. Be sure to read back into past updates and information posted to make sure your question wasn't already answered.

Hope that helps!

- Jun

Hi, I have one question, what are the tryouts going to be like? I didn't see any information on what the actual tryouts are going to consist of, and if it was already said somewhere, I'm very sorry ><

Hi! Please refer to "What to expect" on the first update on try-outs. It's about half a page above you~ Hope that helps.

[this Sunday]

Hello girls!

Just a reminder that try outs will be this Sunday on the 13th. We will be meeting in the Hilton of the San Jose Convention Center (Where FanimeCon takes place) and the try-outs will be right outside the Santa Clara room. We will begin at 11AM and end at 3PM.

Please do NOT be late! It is necessary to be there the entire duration, as much of basic information is being taught at the beginning of the try-outs themselves. It is advised to bring a notepad and a pen.

For more information regarding the cafe, feel free to refer to this thread for general information and archives of previous updates. I advise to have read all major updates before trying out. And feel free to ask any legitimate questions that have not already been answered, and we will do the best of our ability to answer you~

Good luck, everyone! I hope to see you there! ♥

- Jun

So........I know I can make it to a "try-out" but what day(s) of the week can we expect the "meetings" to be ??? We cannot really make a real commitment without knowing when this meetings will be  ;)

As Unyuu has kindly pointed out, the dates were actually posted a couple of posts before yours. Hope that helps!

[February 13, 2011]

Greetings!

I apologize for the delay, and if people have been wondering about updates! Now that we have a sufficient amount of volunteers expressing interest, it is time to announce our try-out dates!

Our current try-out dates are February 13, 2011 and March 12, 2011. The meeting will begin at 11:00am and end at approximately 3:00pm, and take place in the San Jose Convention Center, right outside the Santa Clara room in the Hilton.

EDIT: Also please attend only ONE try-out. Attending more than once is prohibited.

It is not too late to sign up for our mailing list, so feel free to email maidcafe@fanime.com if you or any of your friends are interested in becoming a maid and would like to receive information as we go. For those who are interested in joining, but have a valid reason as to why they cannot attend a try-out (like not living in California), email us as we will try to work out a compromise for you around the time try-outs are happening.

What To Expect
You will receive a basic outline of duties and details regarding your job as a Fanimaid, including playing the role as a maid properly, learning phrases, mannerisms, how to wait tables, and etc. Performance details are briefly outlined during the meeting as well. We will also discuss the ideal uniform you must purchase to be a part of Fanimaid Cafe. There will be a quick interview at the end for staff to better get to know you. No work experience or proficiency in Japanese is necessary.

There will be a handful of information, so bring a notebook and pen if possible!

**Please do not purchase a maid uniform until you have passed a try-out and your uniform has been approved by a staff member. This also applies if you are a veteran maid and are planning on purchasing a new uniform.

Once you have passed a try-out, you will receive more detailed information and study materials to train you and teach you to become familiar with your job, plans for events and performances, and sometimes invitations to meet-ups to get to know your fellow Fanimaid Cafe maids. ^^

Please let us know if you have any questions, and we will to the best of our ability answer them as soon as possible. Keep checking back on this thread for updates!

- Jun

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm Jun, head of Fanimaid Cafe.

It's about that time of year again, and we are recruiting maids for Fanimaid Cafe 2011. If you are interested in joining, please email maidcafe@fanime.com. This will add you to the Fanimaid Cafe mailing list for information on what to expect, dates for try outs, meetings, and a short FAQ. Do not worry if you do not get a response right away. As long as you have emailed maidcafe@fanime.com, you have been added to the mailing list.

If you have any specific questions that need special attention that are not answered in the mass-emails, we will try to work with you as soon as possible.

Being a maid at Fanimaid Cafe jobs is a volunteer job, and you will receive volunteer hours with the time you spend with us (including training and meetings) towards reimbursing your badge fees.

You must fit the requirements listed above to join Fanimaid Cafe. Please do not purchase your maid uniform until after you have passed the try-out stage, and have had your uniform approved by a staff member. Purchasing your maid uniform is of your responsibility. (Sorry!)

Try-out dates will be posted very soon. Please expect an update, shortly. If you are a Fanimaid volunteer that would like to insure receiving information right away as they become updated, email maidcafe@fanime.com to add yourself to the mailing list.

Also, if you are a veteran maid, you may receive an invitation back to working with us at Fanimaid Cafe to bypass training stages. If you are invited back and plan on purchasing a new uniform, you must send a product photo or design sketch to staff to have it approved as per usual. If you do NOT receive an invitation back, you must try-out again to join Fanimaid Cafe.

Fanimaid☆LIVE performances will be worked on shortly. If you are considering performing this year, I suggest to begin planning or thinking about what you would like to perform even if you have not tried out yet. Performance line-ups are first come first serve, and filtered by staff members who deem it appropriate.

Thank you! Please expect updates soon.

- Junchan

Thanks again for making the forum badges every year! If you don't find me, know that you can just drop it off at the cafe. :)

Mine
Nick: Junchan-ktkr
Image: http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/ninkyouhime/f8ca57a5f1f4f194562135691f7b4aa9.jpg
Avatar: http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/ninkyouhime/f8ca57a5f1f4f194562135691f7b4aa9.jpg

Mikey
Nick: PyronIkari
Image: http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/ninkyouhime/f99998802c5e31e4173695e9cfec8273.jpg
Avatar: http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/ninkyouhime/mikeysensei.png

Kelly
Nick: Yuni
Image: http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/ninkyouhime/35e747b75e560b1eadc69a3f77d9fa69.jpg
Avatar: http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae293/ninkyouhime/TDMPSLGO_1.jpg

Thanks again!

xoxo,
Jun

Alright. My capable 2nd, Meichan, has sent out a confirmation email tonight.

To those who have received it, congratulations! Expect a ton of follow-up emails from me tomorrow afternoon.


Again, I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates this year. My current job is demanding of both loads of time and energy without access to a computer, let alone internet, so it's been difficult to keep up with things as quickly as I had the year before. Thanks everyone for your patience, and let us anticipate another great year of Fanimaid Cafe.

Mazel Tov!

Hey guys.

I sincerely apologize that we haven't been as active with emails this year. I assure you, there is a very very very good reason as to why and we're trying our best to send out information as soon as possible. Please be patient, and I understand if any of you may be upset.

If things work out without any last-minute catastrophes, I assure you that you can expect a confirmation email tonight. (04-19-10) Only maids that are confirmed will receive an email. Those who did not make it, I apologize. There isn't enough time in the day to organize things any further, this year.

Good luck, girls.

Also, if you email maidcafe@fanime.com and do not receive an immediate response, do not fret. You're automatically put on our mailing list and will be included on our updates. Anyone who fits the basic requirements are welcome to participate in the try-outs.

Hope that helps!

P.S. Another detail to add:

If you have already attended a try-out, please do not try out again! You're welcome to be present at the try-outs, but all volunteers must only try-out and be interviewed once. Thank you!

- Junchan

[Sunday (March 28th, 2010)]

Again, I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates this year, so I hope you guys aren't distraught from all the confusion! I will keep you guys as updated as I possibly can as work progresses, so please bear with our terribly busy schedule.

Just as a reminder, we have a try-out this Sunday (March 28th, 2010) at the San Jose Convention Center, Hilton Side, Santa Clara Room at 9:00am. Please try your best to arrive on-time, and wear something comfortable and flattering! It is also recommended that you bring a notepad and pen for notes. At the try-out, you will listen to a short lecture, practice phrases and bowing, and participate in a short interview with your photo taken (Photos and information are confidential). As many of you know, I will be out of town this weekend, so the try-outs will be temporarily conducted by my second, Mei, Mizuki, and our veteran maid members.

For those who cannot attend this try-out, there has been a last minute try-out scheduled on April 10th, 9:00am at the same room.

As a review, our requirements are that you are at least 16 years of age, biologically female, able to provide your own approved maid uniform and FanimeCon registration. We will interview those interested, and judge upon experience, ability, and overall professional demeanor. We will train briefly in becoming knowledgeable in maid cafes, playing the role of a maid properly, speaking the proper phrases, bowing, and waitressing. It is also important that maids are comfortable sitting down and talking to patrons in conversation, as it is a significant variable in being a maid. Also, Do not purchase a maid uniform for the cafe until you are confirmed!

If you are a volunteer seeking participation, but not in the Bay Area or able to attend meetings: please contact me after I send an email regarding you guys specifically, including those who have already emailed me as I will make a specific effort to include you guys in trying-out via email.

Thank you all for your patience and participation, and I hope to meet you all very soon! Good luck, ladies (and Jerry)!

- Junchan

[It's too subjective and profound to say "girls/guys are like this", because it is both true and untrue.]

I agree with you pyro on the concept of gender not totally being the underlining concept of misunderstandings between people. However in connection to relationships I also concur with your logic. But from my understanding and observations, gender does play a significant role to a certain extent on certain subjects.

Of course just like you said each individual is special because of how different they are. But because of how society is designed gender does matter to a certain level. For at a early age children are reinforced to understand what gender they are and its relevance to the world around them. In this sense gender is very important to ones individuality.

Now the thing is certain subjects can mean certain things depending on how that individual was brought up to think which is then connected back to gender. But then the problem comes if we really ever had to ability to think for ourselves without the boundaries imposed by multiple things such as religion, culture, family, certain bonds, and of course gender.  

Do you not understand that what you said is that, it isn't about gender but environmental influence? It no longer is about gender, but the affects of things treating you a certain way, which may or may not be because of gender. Did you not see how I already addressed this, and stated how this line is disappearing in modern world? You then now deviate from your original point of interactions to pursue this line... just to state you disagree with me.

Actually, what Lunarknight had said in his last post has plenty to do with gender, whereas what you said about people is completely right. On a larger scale, people are people, a step down, people are male and female. On an even smaller scale, people are individuals. It's true that each an every person is unique to an extent, but the extreme majority of people fit into categories, including gender.

Gender, more often than not, is a huge part of an individual's identity. While modern circumstances make things less and less gender-specific, most people are able to say "I am female" and "I am male" as their gender-identity, and whichever gender-identity a person identifies with DOES play a role in society. While people, regardless of gender, can choose to be however they want on a smaller scale... other people in society will act differently according to whichever gender they identify with. For instance, women's clothing and products are often geared towards a female audience, whose builds/physiques and tastes typically match what is put on the market, and the same for men. The way people treat men and women, especially in social environments like say... an office, differ between whichever gender they identify with. They see women walking down the hall, whether they be wearing skirts or pants, the typical person will judge "That person is female". People ultimately judge first on outward appearance. Your sex or gender is typically a huge part of your outward appearance, along with your health, your clothing, and etc.

Growing up, many of us are taught "how to be a girl" or "how to be a boy", and our upbringings are specific to whichever sex we're born with. Along the lines, we either go with it, or think "Hey, that's not me." and are transgender. A person of male sex, can be of a female gender. That person will typically be treated as a transgendered female by society, and a natal female will typically be treated as a natal female by society. It's just how things are, and people will judge upon and treat others based on their gender, even if just a little bit.

This is because, gender is part of who a person is. Even if they're androgynous, people will think about how to treat said person with that factor in mind. If the person seems like a douche, people will treat him/her like a douche. We judge people based on what they project, who they seem to be, when they show up in our lives, and how they behave. In which sense, to many, gender doesn't mean shit and people will be seen as people by some for the most part, but in even a subtle way, their gender does affect how we treat them. Even using terms like "him" or "her" is a treatment specific to gender.

At the end of the day, people are just people. What sex they were born into should not force a person to fit into whatever mold. Whoever they choose to be, including which gender they identify with, is a part of who they are and affects societies view on them. We're intellectual beings that hold less value to "what gender is" than any other animal would, so perhaps there will be a time when people evolve beyond gender, but for now, gender is who we are.

But again, on a small scale, people are not equal to one another and are complete individuals, but on a much larger scale, everyone of the same biological build and equal, period. It's too subjective and profound to say "girls/guys are like this", because it is both true and untrue. People should just get to know people as people. Most people that would find the opposite sex "hard to understand" or "different" to a great extent, typically has little social interaction with them to understand that sexes on our own view don't matter quite as much when we interact with people as individuals.

Shana is a classic, and a staple for most anime fans in this day and age. It's difficult to find a fan that doesn't know Shana.

But most people, including myself, who've watched and enjoyed Shana then... wouldn't be able to stand watching it now, let alone understand why we enjoyed it in the first place. It was good for its time, an introduction of Kugyu tsundere characters, bad aimless plots with set ups we've once loved and have grown bored with over time. The trend is dead, however, but for what it's worth...

Louise is hotter.

Just to inform you, a Maid cafe isn't just targeted towards males. Females and kids go to maid cafes just for the fun of it.

Uhhhhhh, and who said that it was just targeted for males? I'm sure you can read a ton of the recent maid cafe threads and see that the staff even acknowledges that! Heck, where did we even explicitly say that? Nowhere. The Maid Cafe higher ups know this, they've been to maid cafes in Japan, so I have no idea why you feel the need to point it out.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I had no intention of offending anyone. I am not pointing this out to the whole thread, just the OP who seems to get the concept that a Maid cafe is a male central fantasy theme. I guess I'm just a little too late to explain, or should have used quotes to comment the message clearer. Again, my apologies if that sounded like a snooty remark to the staff, it was aimed towards the OP.

Earlier in the thread, staff has stated on several occasions that a reason why a maid cafe is more suitable for FanimeCon is because it's more suitable for everyone, male or female. It was brought up to point out that the demographic for a butler cafe is far more limited to aiming at female fans that are interested in that genre, whether or not guys also attend.

Our entire point in responding to this thread was pretty much about how maid cafes are directed towards everyone. I disagreed that the counterparts are as simple as "maid cafe = for guys, butler cafe = for girls" because that's totally not how it works. It generally is towards the male demographic, but it welcomes girls equally.

Please have more faith in our staff in being very very knowledgeable on the subject.