This email is going to all those who RSVP'd for the Tokyo Sushi today. It will also be posted on the message board.

It was a REAL EMBARRASSMENT to the Albany Sushi Meetup group and to me personally that half of you chose to IGNORE your RSVP's and just not show up, or canceled within 24 hours of the event. You know who you are and now so do I. To the rest of you, the ones who actually DID show up, thank you. I heard it was great. I wish I could have come but a wedding took precedence and I changed my RSVP LAST WEEK.

Will Phan of the Tokyo Steakhouse bought and prepared food for 35 people. ONLY 17 SHOWED UP. Will is the man who put together the 4 table Hibachi party last Fall that everyone enjoyed. Thank God we showed up for that one. He was very upset at us for the additional cost to the restaurant for the purchase of the specialty items he had planned for us.

Changing your RSVP within 24 hours of the event is as bad as ignoring it completely. One change came in 21 minutes before the event started. Another 2 were 63 and 65 minutes before. One was 98 minutes before and the others were between 10 and 22 hours before the event. WILL BOUGHT THE FOOD FRIDAY BASED ON THE NUMBERS I GAVE HIM. I got those numbers from the Meetup site.

To those of you who canceled within 24 hours and those who just failed to show up, any RSVP you make for future events will be taken off the list unless you call the restaurant and pre-pay for the event, OR send me a check that I will cash and hold for your payment. Once the restaurant confirms payment or your check clears, your RSVP will be secured. This will continue until I can be assured that you will honor future commitments. This could take a while. If this is not acceptable, then please feel free to quit and form your own group. (I'm sure that group wouldn't last long). Your actions make it difficult for the rest of us to gain ANY favor with the restaurants we STIFF LIKE WE JUST DID TO THE TOKYO STEAKHOUSE. It ruins it for the rest of our 235 members. From this point forward, 48 hours is the cutoff for changing RSVP's. This will give me time to confirm the numbers with the restaurant and give the restaurant time to buy the APPROPRIATE amount of food.

I hope we can keep this from EVER happening again.

Ed

I appreciate your comments and totally agree that it is very hard to gain favor with restaurants if many of the people who RSVPed yes do not show up for the event or, as you say, changed their yes to a no within 24 hours of the event. I suspect that part of problem today was the event was in the middle of the day on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

That being said, I have serious problems with your reaction and with your proposed solution to what happened today. Being one of the people that changed my RSVP from yes to no (the night before the event) I have a real problem with your proposal that my (and the others) RSVPs will no longer be accepted until you receive a check or until we pre-pay for the event. This is not very workable and is, in my opinion, simply punitive and does not go to the root of the problem nor provide a workable solution.

First, part of the problem is that the Sushi meetups get filled up so quickly. I believe many people (including myself) feel the need to RSVP yes as soon as the meetup is announced in order to reserve a spot. But since the dates are announced so far in advance, I suspect that many people end up having other things come up as the date gets closer and then wish to change their mind about attending. One solution is to simple allow more people to attend each time so that there is less pressure to RSVP so quickly. (As to expanding the numbers, going to a non-buffet system should enable us to have more people attend without disrupting the restaurant's whole pal for the night)


Second, there was no posting or other indication that changing an RSVP within 24 hours was not acceptable. Quite frankly, I had no idea that the food was purchased on Friday and that changing my RSVP would cause a problem in that regard.. Your suggestion of a 48 hour cut off for changing an RSVP is very good one and should solve many of the issues regarding the restaurant buying food ahead of time. Most of the people that attend these events are good people who have no wish to cause problems so I am sure they would --if properly advised -- make sure to change their RSVP prior to the 48 hour cut off. If someone fails to abide by the new 48 hour rule then I think asking for advance payment makes more sense.

Third, as I mentioned above, getting away from the pre-ordered buffet system will address many of these problems. Clearly, when a buffet is pre-ordered, then not-having people show up is a real cause for the concerns you've raised. If, on the other hand, folks show up and order off the menu, this avoids these problems entirely. The restaurant still gets lots of business from us but we are not causing problems if not everyone shows up.

Finally, the purpose of this and other meetups is to have fun and not feel stress or pressure if for some reason we wanted to attend an event but have to change our plans. In short, I think we need to adjust the rules (as suggested above) so that we all can feel excited and happy about attending the event.

Again thanks for you efforts. I am sorry that my changing my mind caused problems but I hope that the above ideas help make things run more smoothly in the future.

Thanks.

Gary

In all fairness we went to a buffet style beause our numbers were so large that having 30 plus people ordering various foods from a menu was a bit much for one, two or even three chefs to prepare, especially given the fact that the counter space is also small.

Buffet style took onus off of the guest so they wouldnt have to make tough choices. It also helped to ensure that we werent waiting 30-45+ minutes for our food before we could even eat. It took onus off of the restaurant a bit in that they're able to prepare a special variety that they know sushi lovers will love and enjoy.

I am personally in favor or the buffet style that's been suggested .. as it also turns out to be cheaper among the additional reasons (mentioned above). I would personally feel it to be unfair that I (or any other guest who actually decides to honor their committments) would have to pay more and wait longer as some sort of punishment because others cant seem to get to where they're supposed to be when they say they're supposed to be there.

Also, deterring from buffet style wouldnt be the answer either when having 30 people RSVP for dinner style, there you have 30 seats ... and only 17 of them are filled. The restaurant looks silly and they lose valuable space for paying customers. With all due respect, how is that the answer?

To begin with, I think what was touched on is a good idea ... there should be a 48 hour cutoff point. Anyone cancelling after that would have to pay the obligatory fee. No exceptions.

I know if it were me ... THAT would spur me to make sure I was where I was supposed to be ... when I said I was going to be there.