Good Timing

Just a quick and boring side note about work; a week or two back I had to work two consecutive weddings, which can be a marathon of endurance, especially when guests linger long after the fact. For the record, they almost always linger long after the fact, and who can blame them? It's a wedding, the happiest day of the young people's lives, and mom and dad shelled out the big bucks to celebrate the day. Who's going to rush them along?

For the workers at the Inn, however, all we want to do is go home. This fact is exacerbated by the knowledge that even after the last guest has departed, our work is not even close to being done. That's why we want the guests to take their time and enjoy, but it sure can be painful when they stick around for another hour or so.

Which brings me to the past weddings we worked. In both cases the guests left right at the anointed hour, which is unheard of. There were circumstances the encouraged a timely departure. In one wedding, the bride and groom were fitness buffs and the final act of the wedding ceremony was a bike ride around lawn. To view this activity all of the guests got up and stood around the grass to watch and exhort the happy young couple, which was fun to watch. Since they were all standing and the wedding was basically over, the guests decided to leave the premises and either go to their rooms or hit the town for more drinks. This, as you can imagine, was A-okay by us.

In the other wedding, there were several young children in attendance, and as the reception wound down they all decided to join in the fun and help us break down the room. To accomplish this they went around to all of the tables and started gathering together glasses, silverware, and napkins. The parents were all happy that they were entertaining themselves, and we were more than amenable to the fact that they were moving things along. A win-win situation.

There was still a lot of work to be done, but all in all we got out a lot earlier than usual, and I sure do love when that happens.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Nick Wright for the pic.