YaoiCon 2007: One Server’s Thoughts
Earlier this year, one of the Cafes at YaoiCon invited me to be a server. Normally I write Tybalt stories (they don’t take my others) for the YaoiCon Fiction Anthology, but this year it was cancelled. I’ve gotten used to the idea of contributing to YaoiCon and the invitation was no small compliment, so I accepted. This was my first year as a face, as someone physically involved with the programming and at-con events. Writing is a solitary kind of pursuit, and in earlier years my contribution has really ended at least a month before the convention actually started.
This year was very different, and on the whole I don’t think I mind at all. If staff asks me to return I’ll be more than happy to accept. I loved meeting everyone – other servers, constaff, and guests alike. We had some scheduling difficulties and I only formally served one table, but I got to circulate and meet quite a few people. Everyone (servers included) was exhausted and I presume cranky from the two-hour-plus wait, but they were still some of the most friendliest, most wonderfully enthusiastic people I’ve ever met. Their sheer energy carried me through the night, long after I should have staggered off somewhere quiet and collapsed, and I loved every minute of it. Even dead on my feet, I wished I had more time to meet all of them, and then more time to know them better.
I think that’s why I have to stand up and say this now.
To everyone who came to visit us at the Cafe, if any of you are reading this…
I am profoundly sorry for what we served to you that night. It was an embarrassment and you deserve better.
The Cafe was themed around “Western High Tea“, a light meal at the end of the day. “Tea Service” offered “a selection of finger sandwiches, salad, and dessert”, while “Sweet Service” offered “an assortment of cookies and pastries”. It’s a lovely little idea, and a great way for the con to raise funds for its ever-increasing expenses. I don’t think anyone expected it to live up to an immaculate fine-china fantasy.
That said, we could have tried.
I have been called a stiff-necked elitist on more than one occasion, and I suspect that I will be called this (and other colorful variants) on many more. Still, I can’t ignore the feeling that “Western High Tea” implied something slightly more than packaged cold-cuts, Kraft American Cheese Singles, and basic yellow mustard on grocery-store bread. Even three weeks after the fact, I have trouble with “Sweet Service” meaning “brownie bites, bulk-pack cookies, and two cream puffs”. Something seems fundamentally wrong to me when “Tea Service” consists of bringing out hot water in paper cups for our guests to steep their own teabags.
It seems slightly wrong when teabags or paper cups are involved at all, really, but I will be the first to admit that this is a personal eccentricity.
Again, I don’t suggest that anyone should have expected white-gloved service, Escribá pastries, or Wedgwood china. Even at a restaurant, you can only expect so much for your $10 or $5 order. Ultimately the Cafe is a fundraiser, and you expect to overpay a little for the good of the convention.
At the same time, that’s not the point, is it? You expect the convention to treat you with respect, as more than a source of funds, and, most importantly, as a friend and guest. You should get some kind of token nod to the fantasy that you’re indulging. At least for your half-hour session, we should have made you believe in that “extra dash of decadence.” 
I don’t think it would actually be that hard. We served sandwiches, so let’s take a look at one of those. It starts with a perfectly-grilled slice of chicken breast – cooked-through, but not dry – and tops it with fresh slices of mango and provolone cheese. A light poppyseed dressing adds a little subtlety, along with basil pesto, avocado, red onions, and just a little bit of other greenery. You can choose your bread, brought in fresh from the bakery every morning. Personally I prefer the ciabatta, but it also works wonderfully in lavash, toasted slightly in a press. Instead of bag salad, let’s cut it fresh, and use watermelon instead of canned Mandarin oranges.
Maybe mango isn’t high on your list of favorite fruits, or provolone offends your tastes in cheese. Would that sound better with Asian pears and soft baby Brie? Maybe you’d like to dress it with garlic aioli, grilled onions, and romaine hearts instead.
It wouldn’t be too hard to remake the Sweets Service, either. Off to the left you can see my version: two cinnamon-ginger cookies, a raspberry-almond pastry, a raspberry-brandy truffle chocolate, and a fresh fruit tart.
The cookies snap attentively when you bite them, and the pastries crumble in just the right way. The chocolate is rich and creamy, a wonderful complement to the brandy’s slight, fiery edge.
After all that, I think we could pass on the sheet cake.
Am I dreaming too big? Is this too much to expect? Would the con lose money trying to serve this? I don’t think so. Food is cheap in America, even in the Bay Area. The Cafe could have served anything I’ve mentioned here and come out well in the black. Either of the sandwiches costs $8.55 from a restaurant in downtown San Jose. We could bring that down to fundraiser levels by making two sandwich halves, one with a lightly dressed chicken breast and cheese, the other with fruit and cucumber. I don’t like cucumber much, but it seems to be traditional in tea party sandwiches and we’ll include it anyways.
My Sweets Service ran a little over, coming to $6.50 at the counter. I asked the managers, though, what if I were making the same order for, say, a hundred and fifty people? Well, they could perhaps give me a volume discount for that, and the chocolates come much more affordably in boxes – bringing my guesstimated average to $4.50/person. Removing the chocolate would bring that to $3.50 or so, which seems like a fairly reasonable margin for a fundraiser.
Think about this for a moment, and then think about what we served you.
It’s an embarrassment.
You deserve better.
It’s almost reflexive to blame someone for this, to say that someone was too greedy, that someone should be replaced, but I really have no idea who that might be. I know Gothkitti personally, and he puts more of himself into the con than I ever could. I would be perfectly willing to believe that he would have us serve fresh crème brûlées if he could trust the servers with the blowtorches. The kitchen volunteers worked miracles with what they had. It’s a testament to their work that our Cafe was even as believable as it was. They don’t get nearly the recognition that they deserve. We could blame the hotel, which doesn’t allow outside catering, and I doubt we could actually make our own. Even then, the only hotels in the area that do are either much too small or much too large.
I’m left without a demon, really, without anything to hate or any way to make this better. All I have is this vague and unsettling sense of disappointment, and all I have to offer is this meager apology.
It’s not enough. You deserve better.
Always,
-Adrian
I’m absolutely going to use this as a reference in my post. I’m just hoping that people won’t take it the wrong way. I’m also most certainly going to bring up the Bishounen Auction during my post though, because it’s a MASSIVE fundraiser. I have a really hard time believing that Ycon has all that much trouble raising funds that they can’t offer something a little nicer at the cafe. I’m probably also going to reference Cafe Verhunren. Perhaps I’ll contact a server or manager to see what their menu over the weekend was. ^_^
Hallo!
You hit on several of my complaints over the cafe. I was MASSIVELY disappointed in the food and since we were the last group in our sandwiches were either stale or soggy showing EVERY indication that they had been made hours before….I mean heavens folks at least they could have been wrapped in plastic. And garnished.. I adore onions, some onions, pickles and a piece of lettuce would have made my ham MUCH better XD
And I complained on Y cons forum about the wait.. standing for 2 hours while being yelled at wasn’t my idea of treating a guest well.
But you guys inside were fantastic! And the guys at our table were friendly and a little shy, which is cool since I am VERY shy! hahaha So you guys, did everything you could and in no way owe any of us apologies!
I didn’t go to the cafe, none of my friends poked me to ask so I missed out. Looking at what you’ve put here, they are good suggestions and you are making me tempted to dive into my pile of cookbooks to see if I can find any recipes that might be of help in the future. I know I’m going to try to go to the cafe next year.
Sorry for taking so long to get back to comments; I’ve been gone for the past week and I’m still getting over jetlag.
I’m afraid I don’t know what good recipes will be; hotel contracts are obscenely picky about what they do and don’t allow when their catering departments are concerned. They’re strong profit centers and the hotels tend to be protective of them, even if that means making a few guests unhappy. It may well be that they wouldn’t allow any kind of on-site cooking (cold sandwiches only, premade baked goods).
Still, I’m sure we’ll find some way to make improvements for next year. If not, I’m an area native and I’ll personally figure out a way to take care of my tables. If I get invited back, I’ll look forward to seeing you there!