Eurofurence Information > Feedback
Honest Opinion of EF 16
Dhary Montecore:
--- Quote from: Colifox on 10.09.2010, 23:02:29 ---7. Only negative comment
The only one piece of negative feedback I have is regarding one individual member of Eurofurence staff on the security team. This person was very forceful in pushing me in a direction towards the hotel right at the end of the fursuit parade when I was both tired, dehydrated, and extremely hot and sweaty. I did mention this to two members of staff, and they did indeed correctly point out who I should raise the complaint too. However, I decided not to carry this forward because I think all it came down to was inexperience on this individual’s part in knowing how to handle tired and thirsty fursuiters. Also, I imagine he was actually trying to be helpful in steering me in the correct direction for my own safety, but did so in a less than pleasant way.
My feedback would be therefore, that anyone chaperoning the fursuit walk or acting as a guide needs better education how to act as a handler so as to avoid any discomfort on the fursuiters part. He really was very pushy and hands on.
That’s it really. There are lots more pros and cons I am sure I could go into, but all so trivial, they wouldn’t be worth mentioning. I would however extend my gratitude towards ALL the con staff for making this a particularly enjoyable experience, and certainly the best one I have had since EF12, which was my first ever convention. Thank you all! (sorry this was so long!)
Colifox/Rizzorat
--- End quote ---
Thank you for your feedback here. I promise I will personally see to it that the whole security team will be briefed more closely on that matter. Please accept my sincere apology in the name of that security member.
Mystifur:
--- Quote from: Kimu on 10.09.2010, 21:55:10 ---- there was a slight lack of hanging racks with fans so it wasn't always possible to dry stuff (repair the broken fan or get 1 extra)
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I have to second this. The Fursuit Lounge was terribly small and barely equipped.
How are we supposed to squeeze into a room that is just 450 m² big? ???
And there where only 120 fursuit hanging spaces on the racks, not to mention that only 56 of them were hooked to the nowhere else to be found drying system. And you weren't even allowed to put your head on one of the 11 industrial blowers for drying it. Instead you had to use one of the 55 spaces on the actual head-dryer blowing system. :o
In no way are 9000 Watts of blower power sufficient for any fursuit lounge. Nor was the free and constant supply of 3 sorts of beverages and sweets. ::)
Realy.. we need to work on this, folks.
Other than that, I really appreciated both: Everyones occasional 'thanks for all the work' and everyones constructive criticism. And we're already making plans on how to further improve our fursuit support. ;D
And to everyone of you who feels that certain replies from staff members to your feedback may be a bit bitchy, I ask you to keep three things in mind:
1) Every single person of the planning staff puts several weekends, lots and lots of personal money, and even unpaid holidays into making this convention happen. They do not get any money for this, they even pay their confee, they do not get freebees. The ONLY single thing that keeps them doing this is seeing you guys enjoying the con and saying "Thank you".
That being said, we still want and need your feedback. But try to put it in friendly words and make suggestions on ho to improve things, instead of saying "That sucked, and you have to make it this way" because basically..no.. we don't have to. We're volunteers.
2) When you still feel the need to _demand_ changes: Think twice, if it actually is something that Eurofurence has influence on.
* "The drinks were too expensive" ? Well, how exactly are we supposed to tell the hotel what prices to make.
* "You should have informed me about XY ahead of time." Everyone of us can only work so much to the point we fall unconcious. Thus we channel information. You could have found all the information in the forum ahead of time, and on site in the conbook.
* "The hotel staff was unfriendly !" Despite the fact that 95% of the attendees were very happy with the staff, Eurofurence is not the employer of the hotel staff. If EF-Staff is unfriendly, talk to us. If hotel staff in unfriendly, call for the hotel staff superior.
3) And lastly, and please don't get me wrong here, if we hear the same complaint for the 200th time, that is about something that we really have no influence on or can not be changed for practical reasons, we DO get annoyed, just like you would. We are just humans. And furries to make it worse. And for weeks of non profit volunteer work, all we get is "You do this wrong" over and over again.
So, keep in mind we're volunteers making that happen. And how much of EF would actually be left, if at some point we all decided that doing so much wrong is no fun any more and stopped doing it.
Dhary Montecore:
EF security note: The photo in the last post was done by the team lead for the Fursuits Support Team himself. ;D
Skie:
--- Quote from: gaz_a on 10.09.2010, 16:43:13 ---
--- Quote from: ysegrim on 09.09.2010, 08:34:48 ---
--- Quote from: Jet_der_hund on 09.09.2010, 02:57:15 ---Being charged for tap water was mind blowing to me. I have stayed in more then a few 4 star hotels and even 5 star hotels in the US and never once been charged for tap water.
--- End quote ---
Well, to me, as a German, it is mind blowing that people think they could go to a restaurant and expect to get a drink for free.
It is absolutely unusual to order tap water in a German restaurant except for taking medicines, or for your dog (and fursuits don't count :) ) and even in these cases, I see no reason for a restaurant not to charge you for service, the ice, cleaning, and basically for the time you are blocking their seats for paying customers. I am actually surprised that some people
managed to persuade some patrons ... Personally, I consider this to be begging. I agree, though, that 3.50 is way too much (and that I generally expect a glass of water to be included in certain items, like espresso.)
--- End quote ---
In most countries a restaurant will provide free water as a service to customers who do not want to drink alcohol. In the US you get a glass of water as soon as you sit down, and it's refilled regularly. In the UK in March of this year it became law that any licensed premises must provide free tap water on request.
In reality, very few people are going to walk in and demand just free water, drink it and then leave. It is designed to ensure that people don't drink alcohol because it is cheaper than the alternatives, and so that people dilute their alcohol intake and don't get ill.
--- End quote ---
Yes, Germany is weird like that :)
In Israel you could always ask for free tap water as much as you want in a restaurant. After all you still pay for the food. And that's in a country that has water problems o.O
But hey, we also have service in every restaurant, something that Germany unfortunately lacks (no offense) and it's very rare there.
BTW, water was free at the Ringberg :P
Anyway, this is mostly amuses me it reached Feedback.
Cheetah:
--- Quote from: Skie on 10.09.2010, 23:51:51 ---Yes, Germany is weird like that :)
--- End quote ---
Just a little background on the "no free water" thing: From 1933 till 2001 there was a law in effect in Germany that made it illegal to add free givaways to any kind of purchase or give personal discounts. So giving you a free glass of water would have been illegal. I guess it made sense in 1933, but the world has change a lot since then :) But this law has been in effect for so long, it became a part of the culture. So even today for many store owners it still feels wrong to give you free refills, free water, or even negotiate an individual rebate. They grew up in a corporate environment where this used to be a taboo. Things like these need many years to get out of the system.
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