"May I borrow your brain for a moment?" - Q's &

[Linna Heartbooger]

Yep, a thread to ask questions and do brainstorming on. Hopefully.

Here's one I wanted to ask y'all:

If you heard the expression "hospitality fail - LOL!" ...how would you represent that visually?

Context: I'm lookin' for something I can set up and take a picture of for my blog, here. But I like ideas that are funny but impractical for that purpose.

[wayfriend]

How about? A picture of some guests sitting on a couch while their hosts are patently phubbing them.

[Sorus]

My first thought was something to the effect of a doormat that says 'Go Away' - but I like Wayfriend's idea better because that sort of thing really annoys me.

[Avatar]

I prefer symbolic images, so I quite like the doormat idea actually.

--A

[Savor Dam]

I also lean toward the simplicity and universality of the contradiction of a "Go Away" welcome mat.

Phubbing is real and a frustrating behavior (at least to we who are old-school) in our tech-obsessed culture...but I see plenty of examples in both professional and personal settings where it is accepted by the involved parties. Those people would not consider doing so to be inhospitable...just analogous to the parallel play of two tykes sitting together but each absorbed with their own toys.

The Unwelcome Mat is a better Hospitality Fail.

[Vraith]

I couldn't come up with anything that could be done....my brain kept popping out unhelpful things like:
A bar hosting an AA meeting.
A stripper in a cake at a church social.
Chef [south park] doing BBQ for a KKK picnic.
Bouncer/velvet rope/pole dancing at a kids birthday party.

Not good, not useful. Ah well...

[sgt.null]

work the DMV into the idea Linna.

I don't even drive and hate going there when I have to renew my id.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Okay... so what I meant by "Hospitality Fail!" was that hospitality is being attempted by someone who really genuinely desires to be hospitable, and they mess up. (possibly in a cute and endearing way/... but it can also be not-so cute.)

Like: Once, I was replacing the light bulb over the table just before friends came over... and I DROPPED the glass cover, which shattered... and some of the pieces even fell into the bread dough... (doh!)


Ahh, phubbing...

Yeah; though sometimes I see people moving their context away from being a phubbing-normalized-culture.
Once a lady was like, "is it okay if I text my daughter real quick?"
And I wanted to be like, "You are sooo cool! because you asked."

I am amused by SD's comparison of "people implicitly agreeing to do stuff on their phones while being in the same place" to the "parallel play" of little ones.

Oh, vraith... I am not sure I'm "supposed" to admit to finding all of those funny, but... glad you said 'em.

sarge.. oh, you mean like this? --> www.whatmightycontests.com/2013/08/a-visit-to-dmv.html
Actually, I think I could run with that... what about a photo to a fake invitation to a DMV-themed birthday party? AHAHAHA!

[wayfriend]

Okay... so what I meant by "Hospitality Fail!" was that hospitality is being attempted by someone who really genuinely desires to be hospitable, and they mess up.

That's what I was thinking ... it's not a "fail" unless you're trying, right?
I thought of phubbing because it's topical and because people really don't realize it's inhospitable. However, I think you're looking for something were people *know* (with shock and horror) that they failed. Like when you pull the caserole out of the oven at 8:30 PM to discover you forgot to turn on the oven.

How about something toddler related?

Like you're serving soup to your guests and you find a toy boat in your ladle.

(In my house it would have been a naked barbie.)

[Sorus]

A friend recently visited a farm, and one of the barn cats brought him what he thought was a toy mouse. It wasn't a toy.

[Avatar]

Mine recently brought me his first bird since his accident, so I take it as a sign of improvement. *sigh*

--A

[sgt.null]

sorus - when I was a kid I had a cat who would bring me dead mice all the time. one time he lined up 5 or six on the cellar stairs. one mouse per stair.

the best was the day he left a squirrel. minus the head.

I miss that cat.

[Sorus]

My cats don't go outside, and I've never lived anywhere that had a mouse problem - actually, the last building I lived in supposedly had a rat issue, but the rats must have bothered the cat-less neighbors. Their hunting skills are confined to the occasional bug, though a few years back they did manage to catch a small and unlucky lizard, and left the body in one of my shoes and the head on my pillow. It was either a warning from the Cat Mafia, or the feline equivalent of a fancy mint. Sometimes it's hard to tell with cats.

[Linna Heartbooger]

...they did manage to catch a small and unlucky lizard, and left the body in one of my shoes and the head on my pillow. It was either a warning from the Cat Mafia, or the feline equivalent of a fancy mint.

Love it!

And regarding things ending up disturbingly in places where they aren't supposed to be... yup; the toy boat or naked Barbie in the soup is pretty funny.

[Avatar]

My cats don't go outside...

I can't keep mine inside. They were both habituated to it before they ever turned up at me. Damn strays.

That said, I dunno if I would...not natural for them to be stuck inside. Still...I really hate the hunting. It's worse when they bring in live stuff.

--A

[Sorus]

They adapt pretty quickly. I once adopted a feral who probably hadn't set foot inside a house until he was 4-5 years old. After a short 'this is all new and scary' phase, he was completely content to watch the outside world from his comfy window perch.

My biggest worry on adopting him was that he was a feral adult who had never used a litterbox - he never had any issues there either.

[wayfriend]

My biggest worry on adopting him was that he was a feral adult who had never used a litterbox - he never had any issues there either.

So he had all his 'issues' on the carpet? ew!

[Sorus]

Sigh.

I guess I deserved that. I'm tired. It's been a long week.

[Sorus]

ANYWAY - Back on the subject of well-intended-yet-difficult-to-appreciate gifts, I had an old coworker whose boyfriend surprised her on her birthday with a giant bouquet of flowers that she was flagrantly allergic to. It was rather painful watching her try to assure him that, 'No, they're perfect. I love them,' while sneezing her head off.

[Linna Heartbooger]

long week

ick.. *hug*

It was rather painful watching her try to assure him that, 'No, they're perfect. I love them,' while sneezing her head off.

I watching people engage in the 'little lies' painful often.. no need to have allergies involved! (drat.. was that too serious for this thread?)