General
The dinner coop operates on a 3 week cycle (Sunday- Thurs). There are
15 cooking slots, and typically, every member cooks once in each cycle.
Each member is only charged for the dinners they attend. The charge is
only an equal share of the cost of the ingredients (among the attendees).
Attendance varies from once in two weeks to three times a week. Typically
4-6 people will sign up for dinner.
Important email addresses are:
dinner-coop@cs.cmu.edu - general distribution
dinner-coop-treasurer@cs.cmu.edu - expense reporting
Scheduling
Typically, one schedule is made for each semester
and much teeth gnashing
is involved in ensuring that the time constraints of all members can
be met. The schedule is posted on the mailing list and you can be ensured
that the dates you are scheduled to cook will not changed unless you request
them to be changed. For people in CS/RI, an up-to-date schedule can be found
in /afs/cs/usr/robd/www/dinnercoop/Schedule.
If you can't get to the
schedule, send mail to me and I will send it to you.
Announcing Dinner
5 days before a you are supposed to cook, you will get an automatically
generated piece of mail warning you that you are scheduled to cook. Send
your dinner announcment at least 3 days before the date that you cook to
dinner-coop@cs.cmu.edu. A typical dinner announcement might look like this:
From: Jane Cooper
To: Dinner-Coop@cs.cmu.edu
Subject: Dinner Nov 10, 1992
Date : Nov 6, 1992
I will be cooking a Gerbo-Cimmerian meal this thursday at 7:30pm.
Fresh Grsuhsung with Choola Endives
Hearty pig knuckle soup
Baked cormorrants in a tamarind sauce
Old fashioned Soybean pie
Please let me know by Tuesday at noon if you'd like to come.
-JC
Here's some actual recent menus.
Dinner is usually at the time advertised (give or take 15 mins) and most
guests leave soon after they eat. Most cook start their dinners between
6:30 and 8.
You should probably mention what meats your main dishes contain, since
there are often a members who avoid pork or red meat. Also indicate if
you are flexible and can provide a meat-modified corner for them.
Acknowledging Responses
The cook should send an acknowledgement to the people who respond to the
announcement at least a day in advance of the dinner. The cook
should be ready to take 6 people from the coop. If more than 6 people
sign up, then the cook might close the dinner by sending mail to the coop list.
If less than 3 people sign up, the cook has the perogative of cancelling
the dinner (without having to make it up). The six person minimum is a
strong suggestion but not an absolute must. A cook may have an unlimited
number of personal guests (non-coop members) but they are not to be counted
in the 6 person limit. Sometimes, coop members will sign up and say that
they would like to bring a non-member. It is up to the cook to decide if
s/he wants to entertain these people.
Moving or Cancelling a Dinner
The only reason to cancel a dinner should be because not enough people
signed up. If less that 3 people sign up, the cook can cancel.
If you know in advance that you'll be away when you are scheduled to
cook, please reschedule your meal. Rescheduling allows other people to use
your now-empty date.
If you know well in advance, have a look at the
schedule,
choose a slot that is free, and then
send me (that's khaigh@cs.cmu.edu) mail.
If something comes up just a couple of days before the meal, then send a
notice to the mailing list saying that you are moving the dinner to another
date. Remember Fridays and Saturdays are usually free and they are good days
to make up dinners. Please try and move the dinner date before your
scheduled date and not after -- that way someone else can use your slot.
Reporting Expenses
After the meal, you should send mail to dinner-coop-treasurer@cs.cmu.edu
reporting how much the ingredients cost and who attended. The treasurer
will periodically send out bills to tell people who owes who how much.
Please follow the format suggested by the treasurer to report the expenses.
Here is the detailed description of the
bill format. In brief, it is:
Subject: Expenses, dinner May 19, 1994
---
/*
Cook: John
Cost: $32.12
Date: Monday.19.5.94
Attendees: 5
1 guest of john
Sanjiv
Sonia
Arthur
*/
If you're interested, here are some bills that
were sent to me at the end of the billing cycle; they show stats on
how much we ate & cooked and how much we owe whom.
Administration
Our general policy is that we take new people on a privisional basis. They
join on a trial basis and do not cook for a month. At the end of this, if
they want to be a part of the coop, they become full members. The tone of the
coop is pretty relaxed- there is very little policing. If someone lapses by
not cooking for a while, we gently ask them if they still want to
participate. Occasionally, if someone hasn't posted a meal announcement, they
will get mail from another automated program that will look like mail from me
asking them if there was some problem with the Remind program.
Karen