MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

DMcCunney · 01-18-2017, 02:05 PM

I spent last Thursday through yesterday in Boston, attending Arisia 2017, a hobbyist convention devoted to science fiction and fantasy.

In the past, I've been one of those who dealt with the hotel on behalf of the convention. For the past few years I've just been on Programming. But this year, the chap running the Ops division was short handed - a key staffer (who is an old friend) was hospitalized with kidney stones when he was supposed to be working the Ops desk. The guy running Ops is an old friend I've worked with before, so I volunteered to lend a hand while things got straightened out.

At one point, a young woman came to Ops needing to get a key to a hotel space that would be showing Anime. Ops has those keys, and was the place to come to. There's a log book you use to sign out keys with date and time, and a place to note when the key is returned.

I locate the correct key, hand it to her, and give her the logbook to sign it out.

"I'm sorry, but I'm an observant Jew and I'm not allowed to write on Shabbos."

WTF? I'm well aware of Shabbos restrictions, and have occasionally been Shabbos goy at functions like this to do things people need but aren't allowed to do themselves during Shabbos. Those things mostly involve use of technology, like electronic key cards to get into hotel rooms, or elevators.

This is the first time I've been told someone can't use pen and paper. I wrote the log entry and forged her signature, since the point was the record, but I was quite bemused. An old Jewish friend said "Nine Jews, ten opinions", and this is especially the case when the question is "What constitutes work you aren't supposed to do during Shabbos?", but this was...different...

I generally expect functions like this to produce at least one WTF? moment, and that was this one's.
______
Dennis

01-18-2017, 02:05 PM	#29448
DMcCunney New York Editor Posts: 6,384 Karma: 16540415 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: PalmTX, Pocket eDGe, Alcatel Fierce 4, RCA Viking Pro 10, Nexus 7	"I'm not allowed to write on Shabbos" I spent last Thursday through yesterday in Boston, attending Arisia 2017, a hobbyist convention devoted to science fiction and fantasy. In the past, I've been one of those who dealt with the hotel on behalf of the convention. For the past few years I've just been on Programming. But this year, the chap running the Ops division was short handed - a key staffer (who is an old friend) was hospitalized with kidney stones when he was supposed to be working the Ops desk. The guy running Ops is an old friend I've worked with before, so I volunteered to lend a hand while things got straightened out. At one point, a young woman came to Ops needing to get a key to a hotel space that would be showing Anime. Ops has those keys, and was the place to come to. There's a log book you use to sign out keys with date and time, and a place to note when the key is returned. I locate the correct key, hand it to her, and give her the logbook to sign it out. "I'm sorry, but I'm an observant Jew and I'm not allowed to write on Shabbos." WTF? I'm well aware of Shabbos restrictions, and have occasionally been Shabbos goy at functions like this to do things people need but aren't allowed to do themselves during Shabbos. Those things mostly involve use of technology, like electronic key cards to get into hotel rooms, or elevators. This is the first time I've been told someone can't use pen and paper. I wrote the log entry and forged her signature, since the point was the record, but I was quite bemused. An old Jewish friend said "Nine Jews, ten opinions", and this is especially the case when the question is "What constitutes work you aren't supposed to do during Shabbos?", but this was...different... I generally expect functions like this to produce at least one WTF? moment, and that was this one's. ______ Dennis Last edited by DMcCunney; 01-18-2017 at 02:20 PM.