Pet Peeve O'the Day, II

So Spawn is having a birthday party this weekend.

The rule for party invites at Spawn's school is that you have to invite the whole class if you intend to pass out the invites at school. If you're interested in inviting, oh, just two or three kids, you have to hunt down the addresses of said kids and send the invite via postal service. (I'm not kidding. This rule is in the school handbook.) While I understand that the whole point of that is fairness and minimizing hurt feelings, the idea of inviting 17 children to a six-year-old's party fills me with the quivers.

But I did it, because I am flat out just too lazy to hunt down the addresses, and I know that more than half won't show anyway. I also, at Spawn's behest, invited several other children that we know from church, social venues, and family.

I'm up to 24 invites. For a six-year-old's party. To be held at a bowling alley, because we needed a gender-neutral space that wasn't my home. Because, wow, it's January and we can't get outside. And I have white chairs. And a white couch.

BUT (and this is the peeve part) I have no idea how many to expect because people (parents) don't RSVP like they're asked to do.

Most of my pet peeves have something to do with being raised right, I know, and this is just one more of them. I was raised right. I know that RSVP means to répondez s'il vous plaît, which for the non-French speaking out there means tell me whether or not to expect you. It does not mean call me if you're not coming and if you don't I will otherwise expect you. That would be the designation Regrets Only, which means that I expect you there, dammit, unless you call and tell me otherwise. If I ask for RSVP that means I want to know if you're coming or not. So many people ignore that, a request for a little common courtesy (which is pretty uncommon, come to think of it).

And you can't rely on a bunch of five and six year olds to give you an accurate headcount, because some will say they're coming because they want to come, regardless if they actually can. But five and six year olds don't drive, so if they're coming they have to hitch a ride, and that's up to the parents. So were back to the original complaint. That people don't know what to do with a RSVP.

I think it's pretty stupid to hold your hostess hostage like that.




-- Mox