I've missed you guys! :D

[DonutGoddess]

Hello everyone!

Sorry I've been away. Back in December I quit my last job. Just couldn't take it any more. Done with retail and especially the wholesale business. It wasn't all bad. I managed to avoid the busiest time of year and the grief of the one man show that always seemed to accompany it. Within 2 weeks I'd lined up another job (tip from a friend on Foursquare of all places.) I am now an operator for a resort at an undisclosed location. Of course we don't have any SG but after 3 mos I've already seen some pretty interesting things and have interesting stories to tell.

[hobie16]

Of course we don't have any SG but after 3 mos I've already seen some pretty interesting things and have interesting stories to tell.

Well... :D:

[darph nader]

Well... :D:

We're waiting. (goes and grabs some cold ones)

[GaTechGal]

Ok. I've got me beer and popcorn. Dish away...

[DonutGoddess]

We've got an influx of guests for Passover and apparently they aren't supposed to use things electrical or mechanical for the holidays. We've changed the locks to key locks. We've put attendants in the elevators so they don't have to touch the buttons if they don't want to use the stairs. They ask for wake-up calls but won't answer because they aren't supposed to use the phone. Last night we get a call stating that the guest wants someone to come turn their lights off at a certain time. Why have lights on in the first place if you aren't supposed to be using anything electrical? (other than we don't want you to burn down the place with candles.) All of this isn't very interesting, I admit, but here's the kicker... We have an increased number of clogged toilet complaints because they won't flush the toilet! How crazy is that? I wonder what they do when they stay home for the holiday?

[hobie16]

You should set up an eruv around the property. It would simplify things for the guests and save you some time and money.

[BRWombat]

Hadn't heard the not-flushing thing, but the rest is not a surprise. In Israel you'll find, every Sabbath and holy days, that hotels with elevators will have one running on a Shabbat schedule: it stops at every floor on the way up and on the way down. No button-pushing or attendant needed.

It comes from modern interpretations of the ancient proscription against doing work on the Sabbath. When electrical devices came along, rabbis were called upon to decide whether operating them constituted work. The nearest equivalent they could see in the law is building a fire -- after all, in some sense when you throw a switch you're creating a spark -- and building a fire is a no-no, so operating electrical stuff is also.

Oh, and welcome back, DG!

[hobie16]

No sparks!! That'll create a fire.

[Goofyernmost]

That is more along the line of the Orthodox part of Judaism. When I was in Vietnam, I had an Orthodox roommate. He pre-tore his toilet paper before the sabbath. But they had a lot of others that were kind of ignored that I asked him about a couple of times and he actually called his Rabbi to find out if it was alright. One was that he unscrewed the light bulb from his refrigerator because the light going on constituted work. So, I asked in all sincerity how it was OK to open the door to the refrigerator to get his Kosher food out. Vietnam was a hot, hot place and every time you opened the door the compressor would kick on to recool the air. Why was that not creating work? The Rabbi couldn't explain why, but just told him it was OK.

[hobie16]

It's something that only Father Guiddo Sarducci can explain.