The Carpet Strikes Again

Not really the carpet. Carpet remnants, and surplus chairs and in the social hall not in the worship room.

Today  RantWoman entered the worship room, sank her feet into the cushiony softness, and thought about how much harder she would have to work to make a clattery racket than when the floor was bare plywood. RantWoman has mixed feelings about new acoustics; the bare plywood fosters echoes and resonance, but RantWoman is mostly already used to and grateful for new carpet in the worship room. .

Another worshipper equivocates about visuals. He commented about the grain of the wood and occasional imperfections covered by some kind of glue or spackle. RantWoman also acknowledges some interest in, say just finishing the plywood.

But now there is carpet and carpet we will live with and be grateful for--in the Worship Room.

In the social hall, on the other hand carpet remnants linger. along with what some have determined to be an oversupply of upholstered chairs we do not have space to store, or at least an oversupply for all except the largest memorials or weddings. The carpet remnants  have landed on one of our wonderful wooden bench  / storage areas. Unfortunately, they have landed on the one that is closer to where Adult Religious Education Meets. RantWoman really LIKES sitting on that bench for Adult Ed. RantWoman would like to do this EXCEPT that this week the wooden bench was both covered with rolled up carpet leftovers and blocked by stacks of surplus chairs roped together with caution tape..

And yes, as sometimes occurs, Friends arrive at meeting with their hearts and souls already full and their fuses short about fun new inconveniences! Here almost verbatim is the gentlest email RantWoman can manage about actually solving the problem.

Hi Friends,

Whose idea was it to leave a big ugly unwelcoming row of stacked chairs taped together with caution tape in the middle of the social hall where people sit during Adult Education?.

May we PLEASE as quickly as possible agree to put the carpet remnants
on the other wooden bench and figure out other options for the chairs.
I would be glad to suggest places to put the chairs where I think they
would be out of the way but still usable.

I actually think we should consider keeping SOME of the chairs others
want to give away and I do not even know who to talk to about this.

I really like sitting on the wooden benches. I find the hard seat
and wall comfortable. The looking across the room is easier on my
wonky eyes than sitting in a group. Sitting on the benches means I can
leave space close to speakers for people who have worse hearing issues
than I do and I can still hear from where I sit.

The upholstered chairs are considerably more comfortable than the folding
chairs. Last week the chairs were unbound and about 6 wound up being
used by latecomers to Adult Ed. It was possible to move the carpet
remnants to the other bench so I could sit in my preferred location.
Usually when I sit on that bench by the time Adult Ed ends, other
people are sitting there too. And although the number of latecomers
for the QuEST presentation was greater than usual several latecomers
also usually come.

I have no idea yet who made the decision to stack the chairs the
unwelcoming way they were stacked this week. I have no idea whether
anyone from Adult Religious education committee was consulted about
the chair stacking, and I would like to HOPE that committee members
would be observant enough of people's historical sitting preferences
to suggest alternatives. However,perhaps if we start with the point
that I DO NOT apologize for making an issue of the problem this week,
we can also get to better options quickly.
Thank you all in advance for help about this.

In the Light

(RantWoman)