[JoMar]

Originally Posted by Jazuela

If instructors offered classes in a series like they do at community colleges and adult ed at public schools, instead of a "show up and learn something new" it could work a lot smoother. Sign up before the series starts. When you sign up you are reserving your spot in advance. Once all the slots are taken up, the opportunity is closed, and no one else can sign up. You make people pay a nominal fee - perhaps just $5 for the series. Reasoning: most people, when offered a series of things for free, are not likely to show up, thus depriving someone of a spot that they would have gladly taken. If you have to pay for the privilege, it has value, and you're more likely to respect the privilege you were granted.

If an instructor is teaching abstract art, a 4-class session, once a week for four weeks, every Tuesday from 3pm-4:15pm starting February whateverth. $5 reserves all four classes, once the 20 seats have been filled, the sign-up sheet is removed. If there are still slots available, walk-ins are allowed beginning at 2:45, and ending promptly at 3, for $5 per walk-in.

This covers materials and the instructor's cost of providing the class in the first place. Any books or demonstrations, film, spreadsheets, etc - it's just covering those costs. And if it turns out the nominal fee ends up with a profit, she can return it by preparing a snack on the last day of the series, thus using up any extra she might otherwise have kept.

You might want to rethink your plans, all the stuff that irritates you does happen here. If you don't want to wait then you need to find activities that aren't that popular. We have lived here for 5 years and have adjusted schedules when it gets busy...which means we go to dinner at 4:30, play golf later in the day, find activities outside the bubble etc. For many, this place is their vacation and they treat it like that.