Have you ever received an invitation to a party
with R.S.V.P. printed at the bottom of them, or even on another piece
of paper, with a phone number or address next to it? Did you ever
call the phone number or write the person to let them know if you
were coming or not? If not, then you’ve just put your inviter
into what I call R.S.V.P. Hell.
R.S.V.P. Hell is that time right before a party
when the host/hostess needs to know how many people are attending
but hasn’t heard from everyone about whether they will attend.
Without knowing a specific number or at least an estimate, the host
is left with a difficult decision to make: to either set up enough
food and seating for the people who did respond and leave others
who show up standing and starving, or to set up enough for everyone
that did and didn’t respond and risk possibly wasting money
if someone doesn’t show.
