Ethics on Where to Read Cards

Sophie

Seafra said:
I can stop him from praying in the lobby. Same as I can stop someone from reading the bible (ETA: aloud) in the lobby. Same difference in the eyes of the law.
They don't pray out loud.

I simply don't see the problem. Tarot is as unobtrusive as it comes as an activity. We will indeed have to agree to disagree because I am totally bemused by how you regard tarot. It's an attitude I've never encountered in a hotel manager.
 

Seafra

Fudugazi said:
They don't pray out loud.

Legally that doesn't matter. In the eyes of the law they are praying. Prayer in a public place has legal stipulations.

Maybe it is an American thing. We (the ubiquitous we) Americans are an uptight lot about many things. Even more so where I live.

Personally I was an out-loud activist out to change the world during the Vietnam War era. Now I think it's great that there actually are places that people can read tarot in public and I think my generation helped to create that possibility. Now I'm a manager of a hotel. End of story.

Daughter just came in and is offering me a nice cup of coffeeee. I love coffee and am taking her up on it. Actually she didn't offer but she read this over my shoulder and is laughing now.. :D

BTW she has a degree in Hotel Management Human Resources. She said to quote this line: "Personal hobbies are to be kept personal not public" and that's the official hotel credo -- religious practices fall under hobbies.

I'll be baaaack. ;)
 

direwolf336

Seafra said:
I have stated several times that I am speaking here as the manager of a hotel in this thread and not as a card reader.

Speaking as a card reader I would call the desk of the hotel and ask if they would allow tarot reading in their lobby if such an activity was part of my trip. If they did not I would stay somewhere else.

I understand your view as a manager..I am asking about the owners of the hotel you work at. Have you ever asked them their views on this?
 

Sophie

Enjoy your coffee and your daughter's company :)

At least I learn a LOT on threads like these! (including about American law).
 

Grizabella

The original question was direwolf336's issue about finding a place for a reading for her friend. The majority of posts in this thread, though, have consisted of stomping on Seafra for saying she'd ask someone to stop reading Tarot in the lobby of her hotel, not because she objects to it personally but because of the policies of the hotel owner. We're really getting nowhere and I think we should have long ago redirected the thread back to the original question.

Does anyone have any suggestions for direwolf?
 

le fey

direwolf336 said:
I understand your view as a manager..I am asking about the owners of the hotel you work at. Have you ever asked them their views on this?

Based on her earlier comments, I think she is very clear about where her employers would stand on this scenario.

Businesses aren't there to raise social consciousness, for the most part - they are there to make profit and that does mean appealing to the majority. The business models they use can vary - and certainly other companies choose different criteria, get a different sort of clientele and do very well. But Seafra is there to promote and maintain the standards her employers have set, not to be an activist for Tarot.

As a customer, she'd do the same as most of us - quietly take her business somewhere else. As an employee she is representing her employers choices. And to just toss this out - are you engaging in Tarot activism at your workplace, regardless of how your employer and coworkers feel about it? Because essentially that is what this line of questioning is asking of Seafra.

In terms of suggestions for you in finding a place - the key here is to ask ahead if its a privately owned location... so you call Seafra's hotel, she tells you no and you move onto the next number in the Yellow Pages. Or you find a quiet spot in a park (if it's less windy than it is where I live). Coffee shops are generally amenable - though you (again) may want to ask ahead even if you approach it in a matter of fact way such as asking if they have any corner tables that would be fairly private - they'll still let you know if they'd prefer you just not come at all but you're not directly asking, if it bothers you to have to.

If it is a public spot with tables, I prefer booths over tables for the slight noise buffer and increased visual privacy. If you both sit on the same side of the booth, it can be done very discreetly which the client is likely to prefer.

Other thoughts that have been suggested... Seafra mentioned libraries which I've never thought of but could work nicely especially if it is during non-busy hours.
 

Welf

Seafra:
You don't mess with the ACLU. If I stopped someone from reading a bible in the lobby -- and I kid you not -- both myself and the owner could be sued for interfering with their rights. BUT if they read it ALOUD they are infringing on my rights and I can stop them without worry of legal action.

I kid you not.
Fair enough.. and to be honest, if I were to stay at your hotel, even though I may personally not believe it was right, and I was asked to not read my Tarot cards, I would gracefully pack them away without feelings of malice. Mainly because, I see no point in getting my knickers in a twist and upsetting myself and everyone else by choking up and making a fuss about it...Though admittedly, I have never been asked to put my cards away so far, but I know myself well enough as to what I would do given I was put in such a situation... Life is easier if you can keep it simple I reckon...

But having said that, I live in an area that is almost the opposite to where you are. It's quite alternative, almost hippy like, and lay back and we have plenty of New Age shops as well as Food Coops where they sell all sorts of local and non local organic foods etc... The main town (village), about 17 kilometers away, has a Winter Solstice Festival every year where the main town is closed down for a day and much of the night to traffic etc... Though I'm not Wiccan, I will, like almost everyone else, get dressed up and join the parades and fun... and then spend the night listening to alternate type bands and dancing my head off like a twit.. People come from everywhere just for that, it's fantastically feral, with the Feel Good Pure Living People (as I call them) mixing with the Rough Nuts...

Same as, our local little shops, just a couple of kilometers away, about 12 shops, has a New Age shop where I can get insence, books, candles, Oracle and Tarot cards and the like, at a reasonable price. Our local Post Office also sells good insence and pure oils... Can have a coffee there and talk to whoever lobs up and is looking like they want a chat and enjoy the bushland surrounds...

So, you see, it's not that easy for some of us to understand such restrictions about Tarot cards, hard to see why really..... Good fun for you though, enjoy your coffee with your daughter seafra... : )

Welf
 

direwolf336

Grizabella said:
The original question was direwolf336's issue about finding a place for a reading for her friend. The majority of posts in this thread, though, have consisted of stomping on Seafra for saying she'd ask someone to stop reading Tarot in the lobby of her hotel, not because she objects to it personally but because of the policies of the hotel owner. We're really getting nowhere and I think we should have long ago redirected the thread back to the original question.

Does anyone have any suggestions for direwolf?

I can agree to that. It certainly has gone from a innocent question to a flame of rights and beliefs, including myself in that. I would like to know more on what the general Tarot community thinks about reading in public vs private. Now for me I have been able to use my house for the few I have done, but again I couldn't at the time...but its more about the belief of the average Tarot reader that I am interested in...Though the park is a excellent idea idea for future reference.
 

le fey

Oh one other suggestion - Barnes & Nobles or Borders. They've got a coffee shop, along with scattered seating areas and people all over are reading and discussing every topic under the sun...plus they sell cards and tarot books so we can hope they're past the ooga booga factor already.
 

Welf

Grizabella
The original question was direwolf336's issue about finding a place for a reading for her friend. The majority of posts in this thread, though, have consisted of stomping on Seafra for saying she'd ask someone to stop reading Tarot in the lobby of her hotel, not because she objects to it personally but because of the policies of the hotel owner. We're really getting nowhere and I think we should have long ago redirected the thread back to the original question.

Does anyone have any suggestions for direwolf?
Been an interesting discussion though... a real eye opener as to the care one needs to take as to where to read the cards for someone as seafra's case showed...

But I guess the answer lies way back to some of the original posts... In a park, in the car, in a coffee shop or in a hotel lobby.... If it wasn't a public place like a park, then you would maybe in some instances, have to ask the establishment you wanted to read in, if they don't have any objection to someone doing that... unless you knew ahead that they didn't mind. Or simply take the risk to it being an okay thing to do...

But one of the main concerns in chosing a spot would be I think... privacy and not having someone overhear the reading...

Welf