Mara Vey's pellet: are we seriously doing this at dinner now?

The new enlarged crop cuts out most of the table and the waiter approaching with the bin. It still shows the pellet beside Vey's wineglass. It does not show how long it was there. People have put 'seventeen minutes' and 'less than thirty seconds' on the same still image, and neither number comes from the image or The Borough report.

I called it a pre-bin crop in a message elsewhere. That describes what the photographer chose to publish, not a measured interval.

marginread · #99 It does not show how long it was there.

Event timelines are easy to invent from a single still. A waiter approaching with a bin might have just been called or might have crossed the whole room. The photographer might have seen only the last few seconds. The venue knows its service plan; the public photo does not tell us the response time.

It tells us enough to ask why a bin was not within reach at that kind of dinner.

marginread · #99 less than thirty seconds

I forwarded the 'less than thirty seconds' version yesterday because it came attached to a crop with a timestamp. That timestamp was when the image was posted, not when the pellet left the table. I should have checked. I don't know how long it sat there.

My view about the public abuse doesn't depend on a timer, which is lucky because apparently I was ready to borrow one from anyone who agreed with me.

phasechange · #101

marginread · #99 less than thirty seconds

I don't know how long it sat there.

Thank you. Neither do I. I would have asked a neighbor to move it whether it was there for ten seconds or ten minutes. I don't need to pretend the longer number is true to make that request reasonable.

the seventeen-minute version has grown an entire backstory: vey supposedly waved the pellet at a waiter, announced a new era of bodily freedom, and waited for someone to photograph her. none of that is in the photo. by tonight she'll have written a manifesto on the tablecloth.

velvet_underground · #103 the seventeen-minute version has grown an entire backstory

I never said seventeen minutes. The one thing we know is that she set it by the glass and left it there until a bin arrived. If my guest did that, I would ask them to move it. You people keep chasing invented details because the known detail is awkward for you.

table12 · #100 A waiter approaching with a bin might have just been called

There are now posts insisting the waiter picked the pellet up with bare fingers, and posts insisting Vey put it in the bin herself. I have seen no account that establishes who touched it. That matters to the person working the table. It does not help them to have the internet assign them a hand movement they may never have made.

hallshift · #105

table12 · #100 A waiter approaching with a bin might have just been called

I have seen no account that establishes who touched it.

And you don't know whether the worker felt disgusted, admired Vey, or was mostly annoyed about interrupting service. I have had all three feelings about guests before lunch. The little story in which a nameless waiter exists solely to validate your opinion is getting more offensive than the pellet.

velvet_underground · #103 announced a new era of bodily freedom

The fake announcement about 'bodily freedom' is being quoted as Vey's actual statement now. Her statement was about having no pocket and no bin within reach. If the invented speech is more satisfying to you than what she said, at least stop pretending you're correcting her behavior. You're writing her a personality so you can enjoy attacking it.

smallmercies · #107 Her statement was about having no pocket and no bin within reach.

That statement is why I'm annoyed. She had time to put on a hat with live birds and didn't have time to think about a bag? It doesn't mean she staged a protest. It means a famous person expected somebody else to solve an obvious problem at dinner and then called it a wardrobe issue.

You can take down the fake speech. I still dislike the real choice.

A still photograph cannot tell you whether a device check passed, either. The account we have says this was an intact polymer-coated pellet. It can go in an ordinary bin. Even a nicked coat would shed dry material, not expose live gut bacteria. Please don't use the pixels in a news photo to announce you detected coat damage, and please don't use the same pixels to certify the tablecloth.

marginread · #99 I called it a pre-bin crop

Correction to my own wording: 'pre-bin crop' implied I knew the order of every frame and what the uncropped sequence showed. I do not. The published photograph shows the pellet beside the glass and a waiter approaching with a bin. The account says it remained there until the bin arrived. Neither source supplies a duration or identifies who handled the pellet afterward.

I've edited the earlier caption where I could. Screenshots of it are missing this correction.

marginread · #110

marginread · #99 I called it a pre-bin crop

Neither source supplies a duration

This is what a useful correction looks like. We can still disagree about the table without making up thirty seconds for me and seventeen minutes for ramekin. I don't know why that's so hard for people who spent yesterday calling everyone else irrational.

phasechange · #111 This is what a useful correction looks like.

You want a medal because somebody admitted what a photo cannot show? You're a pompous little courtroom actor, phasechange. Every time a fact turns against you, you pretend the real event is your performance of fairness. The people at that table had an actual dinner. You had a thread and an audience.

A day without a new photograph and the thread still found a way to argue over every second it cannot see. My brother sent me the meme with the velvet rope. We laughed, then had the same bathroom argument as always. Neither of us learned a new fact about Vey from any of this.

The only practical advice I have taken from six pages is coatcheck's: carry a bag. I wish my brother would also let me use the front bathroom.