Serving-Up Stupidity

[Ancient Sim]

The way Sims serve meals is often ridiculous, but one of mine went totally over-the-top today.  She was near starving and decided she'd grill some hotdogs.  She started by taking them out of the fridge in the kitchen and preparing them on the worktop.  Next to her was a table and chairs that seated 6 people, the exact number of servings she would produce (she needed 8, but Dizzy's SmartServe won't work anymore ... sigh).

Anyway, she puts three plates onto this table, then leaves the house, walks completely round it to the back of the garden and places one plate on the picnic table which has seating for eight people.  This probably took her at least half-an-hour, maybe longer.  One place-setting was unusable due to a dirty plate, but otherwise there were seven empty spots.  Dirk Dreamer (her common-law husband ... I never remember to marry my Sims) was already sitting there waiting to be fed, but she didn't put the plate in front of him.

She then starts walking back to the house (another half-hour or so) and puts the remaining two plates on the same table she put the original three on.  By this time, one of these meals has already been eaten (by Steven-John, who is determined to put back on the weight he lost by autonomously working-out at the spa, and who is also still convinced that Darren will turn gay and declare his undying love for him, although that's neither here nor there).  After she's done this, she walks all the way back to the back of the house to eat the meal she put out there before.  I almost got Dirk to eat it, because she'd never have made it back into the house without dying of starvation.  Dirk actually gave up and went to bed and the two or three other people who'd gone outside to wait for hot dogs had to go back into the house when they realised they weren't getting any at the picnic table.

By the time Adrienne actually got to eating her hot dog, she only managed a few mouthfuls before falling asleep in her plate.  Luckily, it was enough to tide her over until she went to work the following morning (not very refreshed, still very hungry, very smelly and needing the toilet).  The next night she didn't make it to bed either, she passed-out at the bottom of the stairs, having been stuck in the bathroom trying to get out for hours, together with about four other people (four bathrooms, but of course they all want to use the same one).  She'd also almost starved that morning due to not going downstairs after getting up until it was almost dark.

The underlying cause, is because she has 3 lightning bolts for both Dirk and Darren and therefore can't tear herself away from either or both of them long enough to do anything other than swoon over them and the rest of it.  She doesn't even seem to realise that she's had a son for the last 8 or 9 years and Dirk is even less aware of his existence.  The only person who takes any notice of him is Darren (who he's very close to), yet Darren basically ignores his own son to Cassandra.  Cassandra on the other hand is very close to her son, but not so close to her grandson (although they're almost friends now since he asked her to teach him to study).  Very odd family.  I found out today that Darren had been carrying Darleen's grave around with him for the last 15 years or so and that's mighty peculiar, I must say.  Bloody heavy too, I shouldn't wonder.

[Mike]

Hmm, sounds like one wierd soap opera, one I might like too.  As soon as you mention Dizzy's smart serve, I mentally burst into angry tears (yes it is possible). I sure hope Dizzy is not dead. But anywho, I always saw Darren Dreamer of being a fag, er I mean gay. 

[Emma]

Couldn't you cancel out the serving of all the plates? I do that all the time.

The automatic serving to the outdoor table pisses me off-thats why I put the table and chairs for the outdoor grill in the inventory until they are actually having a barbecue!

[Mike]

I wonder why sims make sure everyone else has a plate to eat, sacrificing their own life when they are starving.  Idiots.......

[Jysudo]

I wonder why sims make sure everyone else has a plate to eat, sacrificing their own life when they are starving.  Idiots.......

They are self-sacrificing, that's why...they rather die of hunger than to stop serving...

[Ness]

I read all that and thought - GET THE DIRECTORS CUT!!!

Honestly, who would put up with that insanity and let their sims make decisions?

Control your sims - let them know who is boss!

[J. M. Pescado]

By the time Adrienne actually got to eating her hot dog, she only managed a few mouthfuls before falling asleep in her plate.

You realize anti-foodnapping would have suppressed the constant foodnapping long enough for her to actually eat enough to not be at risk of dying.

Luckily, it was enough to tide her over until she went to work the following morning (not very refreshed, still very hungry, very smelly and needing the toilet).

Fortunately, going to work refreshes both hunger and terlet, so you don't actually need to eat anything anyway, and shouldn't. Why pass up free, non-fattening food?

The next night she didn't make it to bed either, she passed-out at the bottom of the stairs, having been stuck in the bathroom trying to get out for hours, together with about four other people (four bathrooms, but of course they all want to use the same one).

In Soviet Russia, you do not use bathroom, bathroom uses YOU!

[Sagana]

A different serving stupidity question...

The only way I can find to get single servings of deserts into the bakery (and they're already there in the pre-made one) is to make a full cake (or whatever), serve it, and place the servings by hand into my inventory so I can restock or go ahead and put them in the case. An enormously tedious and annoying process and I don't like having food servings all over the tables and floors just to get enough.

Am I being stupid and missing something simple (and it took me an inordinately long amount of time to figure out I could do that much, considering I generally think I'm bright ;) or is this really the method Maxis expects? If so, is it at all possible to fix?

[Ness]

when was the last time you cooked a single slice of cake?  It may be messy, but there is a certain logic to it.

[Sagana]

Well that's fine, cook a whole cake and then give me a "serve many" or "divide" or something option that cuts it up and puts it in inventory so the item can be restocked.

When was the last time you carried a dj booth and a freezer in your pocket anyway?

Have you tried doing this? It's really tedious to divide up and carry enough single slices to restock, each and every one one-by-one. And I'm the person who doesn't mind restanding up my flamingos all the time, and that's too much for me. I'll hafta just quit selling singles if that's the only way to do it.

[veilchen]

The automatic serving to the outdoor table pisses me off-thats why I put the table and chairs for the outdoor grill in the inventory until they are actually having a barbecue!

I do the same thing, Emma. What is it with that trekking to the outdoor table to put meals on it when the dining table is so close to them? Stupid pixel people. I wish there was a fix so they would fill up the closest table first, and only then use alternate tables.

Ancient, your sims are indeed one very strange and very entertaining dramedy. I wish I could see you play sometime.

[Ancient Sim]

OK, I know there are cheats that would have stopped most of this weird carry-on, but that's just too easy.  I prefer to let them do their own thing and if that means they kick the bucket, that's their problem.  I'd miss out on so much fun if I couldn't sit here shouting at the screen.  My main hope for TS3 is that they bring in some sort of 'awareness' thing, whereby you can punish them for their stupidity and they'll KNOW why they are being punished - i.e., I want them to be able to learn from their mistakes.  I don't know if it will be possible by then (I don't think it is now), but it would make the game so much better if the game worked that way.  Just think how much better Inge's prison system would work if they actually realised why they were in prison and it made them better people when they came out (well, most of them, anyway).

[jsalemi]

The automatic serving to the outdoor table pisses me off-thats why I put the table and chairs for the outdoor grill in the inventory until they are actually having a barbecue!

I do the same thing, Emma. What is it with that trekking to the outdoor table to put meals on it when the dining table is so close to them? Stupid pixel people. I wish there was a fix so they would fill up the closest table first, and only then use alternate tables.

There is, and it's right in the game -- just go into the tablelamp part of the catalog, and put a votive or romatic candle on the table. Sims can still grab a plate and use the table normally, but they won't automatically put plates on a table with the candle on it.

[veilchen]

Thank you Jsalemi, I didn't know that. I'll put the candles on the picnic table, then I can actually leave it in their back yard. Would anything work, do you think? Those candles look a little ritzy for a barbeque, I wonder if the napkin holder would do the same thing. However, the candles are better than leaving the table in the inventory until it's needed. I'm still a little leery of the inventory thing.

[jsalemi]

I've not tried it with the napkin holder, but that might work to -- anything that sits in the middle of the table might do the trick.

[gethane]

Well that's fine, cook a whole cake and then give me a "serve many" or "divide" or something option that cuts it up and puts it in inventory so the item can be restocked.

When was the last time you carried a dj booth and a freezer in your pocket anyway?

Have you tried doing this? It's really tedious to divide up and carry enough single slices to restock, each and every one one-by-one. And I'm the person who doesn't mind restanding up my flamingos all the time, and that's too much for me. I'll hafta just quit selling singles if that's the only way to do it.

Unless you have the hack to keep playable sims from buying stuff, I wouldn't serve singles. Why? Because they buy them, and then my playable sims were apparently unable to sell them. So prior to the hack, all my playable sims now have oodles of single serving food in their inventory.

[dusty]

A different serving stupidity question...

The only way I can find to get single servings of deserts into the bakery (and they're already there in the pre-made one) is to make a full cake (or whatever), serve it, and place the servings by hand into my inventory so I can restock or go ahead and put them in the case. An enormously tedious and annoying process and I don't like having food servings all over the tables and floors just to get enough.

Am I being stupid and missing something simple (and it took me an inordinately long amount of time to figure out I could do that much, considering I generally think I'm bright or is this really the method Maxis expects? If so, is it at all possible to fix?

Yes it is the way they expect you to do this...
http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?threadID=b1b9f42ed4fd1027f0054f07f1725eac&directoryID=103&startRow=1&openItemID=item.103,root.1,item.43,item.41,item.23#5fd784418bb94c7f5ea6dd0e1bdcd479

last message on that post from maxoid kane.

[Sagana]

Because they buy them, and then my playable sims were apparently unable to sell them.

Dang. Thank you Gethane. That never occured to me. I guess I'll have to moveobjects on and delete them if my playables got any and suffer the money loss.

Does JM have that hack ready already? He's moving so fast this time I haven't even got up to the point of putting hacks in yet

Thanks for the info dusty. At least I know I wasn't missing a menu item or something. I guess they don't realize how ridiculous that system is.  If your sim is the only one on the lot, he or she serves *one* serving and then you get to cancel out the "eat" deal (hopefully before they've eaten any of it, if you want to sell it) over and over and over until you have as many single servings as you need covering every viable space on the lot. If 6+ sims were around, the chef would serve out that many, but you'd either have to have them behind locked doors or cancel out everyone else's "eat" actions and all (and listen to them whine if you don't have nowhiney) etc. Then hand place them in inventory (the right kinds too) just so you can restock.

Talk about having to over-click... if they didn't want us to use single-serving deserts, why'd they stick them in the sample? I had to totally reset inventory all over the shop. Considering they didn't account for it in inventory after shopping either, I think I'll just stick with group meals for the bakery. It doesn't look as nice though :p

[Ness]

I guess the other alternative is to allow macro>eat to raid inventories for food - and that will take care of the single servings.

[Moonshires]

Most bakeries (at least the ones I've seen) rarely sell individual versions of things. It's either a whole pie, cake, loaf of bread, etc, or nothing.

On the flip side, if you want a 'bakery' business that does only 'sell' individual pieces, start a small resturant.  When you click on the podium, you have the option of setting the menu (just choose the 'bakery' type of stuff), and the price.  You'll need 2-3 employees, depending on if the manager works or not.  1 as the host, 1 as the server/cleaner, and one as the cook.

The nice thing about it is, you don't have to worry about getting sell/restock/cashier badges (unless you also have a display set up for selling whole pies, etc).  The host and the server just do their thing, and the cook stands around cooking (course, make sure your cook has decent cooking skills).

[Sagana]

Well another good point. I guess if my sims are buying single servings, I could just let them eat them. It's not like their that expensive. They won't go bad while they're in inventory will they?

The little restaurant sounds good Moonshires. I'm planning on doing that later, but right now my sim, although he's a great cook (celebrity chef) is running the place all by himself. I didn't want to deal with all the employees a real restaurant takes just yet. He might hire his neice to come help him out though. I wonder if she can still get the over-achiever scholarship if her job is in her uncle's business...

You need a Missy's there if you don't get single servings. Missy's sells pies - they supply a local restaurant next door to them and also sell pies and baked goods out of a store front. They offer everything as single servings as well as full pies. And of course they're wonderful. Great place.

Then again, the bakeries in grocery stores here sell single servings in little plastic things as well... not so good, but still handy at lunch and the like. I guess we get lots of single serving deserts...

[radiophonic]

On the flip side, if you want a 'bakery' business that does only 'sell' individual pieces, start a small resturant.  When you click on the podium, you have the option of setting the menu (just choose the 'bakery' type of stuff), and the price.  You'll need 2-3 employees, depending on if the manager works or not.  1 as the host, 1 as the server/cleaner, and one as the cook.

Until customers come in and ask for lobster or pancakes and your rating starts to fall.