Clubs are dead. Newspapers aren’t, but clubs really are.

The lunch clubs in downtown Chicago have trouble keeping their existing members and no one born after 1960 has any interest in them. Many have already closed. I’ve seen the same situation in Detroit, Cleveland and Indianapolis.

Country clubs here that used to have long waiting lists are now offering “specials” with reduced joining fees. There are a few that still require some connections to get into, but most are hurting for members.

The worst hazing process to get into a club is reserved for those unfortunate souls buying apartments in New York. It’s called the co-op board.

Useless article. What the Frick are you talking about? Rant Rant Rant.

Stanley,

How bout membership in the Bing Blog fraternity?

Better than a highly exclusionary country club where you respectfully listen to some old geezer in a plaid jacket talk about his operation for gallstones while your eating your dinner.

The women do tend to be beautiful, if, however, somewhat brittle.

Damn, I guess I’ll soon be the geezer. Ain’t life a bitch?

Do they give you free samples at Michael’s?

I stopped joining clubs long ago. People with common interests always want to create a damn club. It starts out with good intentions, soon develops bylaws and rules, and (worst of all)… meetings. I only go to meetings if somebody is paying me to go to meetings. I attend or officiate at hours of meetings every day, and the last thing I want to do on my own time is go to another pointless meeting.

I enjoy riding motorcycles. Once, long ago, I joined a motorcycle club. All I wanted was to meet people to ride with and have fun. All they wanted to do was have meetings and hold benefit rides to improve the image of motorcyclists. Personally, I enjoy the bad image of motorcyclists (to my mind it isn’t nearly bad enough). It keeps me out of trouble with redneck dirtbags, who think I’m one of them (maybe I am one of them….at least that bunch never asks me to go to meetings).

On another note: sorry I can’t help you out with the purchase of the Donald’s aircraft. Frankly, it would creep me out….it might look nice, but I bet its got more DNA remnants scattered about than the floor of a Tijuana taxi.

AH YES, dinner at an exclusive club, not having to fight my brother for the last porkchop or listening to mom ask me for the thousandth time how I want my eggs done..
Some day I’m gonna try that..in the meantime, it’s overeasy and pass the mashed potatoes.

Life is a bitch, and then you die!

I joined a sailing club. Attended one of their functions to see what it was about, and got roped in. (It is a small boat, by the way. I wear jeans and a t-shirt when I sail it.)

Then I got roped into doing mailings, calling to arrange things, and setting up meetings to discuss meetings. Worst, most of the other members didn’t work, and had much more time for this stuff.

I gave it up. Too much trouble. Too much pressure to include others in my spur-of-the-minute sails with my wife. Too much hassle.

When I have more time for it, I plan to volunteer for a cause that I really support. I have a few in mind, one in particular. Seems much more beneficial — to everyone — than being in a club.

Bing:
Groucho Marx sent the following wire to a Hollywood club he had joined: “Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.”

I wonder how many people are sending the same line to their fancy clubs today?

For me.. Vons/Safeway Club is fine. No meetings, no dues, no responsibilities.

Bet you didn’t know that McDonalds had a Frequent Customers Club. I am actually a card carrying member.
Big Mac and Fries are cooked just the way I like it and no tie is required in the dining room.

Exclusive clubs are not the cup half full, half empty, or completely full, they represent the cup runneth over.

These exclusive clubs runneth over with necessary items, discretionary items; especially, luxury items.

The eligible, rich, members appear to be blindsided by their greed; apparently they can’t get enough toys to satisfy their , feed me I’m hungry, cravings.

Obesity is not necessarily a result of food abuse; but, can be and is “Business-Consumer” abuse.

We can produce more planes, trains, automobiles, boats, textiles, stoves, refrigerators, and more people than we need too, who will turn materials into scrap to make the cup runneth over into the World junk yards–the oceans of the World.

The World is obese with human generated “scrap”. Now, we turn to the Moon and Mars to begin new cycles of plundering.

Nature, just don’t get any respect.

That’s interesting, Pete. I’m a member of the Von’s Club, too. I didn’t know that McD’s had one. So now we have Von’s/Safeway, McD’s, American Airlines, Costco, Sam’s Club… what other organizations offer membership in “exclusive” clubs such as these? I think we should limit our discussion to those that offer a membership card to those who qualify (by applying).

Bing,
Jack brings up an interesting point except I have much fonder memories of the family dinners growing up. In fact, I had dinner with my brother last week. Perhaps we should all think about joining the Home Economics Club.

More membership cards? Oh please. I have two coffee mugs full of membership cards in my kitchen pantry. If I tried to stuff them all in my wallet, my back would go sideways faster than you can say “oversubscribed”.

I really need to cull the cards, but it seems like such an ominous task. I hate to throw away my Eastern Airlines Ionosphere membership card — seems like a happy relic from a quaint, simpler time. The others all hold similar memories too.

Groucho had it right.

Home Ec Club… hm. Do they give you a card?

Still got my ‘One Shot Drop Club’ card…don’t know if the organization still exists. Had to drop a mule deer buck at 300+ yards, single shot, witnessed by a relatively reliable member of the club. Head shot, blew off an antler, which ruined a beautiful mount. At 16 it was a tragedy of biblical proportions.

As a member of the Kroger club (where they occasionally give out free samples of stuff I try to avoid), I save about a hundred bucks a month on groceries.

I worked for about three years at a country club that has since gone belly up, and the experience of soberly watching those people get drunk convinced me that I don’t want to belong to one of those “exlusive” clubs.

Mike, does the “16″ refer to your age at the time, or the number of points in the rack?

Perhaps your government would give us a bailout with which to buy The Don’s plane, then we could form our own club of high fliers. We could call it the TRibe of Unassailable Megalomaniacal Persons and wouldn’t even have to change the logo.

We’re going to have to limit the hunting tales on this site now. Unless you guys can think of a business angle.

Bing, how’s this for a business angle:

From the AP:

“West Virginia officials are forecasting a good hunting season, not only for thousands of hunters but also for the state economy.

The bucks-only firearm season, which lasts two weeks, begins Thanksgiving week. Division of Natural Resources assistant wildlife chief Paul Johansen expects the year’s kill to be up over last year.

Foul weather last year may have foiled some hunters, but Johansen says that means there will be more bucks in the field this year.

Deer season is also a major economic boost to the state. DNR Director Frank Jezioro (JEZ’-uh-roh) estimates that deer hunting brings in about $250 million every year.”

A quarter of a billion annually, just from shooting Bambi (and Thumper, and Yogi).

Almost Heaven, West Virginia.

Steve, 16 was my age. As you know, there are many conventions regarding how to count the points on a big rack. And keep your mind out of the gutter for once!

And Bing, aren’t you manly business types always doing talking about ‘keeping what you kill’?

Mike, interesting you should mention “one shots” my personal best is 7 consecutive one shots in a season on big game.

Jack? Mike? Enough already.

Sorry Bing…forgot you were trying to run a legitimate business related blog here.