Cheers 2

About us 
Happy hour, dining, dancing, festivals, outdoor activities, cultural events and whatever the event organizers wish to do. There is no fee to attend events or be part of this group. Some venues may charge an admission fee and admission will be noted in the event details.

This group is mostly for ages 40s+ but not restrictive of other ages. We originated in the West Suburban area and have recently expanded to include Northwest suburban communities such as Fox River Grove, Algonquin and Palatine.

There are no attendance requirements but please change your rsvp to NO if your plans change and unable to go to an event.

Below are some reasons for removal from this group.

Rudeness, yelling at restaurant staff or skipping out without paying for your meal:
It happened at Eden restaurant event. Yelling at the manager because your gin and tonic took too long to get. Three people skipping out without paying for their food. If you walk out without paying and I find out who you are and you refuse to settle, you will be removed from this group.

General rudeness to another person in meetup
I intended this group to be friendly and welcoming. If I hear about people being really nasty to someone else then the perpetrator may be removed from the group.

Reporting a member to meetup in order to get them banned from meetup:
Please message me first if you experience conflict to the level where you want the person removed entirely from meetup! This is to prevent an unfortunate situation where the person who was reported and banned from meetup was also an event host. All of the person's events disappeared entirely. What's worse, people had paid for such event that disappeared. I spent 3 hours of my time trying to figure out why an event that people paid for suddenly disappeared. I was clueless. Finally got to the bottom of it. A member had a conflict with a person who was an event host and reported them to meetup to get them banned. We sorted it out but if this happens again the person who makes such a report will be removed from this group.

Leaving a one star review:

• Of a venue
  I work hard to find venues that are suitable for our group. I spend hours driving around, checking it out, calling, and asking questions. Many do not accept separate checks even for party of just 8. Some want a deposit of $1000 to $2500 dollars to rent an area if you have more than 20 people. Others request that each person spend at least $25 or else I'm liable. Others state to me that I will be responsible for $25.00 fee for each empty seat at table when there is a popular band playing (tables for 20 in this case at Manhattans). Others want me to sign a contract of some kind. Some say that everyone must be there or we can't be seated, even for a party of just 12.
  If your food was not prepared to your satisfaction at any event (Steak over cooked, cold mash potatoes), please let staff know at the time of the event. Please let me know if you did not like a venue because I don't have to go back there if people didn't like it.
• Of this group:
  If something went very wrong in an event then I expect members to contact me about it. I want to correct what went wrong so that it does not happen again. Leaving a one star review of this group because "you didn't meet anyone" or "we're too old" or "I didn't get the attention I deserved" is not a reason for a one star review. I give out name badges which I pay over $100 a box. I do my damn best to introduce people and if you felt excluded given my best efforts then you do not belong in this group.

Intolerance of others in our group 
Any expressions of hatred or demeaning comments will cause a person to be blocked out  of this meetup group. Please message me privately if you experience this.  I will not allow any expressions of this sort based on political party, race, ethnicity, LGBTQ, religion, handicap (mental or physical), age, or gender.  This includes comments I happen to see in other meetup group comments.

Sexual Harassment / Egregious lewd behavior
This is not a hook up singles group and people have a right to be left alone if their not interested. Please message me if you receive unsolicited meetup messages from people you don't know. People should feel safe at an event and not have to listen to someone discuss extreme sexual content.

Public extreme intoxication
Not acceptable to be falling down, bumping into others, or slurring your speech at an event. Worse, putting others at risk on the road. You will be removed if I hear about this.

Our political differences
Any discussions must be civilized. We don't want a fight to break out while we're dining, or anytime for that matter.  If your not capable of engaging in civil political discussions then either stay silent or ask to join another table if its a restaurant venue.

Hijacking an event:
There are multiple types of "hijacking" and examples given below. These can cause you to be removed from the group or removal as an event organizer. This is not only very rude but shows no consideration nor respect for others who work hard and spend a lot of their personal time to put together events for this group.

Example of hijacking an event

• If an event organizer lists a specific location where they will be at a venue then that's where the group is meeting. Event hosting takes time and effort. Please do not tell people "No, we're sitting here instead". This causes confusion and that's totally unnecessary. This situation was reported to me on 08/18/23. The event organizers have final say in where the group is to meet and all other aspects of that event. They can also remove people who rsvp who have caused issues at a previous meetup.

Another example of hijacking an event

• In meetup often times multiple events occur on the same date and time. This is normal and not a problem at all. The events on a particular day are almost always diverse across geographic areas, areas of interest and time of day.
• However, there have been 3 cases now where the same event organizer posted a very similar event at a different venue on the same date and time as mine and nearby.
  I spent 5 hours organizing my 12/03/25 event including driving around to find a venue and contacting the venue.
• My event was posted on 10/08. On 11/14 he posted his event on the same day at nearly the same time and just a few miles away. This was no accident. There were over a dozen different days to choose from given the seasonal nature of his event. I have two ill family members at home I'm caring for. My time is very limited and finding venues to meet takes time. I am not at all happy about having my events hijacked by this guy. I expect others to do their own work to promote their event and not piggy back off of my hard work and limited time. That's very rude, inconsiderate, selfish and lazy.

Other general policies:

NO SHOW at Sit Down Dining events
This only applies to restaurants where we have a limited number of people who can attend and we sit down together and have a meal.
If you are a NO SHOW without reason you may not be able to attend events with limited seating. All meetup event hosts expect people to change their RSVP to NO if plans change.

Sharing phone numbers of members of the group
It is never ok to share phone numbers of people in the group with others without their permission. Please do not share any other personally identifiable information about others such as last name or address.

Event Organizers
Event organizers must report inappropriate conduct of any member to me immediately after an event thru email, private message or phone call. Safety is of everyone's concern and I also wish to keep this group respectful of others.

Event Organizers
To prevent fraud, use of your own personal Zelle/payment account for pre-paid events is not allowed. We recently found out that if a member leaves meetup altogether their event completely disappears. Most of us know each other but we have a few new event organizers. Pre-paid events must use a third party payment system, for example a music venue, theatre or sports arena that has its own link to pay.

Un-hosted events are not allowed!
I didn't even know about it until few years ago when Gregg (organizer of TGIF) notified me.
I was very thankful that Gregg mentioned this to me. Up until that time
I was posting "un-hosted meetup events" because someone suggested an event to me, it sounded great, I thought people would really like it, but I couldn't host.
For your convenience, I'm copying and pasting content
from
https://help.meetup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002897712-Meetup-groups-and-events-policies

"It can be a little intimidating to show up to an event where you don’t know anyone,
so having a host at every event is important for making members feel comfortable and welcome.
All Meetup events must have an in-person host present to help connect attendees,
manage relationships with venues, and bring structure to the events. The host must,
at a minimum, make members aware of the event location, and act as a point of contact during the event.
If a business or an organization is sponsoring an event, the event description must identify a contact person who will be present at the event.
If Meetup receives reports that there is no one present in-person hosting a
Meetup group’s events, we may remove the group at our sole discretion."

If an event organizer has posted an event and then cannot attend later for some reason then either

• Cancel the event and give the reason why
• Find a person who can act as a one time host and agrees to host. Make that person official host in meetup event.

Posting of any other un-hosted events will result in change back to member role and loss of ability to post events.

I expect that event organizers will have some skills in mentioning whether or not there is a reservation and what the reservation is under (Cheers2 or your own name).
If there is no reservation then event hosts shall mention in comments where they are at.

History of the group
This group was founded recently in June 2018 as a Woman's social group for ages 45 and up. I've renamed it a few times since then. Cheers 2 is here to stay.

This group changed names multiple times. Someone then told me to name it "Cheers 2" so I did. Earlier it was based on the final episode of Cheers sitcom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP21b-AAXJk .