← Back to YEPS

Group Rules

How this actually runs

What YEPS is actually for is on the front page. This page is only the housekeeping that makes it possible.

These rules aren't here to make the group feel like school. They're here because a small group in someone else's restaurant only works if everyone knows what's expected. Most of it is just how you'd want to be treated anyway. Read it once, and if you can live with it, you'll fit in fine.

How we treat each other

This one is not negotiable
  • Say it to the person, or say it to me. That's the whole rule on drama. Problems get raised directly and dealt with; they don't get carried around the group. Gossip and freezing people out have no place here.
  • Go after the idea as hard as you like. Leave the person out of it.
  • When something won't work, say what won't work. "That's stupid" tells nobody anything useful.
  • Everyone at this table is an equal. Racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise hateful remarks get one warning, and then you're out.
  • Talk like there are eight-year-olds at the next table, because there usually are. The one exception is if you genuinely hurt yourself — nobody's counting in that moment.
  • We're minors in a family restaurant, so we come clean and stay clean: no alcohol, vaping or drugs. That one isn't up for discussion.
  • If something someone said bothered you, tell me. In person or by text, whichever is easier.

What's said here stays here

Half-formed ideas need a safe room
  • What gets said at the table stays at the table. That's the thing that makes it safe to float an idea before it's any good.
  • If someone's idea sparks one of yours, tell them first. Ideas overlap constantly — saying so up front keeps it friendly instead of awkward.
  • If two of you want to build something together, agree out loud, in front of everyone, who owns what before you start.
  • Feedback is free. Nobody owes anybody a share of anything for an opinion.
  • Ask before you photograph or film anyone, and keep other people's faces and ideas off your feed.
  • If I ever want to put a group photo on the website, I'll ask everyone first, and a no is a no.

The group chat

Where most of the week actually happens
  • There's a group chat for sorting out rides, cancellations, and ideas that couldn't wait until Saturday.
  • Everything on this page applies there too. Most group drama starts in a chat, not at a table.
  • Keep it to group things. Every other app in the world is available for everything else.
  • What's in the chat is as private as what's at the table. Screenshots stay in the chat.
  • Reply when you can. Nobody is tracking read receipts, and you're never expected to be available outside session hours.

The restaurant

Lose the table, lose the group
  • We're guests in a working business. Treat the place the way you'd want your own treated — if we lose the table, there is no YEPS.
  • Keep your voice at conversation level.
  • Stay at our table, even when the place is empty.
  • Be polite to the staff every single time. Please, thank you, and look up when they're talking to you.
  • Leave the table better than we found it: stack the plates, bin the napkins, push the chairs in.
  • We tip every session. That comes out of the group's money, not yours — but if you order extra, tip on your own bill too.
  • If the room fills up and they need the table, we wrap up early, no arguing.

Devices

Research, not scrolling
  • Bring a laptop or tablet if you have one. If you don't, say so and you'll share — that's normal, not a problem.
  • Research happens on a laptop or tablet. Phones make it far too easy to end up somewhere else entirely.
  • Phones go face down for check-in, research and task selection. They're yours again at free time.
  • If you're waiting on a parent, a ride, or a work shift, tell me at the start and keep your phone on you. That's completely fine.

Showing up

Four to seven people; one gap is obvious
  • Send me a text before the session if you can't make it. One line is plenty. Silence is the only thing that's actually rude.
  • Arrive on time. We start at the start, and the check-in only works if everyone's there for it.
  • Come with your two tasks done — or come and say plainly that you didn't do them. Both of those are fine. Pretending isn't.
  • Three missed sessions with no word and I'll pass your spot to someone on the waiting list.
  • If the group is full, sign up anyway. I keep a waiting list and work through it in order.
  • Want to bring a friend who's thinking about joining? Ask me first — spots are limited and this only works small.

Money

Clear now beats awkward later
  • First session is free. After that it's $50/month — four sessions, snacks included.
  • Stripe renews automatically. Cash comes at the first session of the month.
  • Missing a session doesn't change the fee. Your spot is being held for you either way.
  • Snacks are covered. Anything else you order goes on your own bill, paid at the table.
  • Tell me before the next month starts if you're leaving, and you won't be charged again.
  • Keep money between members out of it entirely. No lending, no borrowing, not even five dollars. It ruins friendships and it would ruin this group.

Real money, real caution

For members and parents both
  • YEPS is where you plan and build. It is not a promise that you'll make money. I've said that on the front page and I'll say it again here.
  • Talk to your parents before you spend any real money on an idea. Every time, no matter how small it seems.
  • Only ever put in money you could afford to lose.
  • Keep your projects legal, and keep them to things you'd be happy explaining to your own parents. If you're unsure, ask and we'll work it out together.
  • Run anything involving signing, paying, or handing over personal details past a parent first.
  • Nobody here, me included, is a financial advisor. We're students working on projects, and that's all we are.
  • I don't hold anyone's money and I don't take a cut of anyone's business.

Getting here, and if plans change

So nobody's left standing outside
  • YEPS covers the two hours at the table. Getting to the restaurant and getting home is arranged by you and your family.
  • If I have to cancel — I'm sick, or the restaurant can't host us — I'll message the group chat and email parents as early as I can, and that session won't count against your month.
  • If you need to leave partway through, tell me at the start so I'm not left wondering where you went.
  • If your ride falls through, say so. Waiting inside with the group beats waiting alone in a parking lot.

Parents

You should never have to guess
  • You're welcome to sit in on your teen's first session. Ask, and the answer is yes.
  • You'll always know the day, the time and the place before it happens.
  • Tell me about any allergies or medical conditions before the first session. Snacks are shared, so I'd much rather know.
  • I'll contact you using the email given on the signup form, and I use it for YEPS and nothing else.
  • Let me know if your teen is leaving early, or being picked up by someone other than you.
  • If anything about how the group runs worries you, email me. I'd genuinely rather hear it than not.

If it isn't working

Better said than sat on
  • If you're not enjoying it, tell me. I'd far rather change something, or part ways properly, than have you sitting there quiet and miserable.
  • I can ask someone to leave for repeated no-shows, for treating people badly, or for putting the restaurant arrangement at risk.
  • If that happens partway through a month, you get the rest of that month back.
  • These rules will change as we work out what this actually is. I'll tell the group before anything changes, not after.

When YEPS ends

There's no twentyteen
  • YEPS runs while I’m a teen. It wraps up just before I turn 20.
  • You’ll get plenty of notice before the final session, and nobody is charged past it.
  • If a younger member really doesn’t want it to end, they can ask to take it over as a successor. I’ll only hand it on to someone I’m confident can run it the way it runs now.
  • If it’s handed on, I take nothing from it — no cut, no fee. I’d just like to keep hearing how it’s going.
  • If things have gone well for me by then, I might drop in for a day as an alumni mentor. No promises.
  • If nobody takes it on, YEPS is done. Finished properly, not left to fade.