Special Relationship (II)

A decision game

This post continues a decision game that began with:

Special Relationship

So, if you have yet to read (or, better yet, work through the problem presented in) that piece, please do so before you engage the following paragraphs.

You addressed the problem of ensuring smooth cooperation between the British and American officers on your staff by taking pains to provide Norfolk House, the home of the staff that you run, with a first-class mess. Thanks to the help of the wife of one of your officers, who used to run a catering business, and the aid of people skilled in the art of finding foodstuffs in a time of strict rationing, you soon manage to set a fine table.

As you predicted, this feature of service with COSSAC proved popular. However, rather than dining in mixed groups, British and American officers tended to eat separately. American meal times, you discovered, tended to be earlier than British ones. Thus, by the time that most British officers sat down to eat, their American counterparts had finished their meals.

You enjoyed more success with your second response to this challenge, which involved extending the hours of the bar attached to the mess. This measure provided you with the secondary benefit of reducing the time that your officers spent in clubs and pubs outside of Norfolk House, and thus reducing opportunities for an ‘information spill’.

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