[Mr Daddy Mouse]

This sounds like fertile ground for deep misunderstandings to take root in.

My wife and I have come back to TT after a fairly long absence (and, no cracks about how *wrong* it is for adults to play TT, OK?).

We ALWAYS used to run the complete factory, and had it down to a formula; but, then again, we ran with similarly motivated adults, and wound-up fairly quickly as 107+, HW, Laffers. That's all well and good, and we frequently did the factory between the two of us, as well as solo; and, when we took Low-Laffers in with us, we MADE SURE they could make it through the Long Run and come out at full laffs (usually). That involved a lot of "Follow me!"s and "This way!"s, and chasing toons down to make certain that they understood the game plan. The alternative was going with them; or running it long, hearing them go sad a few minutes later...making the Long Run seemed so obvious to us, then; but we took the short run a lot to keep the low laffers from going sad in there, and re-ran the factory later.

That's when you had to re-suit and re-merit after every VP run; so, "double-jeopardy" became a way of life, so to speak, for factory runs; and you really wanted to make every trip-in count.

Nowdays, you keep your suit and make merits on almost anything; so there's just not the pressure to make every Factory run by hitting every single cog in there.

Aside from that, we're raising a new batch of toons; as well as already familiar with the factory layout and all the tasks needed to get back up above 100 Laffs. But, we've been doing regular factory runs since around 30-something LP. We take the short run an awful lot, in bringing our kids' toons, or our own low-laffer toons through the factory. That *is* a fast-track strategy that has it's place in the scheme of things, particularly when either of us wants some fast merits or has a SB task to wipe out.

However...while we don't impose our strategy on others...other toons--especially younger kids--may not be seeing things the way you (or we) see them; and can end-up taking the short route through the factory, not really realizing what you're up to--giving you the impression that they are griefing you, when that isn't their true intent.

In cases like that, your actions could be perceived as unjustified griefing of them--particularly, given the specific outcome you mentioned.

Remember that every coin has two sides.

If we are on a Long Run, and somebody else is insistent on taking the Short Run, we'll go with the Short Run, get out, re-gag, and go through the Factory again.

In reality, it's not *that* much hassle...is it?

...and you end up with more merits for the time and gags you used, I'd wager.