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People in the UK will know that we have had some seriously bad weather earlier this week. We’ve had a months worth of rainfall within a couple of days and a lot of areas are completely flooded, my area included. But I braved the elements and went to work. I mean, how busy could it be when everything’s under water right?
Oh wait. “Severe weather conditions” means “Let’s go out to the pub!” in customer language.
I was originally working in the kitchen. I got everything ready for opening, except for one thing: I didn’t turn on the extraction. I did so and rather than being met with the whooshing of the fans coming on, I was met with silence.
Manager and I checked everything out. Turned out water got into the electrics of the extraction, shorting it out. That meant we couldn’t open the kitchen, as without it, it can hit temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius! (I posted about an incident last year in which that happened). There was no way of fixing it. Manager asked if I would do a bar shift instead. I stupidly agreed. M then printed several notices explaining the situation and collected in the menus.
And then the customers started to arrive for breakfast.
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The first customer was a grandmother and grandson.
SC: I would like to order some breakfasts for me and my lovely grandson.
Anyone who makes sure you are aware that she has a “lovely grandson” is going to be trouble.
Me: Oh I’m sorry. We’ve had a massive electrical fault in our kitchen today due to the weather and we’ve been unable to open it.
SC: WHAAAAAAATTTTTTT???
I jumped. She stormed off and returned to her table. All I heard was an unbearable:
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A!!!”
She returned as she was heading for the door.
SC: You made a three year old cry. And that is going to be with you FOREVER.
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SC: I will have a bacon roll please.
Me: I’m sorry, but *blah blah, points at sign an inch away from his face*
SC: Fine. I will have sausage instead.
Me: We aren’t serving ANY food today.
SC: Make it egg then. You can cook an egg.
Me: No, I can’t cook anything. No food.
SC: Then what food are you serving?
Me: None!
SC: Couldn’t you have just said so?!?!
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Grumpy girl stormed up holding one of the signs.
GG: Is this for real?
Me: Yes.
GG: Really?
Me: Yes.
GG: But I came here for lunch!
Me: *blank stare*
GG: What am I going to do? I’m not going out in the rain again!!
Me: Well there’s nothing we can do. We’re not serving food.
GG returned to her table where her boyfriend was sat. She swung her chair around to face me and STARED continuously. Each time I passed her table, she asked:
GG: Can I get food yet?
Me: No.
GG: Is the kitchen fixed yet?
Me: No.
This went on for two hours.
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SC: Where are the menus? All I can find are these notices saying something about the kitchen being closed!
Me: There’s your first clue Sherlock.
SC: Huh?
He walked away confused. M was right behind me and swatted me on the back of the head for being cheeky to customers.
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And then the regular alcoholics arrived. I went to pull the first beer and nothing but foam came out. This was telling me one thing:
The cooler was bust.
I checked and sure enough, it had shorted out too along with the extraction. So on top of serving food, we couldn’t serve beer! I told M and he buried his hands in his face. I honestly thought he was going to cry. Because of the weather it was very difficult getting a repair guy out. The person coming to look at the extraction had literally just called to say he had to turn back due to the water getting too deep, so the kitchen wasn’t getting fixed any time soon.
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Me: I’m sorry, but I can’t serve anything on tap today. We’ve lost the cooler due to the weather.
SC: Then I want a bottle of wine for free.
Me: No.
SC: Yes. Make it two actually.
Me: How about we make it none and you pay for something?
SC: Well that’s a rather rude thing to say!
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Because we couldn’t serve cold drinks on tap, a lot of people were ordering hot drinks. This meant we ran out of coffee mugs really quickly.
SC: I want to order a latte.
Me: Sure, I’ll get that for you.
I went and saw there were no mugs.
Me: I will just be a moment. There are no mugs, but there will be some clean ones in the kitchen.
SC: What? What is going on? What’s the problem?
Me: There’s no problem. I just need to grab a mug.
SC: But what is the problem???
Me: There are no mugs.
SC: So???
Me: Well I can’t exactly put a latte in a pint glass.
SC: I don’t understand the problem!
Me: I will just be a moment.
I grabbed a mug and returned. She was whining at a co-worker.
SC: Seriously. What is the problem?
CW: There’s no problem. Look. There he is with your coffee mug.
SC: But I don’t understand what the problem is!
CW looked at me. The look on his face said “What the fuck am I supposed to say to this moron?”
I just ignored her until I completed the order.
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Poor manager. He was getting so much abuse. He sent away a moronic customer who just could not fathom that the floods outside might have, just might have caused some problems. The customer returned a minute later and shoved a phone in my face.
SC: I’m recording you! So please explain to me why you will not give me food.
Me: We cannot serve food because of a massive electrical fault brought on by the flooding that has shorted out our extraction, meaning that there is no where for the heat from the fryers, grills, pans and ovens to go. This will lead to the kitchen hitting temperatures that are too high, meaning that it would not only be wrong to make anyone work in there, but also ILLEGAL. There. Is that good enough?
SC: You’re very rude. And it’s going to show when I put this online. I doubt your manager will be very happy with you.
Me: I haven’t been rude.
SC: You have.
Me: I don’t think it’s fair to talk about rudeness when you’re the one shoving a camera within my personal space.
SC: Ha! See!
He walked away. I’ve searched youtube and haven’t found anything.
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Despite the fact that we had so many faults, the pub was still busy. Everyone was just drinking bottles or hot drinks. The phone rings.
SC: Yes, I wanted to make some enquiries about food.
Me: I’m sorry, but we aren’t serving food today.
SC: Oh that’s fine. But I want to go through the menu with you. I’m planning on coming in later in the week.
Me: Oh.
I looked at the bar and saw quite a few customers.
Me: Would you be able to call b-
SC: How much are your burgers?
Me: They start at £x.xx. Unfortunately I need to g-
SC: Do you serve pizza?
Me: No. Right, I need to-
SC: Do you have a children’s menu? How much is it? What do you serve?
Me: This isn’t a good time for this at the moment. Can you call back in the morning at around 9am? Someone will be here who can give you the time.
SC: Fine. I’ll call back later.
I cleared the bar of customers within a couple of minutes. The phone rang again. As I answered, five customers walked up to the bar at the same time. It was the same customer on the phone.
SC: What kind of appetisers do you serve?
He actually started the conversation like that. No hello or anything.
Me: I’m sorry. This is a really bad line? What? What?
I hung up.
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SC: So you’re not serving food or drink?? What kind of place is this??? I want to see the manager!
Me: The manager is currently on the phone trying to get this resolved.
SC: I still want to speak to him!
I was really fed up by this point.
Me: Why? There’s nothing he can do for you. You’re not the first person to speak to him today, so it’s not like he’s unaware of the situation. He’s stressed out enough so I’m not going to get him.
SC: You have to do as I say.
Me: You can speak to me and I will pass on your concerns. But that’s it.
SC: I’m going to call the local newspaper about this!!! You have a DUTY to serve food, and you will not do it! I am going to tell everyone I see about this place! Not just friends and family! I will stop people in the street and tell them! Don’t think I won’t!
Me: OK.
She walked away.
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I finished my shift. Everything was still broken and the repair crews actually couldn’t get to the pub due to so many roads being closed. The problem lasted for two days. Thankfully I was off.
Oh wait. “Severe weather conditions” means “Let’s go out to the pub!” in customer language.
I was originally working in the kitchen. I got everything ready for opening, except for one thing: I didn’t turn on the extraction. I did so and rather than being met with the whooshing of the fans coming on, I was met with silence.
Manager and I checked everything out. Turned out water got into the electrics of the extraction, shorting it out. That meant we couldn’t open the kitchen, as without it, it can hit temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius! (I posted about an incident last year in which that happened). There was no way of fixing it. Manager asked if I would do a bar shift instead. I stupidly agreed. M then printed several notices explaining the situation and collected in the menus.
And then the customers started to arrive for breakfast.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first customer was a grandmother and grandson.
SC: I would like to order some breakfasts for me and my lovely grandson.
Anyone who makes sure you are aware that she has a “lovely grandson” is going to be trouble.
Me: Oh I’m sorry. We’ve had a massive electrical fault in our kitchen today due to the weather and we’ve been unable to open it.
SC: WHAAAAAAATTTTTTT???
I jumped. She stormed off and returned to her table. All I heard was an unbearable:
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A!!!”
She returned as she was heading for the door.
SC: You made a three year old cry. And that is going to be with you FOREVER.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SC: I will have a bacon roll please.
Me: I’m sorry, but *blah blah, points at sign an inch away from his face*
SC: Fine. I will have sausage instead.
Me: We aren’t serving ANY food today.
SC: Make it egg then. You can cook an egg.
Me: No, I can’t cook anything. No food.
SC: Then what food are you serving?
Me: None!
SC: Couldn’t you have just said so?!?!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grumpy girl stormed up holding one of the signs.
GG: Is this for real?
Me: Yes.
GG: Really?
Me: Yes.
GG: But I came here for lunch!
Me: *blank stare*
GG: What am I going to do? I’m not going out in the rain again!!
Me: Well there’s nothing we can do. We’re not serving food.
GG returned to her table where her boyfriend was sat. She swung her chair around to face me and STARED continuously. Each time I passed her table, she asked:
GG: Can I get food yet?
Me: No.
GG: Is the kitchen fixed yet?
Me: No.
This went on for two hours.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SC: Where are the menus? All I can find are these notices saying something about the kitchen being closed!
Me: There’s your first clue Sherlock.
SC: Huh?
He walked away confused. M was right behind me and swatted me on the back of the head for being cheeky to customers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And then the regular alcoholics arrived. I went to pull the first beer and nothing but foam came out. This was telling me one thing:
The cooler was bust.
I checked and sure enough, it had shorted out too along with the extraction. So on top of serving food, we couldn’t serve beer! I told M and he buried his hands in his face. I honestly thought he was going to cry. Because of the weather it was very difficult getting a repair guy out. The person coming to look at the extraction had literally just called to say he had to turn back due to the water getting too deep, so the kitchen wasn’t getting fixed any time soon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Me: I’m sorry, but I can’t serve anything on tap today. We’ve lost the cooler due to the weather.
SC: Then I want a bottle of wine for free.
Me: No.
SC: Yes. Make it two actually.
Me: How about we make it none and you pay for something?
SC: Well that’s a rather rude thing to say!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because we couldn’t serve cold drinks on tap, a lot of people were ordering hot drinks. This meant we ran out of coffee mugs really quickly.
SC: I want to order a latte.
Me: Sure, I’ll get that for you.
I went and saw there were no mugs.
Me: I will just be a moment. There are no mugs, but there will be some clean ones in the kitchen.
SC: What? What is going on? What’s the problem?
Me: There’s no problem. I just need to grab a mug.
SC: But what is the problem???
Me: There are no mugs.
SC: So???
Me: Well I can’t exactly put a latte in a pint glass.
SC: I don’t understand the problem!
Me: I will just be a moment.
I grabbed a mug and returned. She was whining at a co-worker.
SC: Seriously. What is the problem?
CW: There’s no problem. Look. There he is with your coffee mug.
SC: But I don’t understand what the problem is!
CW looked at me. The look on his face said “What the fuck am I supposed to say to this moron?”
I just ignored her until I completed the order.
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Poor manager. He was getting so much abuse. He sent away a moronic customer who just could not fathom that the floods outside might have, just might have caused some problems. The customer returned a minute later and shoved a phone in my face.
SC: I’m recording you! So please explain to me why you will not give me food.
Me: We cannot serve food because of a massive electrical fault brought on by the flooding that has shorted out our extraction, meaning that there is no where for the heat from the fryers, grills, pans and ovens to go. This will lead to the kitchen hitting temperatures that are too high, meaning that it would not only be wrong to make anyone work in there, but also ILLEGAL. There. Is that good enough?
SC: You’re very rude. And it’s going to show when I put this online. I doubt your manager will be very happy with you.
Me: I haven’t been rude.
SC: You have.
Me: I don’t think it’s fair to talk about rudeness when you’re the one shoving a camera within my personal space.
SC: Ha! See!
He walked away. I’ve searched youtube and haven’t found anything.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Despite the fact that we had so many faults, the pub was still busy. Everyone was just drinking bottles or hot drinks. The phone rings.
SC: Yes, I wanted to make some enquiries about food.
Me: I’m sorry, but we aren’t serving food today.
SC: Oh that’s fine. But I want to go through the menu with you. I’m planning on coming in later in the week.
Me: Oh.
I looked at the bar and saw quite a few customers.
Me: Would you be able to call b-
SC: How much are your burgers?
Me: They start at £x.xx. Unfortunately I need to g-
SC: Do you serve pizza?
Me: No. Right, I need to-
SC: Do you have a children’s menu? How much is it? What do you serve?
Me: This isn’t a good time for this at the moment. Can you call back in the morning at around 9am? Someone will be here who can give you the time.
SC: Fine. I’ll call back later.
I cleared the bar of customers within a couple of minutes. The phone rang again. As I answered, five customers walked up to the bar at the same time. It was the same customer on the phone.
SC: What kind of appetisers do you serve?
He actually started the conversation like that. No hello or anything.
Me: I’m sorry. This is a really bad line? What? What?
I hung up.
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SC: So you’re not serving food or drink?? What kind of place is this??? I want to see the manager!
Me: The manager is currently on the phone trying to get this resolved.
SC: I still want to speak to him!
I was really fed up by this point.
Me: Why? There’s nothing he can do for you. You’re not the first person to speak to him today, so it’s not like he’s unaware of the situation. He’s stressed out enough so I’m not going to get him.
SC: You have to do as I say.
Me: You can speak to me and I will pass on your concerns. But that’s it.
SC: I’m going to call the local newspaper about this!!! You have a DUTY to serve food, and you will not do it! I am going to tell everyone I see about this place! Not just friends and family! I will stop people in the street and tell them! Don’t think I won’t!
Me: OK.
She walked away.
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I finished my shift. Everything was still broken and the repair crews actually couldn’t get to the pub due to so many roads being closed. The problem lasted for two days. Thankfully I was off.
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