Family holiday and we have arrived in Cardiff in Wales to see the Australia V Fiji game (Rugby World Cup 2015), we are exploring from our hotel after having a delayed flight and a quite early start from Dublin. Everyone is hungry verging on hangry and we happen upon a place that looks OK, they do eggs and the coffee looks good (this covers my two essential morning ‘eins’ protein and caffeine). We are greeted, seated, fed and caffeined well. The food, service and coffee all get ticks from the family group.
In fact, it’s so good we head back for dinner after the game and have another fantastic experience although this one is much more expensive since there is wine involved and I end up doing the equivalent of online shopping in a store where they bring a shopping list to the table and wrap food items up for you whilst you dine.
The following morning the vote is to return for more of the same breakfast experience that we had the day before. But something is clearly off, the waiters don’t seat and there is not the same attention. I spent my uni years waiting tables and as I am watching I realise that they must be one person short. There is a guy sitting at a table behind us talking to an official looking bloke in a lanyard. We are trying to figure out what’s going on and the kids suggest he is the health inspector. I am mentally disapproving of the fact that the manager is clearly sitting down whilst his staff struggle on. The meeting behind us finishes up at around the same time we do, the food was cold and the experience not as great but it was not disastrous either.
We are feeling a bit like we overplayed it; maybe three times to the one place is just mad as everyone has a bad day (shift) from time to time.
When my husband goes up to pay the bill the manager asks how it was. He comments that we have been there 3 times in 24 hours and that they must have been having a bad morning, as the food was cold.
The manager immediately handed back the money that had just changed hands and insisted it was on him. We were impressed and came back a couple of hours later to get our last take away coffees before the next drive.
Great #people empowered to make good decisions make all the difference.