On Saturday a lovely young couple ordered, amongst other things, a cream tea.
So far, nothing unusual.
We took their tea, scone, jam and cream to their table in the conservatory.
Just as it should be.
Seconds later the young man returned to the counter to say they hadn't been given their cream. We were confused. "Did we bring your scone?" we asked.
"Yes," he replied, "the scone came with jam and cream....but there wasn't any cream to go in the tea."
Then on Sunday a lady asked for a pot of tea, drank it, and then returned to the counter to berate us for giving her too much. "I could have had four cups out of that one pot," she said crossly, "and I only wanted one."
That left us open mouthed....
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Monday, 13 April 2015
Friday, 10 April 2015
More is more
The great weather continues with summer temperatures and lots of sunshine. It's meant to be the last day of it today. Staying dry for the weekend but a more normal 11 degrees.
We've been open two weeks.
That's all.
The first week was breakages week, and now feels like we've run a marathon every day for the past seven days.
We've taken the plunge and bought the borrowed coffee machine. It's bigger and better in every way and it would have been hard to return to the small one after that (now fixed). We're going to keep the littl'un for emergencies. Fingers crossed we won't need it.
We've been open two weeks.
That's all.
The first week was breakages week, and now feels like we've run a marathon every day for the past seven days.
We've taken the plunge and bought the borrowed coffee machine. It's bigger and better in every way and it would have been hard to return to the small one after that (now fixed). We're going to keep the littl'un for emergencies. Fingers crossed we won't need it.
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
No butts
I couldn't have written anything yesterday.
Easter Monday is usually busy but this was beyond superlatives and I was far too tired to try to sum it up.
Mary had made ninety scones in the morning. All gone by 4.30, and even if we had more to sell we'd run out of cream.
We also ran out of bread, panini, baking potatoes, tea cakes, hot cross buns, red onion marmalade, cheese, smoked salmon and peppers.
We did not run out of milk chiefly because we had 64 pints delivered yesterday morning.
This morning I had to go out for more.
Today was lovely. Busy, but not on yesterday's scale.
A group of ladies were in the garden at the end of the day. One told me that she always likes to help clear her own table ever since a stint working in the BHS restaurant:
"That was back in the days," she said, "when people would stub their cigarettes out in their food."
Which somehow made me feel a lot better.
Easter Monday is usually busy but this was beyond superlatives and I was far too tired to try to sum it up.
Mary had made ninety scones in the morning. All gone by 4.30, and even if we had more to sell we'd run out of cream.
We also ran out of bread, panini, baking potatoes, tea cakes, hot cross buns, red onion marmalade, cheese, smoked salmon and peppers.
We did not run out of milk chiefly because we had 64 pints delivered yesterday morning.
This morning I had to go out for more.
Today was lovely. Busy, but not on yesterday's scale.
A group of ladies were in the garden at the end of the day. One told me that she always likes to help clear her own table ever since a stint working in the BHS restaurant:
"That was back in the days," she said, "when people would stub their cigarettes out in their food."
Which somehow made me feel a lot better.
Sunday, 5 April 2015
Bad
Yesterday Will carried a tray out to the garden and called out the order number.
He was greeted by a man waving his numbered spoon who called out, "Over here, bitch".
The other people at the table were apparently very apologetic and told their friend that he'd been very rude.
His excuse was that he didn't mean it, it was a joke, he was just using a phrase from Breaking Bad.
When Will came back in to tell us we wanted to know how old the perpetrator was?
Will answered that the people at the table were "quite old". But then he's 18 so most people are quite old in comparison.
He was greeted by a man waving his numbered spoon who called out, "Over here, bitch".
The other people at the table were apparently very apologetic and told their friend that he'd been very rude.
His excuse was that he didn't mean it, it was a joke, he was just using a phrase from Breaking Bad.
When Will came back in to tell us we wanted to know how old the perpetrator was?
Will answered that the people at the table were "quite old". But then he's 18 so most people are quite old in comparison.
Saturday, 4 April 2015
Above and Beyond
So, back to Thursday. The engineer arrived at 4.30 and "fixed" the coffee machine. He tried to explain what was wrong with it. I didn't really understand.
Turned out, neither did he really, because yesterday morning when I turned it on EXACTLY THE SAME THING HAPPENED.
I was on my own, having gone in early to bake, and I'm ashamed to say I had a minor meltdown.
There were a few tears.
Because of course by now it's Friday. Good Friday. A Bank Holiday. So the manufacturer is closed and the engineer is enjoying a day off. He may even have decided to take the family out for the day. Somewhere where they could enjoy a nice cup of coffee.......
Anyway, step forward Ethical Addictions, the company which supplies my excellent coffee beans. Huw had been trying to sort out the repair for me and had foolishly given me his mobile number. I rang it. At the end of my tether.
Bear in mind Huw was also "enjoying" a day off (until I called). He offered to loan me their office coffee machine, twice the size of mine. George went to collect it and had a quick lesson in plumbing-in & setting-up, arriving back before the afternoon rush. We were making cappuccino after latte after mocha within minutes.
So now we have it, and it works beautifully.
Both Meg and Annie don't want to give it back.
Today we've been astonishingly busy, a proper holiday weekend feel with loads of families. Our first lunch orders came at 11.30. People could actually sit in the garden - the sun came out this afternoon.
And thanks to Huw we haven't had to disappoint the coffee-lovers.
Turned out, neither did he really, because yesterday morning when I turned it on EXACTLY THE SAME THING HAPPENED.
I was on my own, having gone in early to bake, and I'm ashamed to say I had a minor meltdown.
There were a few tears.
Because of course by now it's Friday. Good Friday. A Bank Holiday. So the manufacturer is closed and the engineer is enjoying a day off. He may even have decided to take the family out for the day. Somewhere where they could enjoy a nice cup of coffee.......
Anyway, step forward Ethical Addictions, the company which supplies my excellent coffee beans. Huw had been trying to sort out the repair for me and had foolishly given me his mobile number. I rang it. At the end of my tether.
Bear in mind Huw was also "enjoying" a day off (until I called). He offered to loan me their office coffee machine, twice the size of mine. George went to collect it and had a quick lesson in plumbing-in & setting-up, arriving back before the afternoon rush. We were making cappuccino after latte after mocha within minutes.
So now we have it, and it works beautifully.
Both Meg and Annie don't want to give it back.
Today we've been astonishingly busy, a proper holiday weekend feel with loads of families. Our first lunch orders came at 11.30. People could actually sit in the garden - the sun came out this afternoon.
And thanks to Huw we haven't had to disappoint the coffee-lovers.
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Grinding to a halt
Enough. Please make it stop.
This morning the coffee machine broke down. It refused point blank to warm up then dumped a lot of water all over the serving area.
The engineer has been called.
We're third on his list for tomorrow so I'm hoping the first two calls are to people who have simply forgotten how to plug in their machine ....
A young couple with their gorgeous Dalmatian came in early and went to sit in the conservatory. They were back at the counter within a minute to ask if we had anything they could use to clear up after their dog who'd been sick. A lot. They apologised about ten times and insisted on clearing and cleaning and mopping. I bet their tea was almost cold by the time they got to it.
In better news...our huge gate was in the process of being replaced and painted as I left this evening. Plus the card machine seems to have settled in, and we're all rather taken by the ham slicer which works a treat.
I hope I haven't spoken too soon.
We had a busy day of ice creams and panini, sandwiches and lots of scones, ham slicing and coleslaw making.
This morning the coffee machine broke down. It refused point blank to warm up then dumped a lot of water all over the serving area.
The engineer has been called.
We're third on his list for tomorrow so I'm hoping the first two calls are to people who have simply forgotten how to plug in their machine ....
A young couple with their gorgeous Dalmatian came in early and went to sit in the conservatory. They were back at the counter within a minute to ask if we had anything they could use to clear up after their dog who'd been sick. A lot. They apologised about ten times and insisted on clearing and cleaning and mopping. I bet their tea was almost cold by the time they got to it.
In better news...our huge gate was in the process of being replaced and painted as I left this evening. Plus the card machine seems to have settled in, and we're all rather taken by the ham slicer which works a treat.
I hope I haven't spoken too soon.
We had a busy day of ice creams and panini, sandwiches and lots of scones, ham slicing and coleslaw making.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)