Bar bill was under par on our golf trip
During the last month I have had a couple of opportunities to be customer rather than provider - and had mixed experiences.
First, my wife and I spent a week in Malta. We had never been there before and enjoyed it. However, on our first morning we decided to take a bus into the capital city, Valletta. We were told the fare was only 15 cents, so we enter the bus brandishing a Maltese £2 note. To our amazement, the driver exclaimed: "No change, no change, get off bus." My wife and I were stunned, to say the least.
We jumped off, looked at each other and wondered what we were doing here. Not a very good first impression. Happily, we found most of the people to be extremely friendly and hospitable, but bus drivers in general were definitely lacking in customer-care skills.
My second experience was completely different. I spent a golfing weekend with some friends in England. A very reasonable package included bed, breakfast, evening meal, golf and a golfers' lunch. The only additional outlay would be for drinks, but with five men on a golfing weekend, that can run quite high.
Each day we ran a tab for drinks and settled up in the evening. Seemed quite easy, but although the staff could cope with this arrangement, the bar control system was definitely challenged. Certain items were omitted from the total each day, and although this was pointed out, the result was that whatever the system had not included, was lost.
Exactly the same thing happened to us last year at a completely different golf course. So was it the systems or the people using them? Because this involved a number of different people, you would have to say the system was at fault. And if this were your system, how would you know it was happening? You may have a bad stock-take, costings may be high, but would you know if the system itself were losing you income?
When we book next year's golfing weekend, my questions may not be about the golfing package, but about what type of bar control system is in operation, and hope for another cheap weekend.
RICHARD WARE is catering and premises services manager at the London Borough of Havering
Next diary from Richard Ware: 12 July
