Over-reacting could damage your health

It was one of the hottest, clammiest and busiest evenings in August. We were packed out, all doors and windows were open, fans were on and staff were frantic. An elderly lady in a group of four sitting at a table in front of the bar fainted.

I did not see her faint; she had already passed out by the time I noticed. Maybe I was showing somebody through to the restaurant; maybe I had a full tray in my hands. I can't remember, but I just had time to register that the old lady was out cold.

A member of her party was comforting her and Carla, one of our waitresses who has nursing experience, was also at the table.

I continued with my duties because business demanded it, thankful that the incident was under control and that no attention was being drawn to the table.

By the time I passed by the table again, someone had found a damp cloth for the lady's forehead and, although her eyes were still closed, she was moving her head slightly. Carla was still with them. I didn't get to the table to speak to Carla as someone was coming in to be seated and I had drinks orders to take.

Fishy behaviour

A little later, as I came back behind the bar, I heard a loud male voice asking one of the bar staff how many customers had ordered the salmon-trout that evening.

He went on to explain that a colleague in his party of 10 was not feeling well and had just eaten the fish. The man was outside cooling off.

I glanced out through our new French windows into the courtyard, where several tables were occupied in the cool evening air. At a table under the dovecote arch was a man who looked as though he had fallen asleep across the table, head resting on his arms.

In a blur as I was trying to tot up the round of drinks I was serving, I heard one of the staff tell him that we didn't have salmon-trout on that night.

There was trout on the bar menu, there was salmon on the restaurant menu. But there was no salmon-trout.

"Well what fish has thatlady eaten then?" he asked. I realised he must have noticed the lady who had fainted in the bar and had already decided he was in the middle of a fast-developing food-poisoning scare that he was going to make the most of.

Medical aides

As I left the bar, the agitated man was walking back to his table clutching the bar menu and the restaurant menu, muttering and studying them both closely. He seemed to have forgotten his supposedly ill colleague outside on his own.

By the next time I was at the bar, an ambulance had arrived, one paramedic was attending to the lady in front of the bar, another was in the toilet attending to a man who, a customer informed me on the way out, was throwing up all over the floor on his hands and knees.

For a moment I thought we had three cases of illness on our hands. It was then I began to get a bit concerned. Who had phoned for the ambulance? Who was the gent in the loo throwing up? What was the mess like?

It turned out that the man in the loo was the same man who had been outside earlier - he had just had a bit too much to drink.

The lady in the bar had come round by the time medical aid arrived and was chatting to the ambulance man.

Afterwards, I realised how impressed I was with Carla, who mentioned she had asked if it was all right to check inside the lady's handbag for any sign of medication she may have taken.

It turned out she was on a prescription painkiller that didn't mix with alcohol. Pleased as punch when she was fully recovered, the lady informed all of us gathered round that she had had a lovely time.

When pressed, she admitted to having four sherries and a liqueur earlier in the evening, but that it was most likely her over-tight corset that had caused her to faint.

Because the incident had occurred on a very busy night we were forced, through looking after the other 200 people in the place, not to over-react when someone passed out and forced not to be goaded into an argument with a customer in a belligerent mood.

Rise to the occasion

I confess to thinking afterwards that if I had had time to speak with him, I would have been a bit miffed at his demands to know what the cause of two people feeling unwell at the same time could be, and expecting us to give him an answer just like that.

Such an evening reminded me how, even under pressure, staff can rise to the occasion and take control. It also reminded me how, sometimes, customers are not fair to the restaurateur.

But God forbid we should ever tell them they were in the wrong!