Pleasant customers nurture good service
I remember a few years ago asking a good friend who had spent his life in another service industry whether he still enjoyed his work. "It would be great if it weren't for the customers," he replied.
To be honest, I didn't really agree with him, but that might have been because we are in different service industries - he's in laundry and I'm in restaurants.
I have a feeling that the higher up the market one trades, the nicer the people are. Years ago when I was working as an assistant manager at the Imperial in Blackpool, I asked the staff, following a four-week cycle of political conferences, which conference they had enjoyed serving the most.
The Conservatives, they said. It wasn't because they tipped more or because the staff had right wing sympathies, it was because the customers knew how to ask.
Over the years, as we have surreptitiously moved the Angel upmarket our customers seem to have become nicer. Because they are nicer, the staff have enjoyed looking after them and have given them better service - the result is that complaints have fallen.
It came as something of a surprise, therefore, when just before Christmas we got a bad one. And I mean a really bad one!
The people involved did not know how to ask properly, nor did they know how to complain. In fact, I strongly suspect they were setting us up.
Everything was sent back: first course, main course twice, and dessert. The dressings were wrong, the sauces were wrong, the fish wasn't fresh, we didn't know how to make the dessert.
Sometime later I was in the bar when a party who knew me came out of the restaurant. "A very difficult couple on the table next to us," they commented.
"We got the impression from the start they weren't going to pay. They are giving your restaurant manager a really bad time."
So I waited a few minutes and then wandered into the restaurant. Andrew was standing looking forlorn at the table in question.
"Have you not enjoyed your meal?" I asked the customers, quietly with respect. The gentleman then began to regale me about the poor quality, inability and inefficiency of the restaurant and staff.
He said he had eaten all over the world (which probably meant he hadn't) and this was the worst meal he had ever had. He was not going to pay.
I realised that I was not going to win. So I did something I have never done before (although I believe another much greater than me may have!).
I removed his table. The speed of the removal I leave to readers' imaginations but for some reason the salt and pepper pots and a bottle of water fell over.
I personally showed them to the door and I have to admit I felt much better afterwards.
I accept that some in our industry will accuse me of not showing true hospitality. Some may say I set a bad example to my staff.
But I do not believe that we are an industry that should show servility in every circumstance. Above all, I believe we should be willing to stand up for staff when we know that both we and they are in the right.
Some months ago a customer ordered a pint of draught beer, took a drink out of it and asked the barman to top it up. "I can't", said the barman, "you've taken a drink out of it."
"Fill it up," demanded the customer. "I know Denis Watkins."
"I've just served you a pint, if you want some more you'll have to buy it sir," replied the barman. The customer swore across the bar.
Nick, my head barman is only 21 but mature beyond his years. He quietly moved in. "Drink up will you please sir and then please leave. If you wish to complain, Denis Watkins will be in his office at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning," he said.
Nick knew that he would have my support. The customer was what my son Pascal would call "gobsmacked".
Happily, such incidents are extremely limited. I really believe that 99% of customers are pleasant people who appreciate what we are all trying to do.
After 35 years, I think customers are getting better and I still think catering is a fabulous industry.
So don't start ringing me up to warn us that Michael Winner is on his way!
