Hellall,
as friends and regular readers, of any posts which I now infrequently find the time to write, will know, I don't consider pubs a place one goes to get scran. That said, I do often go out with the other Wees into Staffordshire and with Mumraah and Keet to Crookes for the same. Last week WF had a few issues in his flat and offered to take us out for a meal.
I have only been to the Phoenix at Ridgeway, possibly in fact at High Lane but equally not, twice before. Once when I was a child, and once back in September after coming out of A and E. That time the food was good and the ale OK so at 19.30 we headed off back for a meal. Arriving at 19.40 we dropped WF at the entrance and I ran in, put my coat on a chair and headed to the bar with three menus. Cue being ignored.
Five minutes or more later WF had finally reached the bar and me and WK ad already chosen. There were three staff behind the bar, all running between the other end and the kitchen. At 19.50 I finally got a response when I asked if I could order some food "not at this time no". As WK pointed out, it said they served til 20.00 on their website and elsewhere, and asked that since we only wanted mains could they do that, but the woman said "not tonight" before reignoring us.
We told WF to swap his glasses back and walk back to the car - he was not impressed. "what's the point of spending all that money on refurbishment if you aren't going to serve food?". It was a fair question. There had been a huge amount spent on the refurb. Five minutes later we were holding the door open for WF looking at the sign which still asked you to grab a table and number and go to the bar to order food. Keith did point out that they should take it down - its an A Frame so could just be folded shut and turned round. No answer was made.
As we awaited WK to bring the car to the bottom of the steps for WF, 10 minutes after he had been told they weren't serving food, and with a couple behind us planning to order at an Indian restaurant instead, we decided to call the White Swan in Ridgeway itself. They told us we would need to order by 20.15 and having found out there was three of us told us to grab a table in the right hand side. Five minutes later I was at the bar, and ten minutes later WF was. Me and WK had hunters chicken with the wonderful home made chips, whilst WF opted for partridge and sherry pie with chips. The food came in 20 minutes and was absolutely delicious.
We washed it don with pints of Stancill India red from a choice of three local real ales. We have been going in the Swan for nearly thirty years and the ale used to be Bass which was good but it wasn't always that impressive, and sometimes wasn't on at all. When we had last gone three years ago and sat for the first time in the room on the left, am guessing it was the present owners as they had two or three ales on then as well.
We had stopped going in because for a period they stopped doing food on a Monday but the rudeness and lack of organisation of the nearby Greedy King outpost helped to show us what we had been missing. WF had gone to the Swan for a meal for his 60th in the early noughties so we have appreciated the food, and now the beer range, for many years. I can't forget their goulash and peppered pork stews from that era.
Am not for a minute trying to pull some sort of provider and client relationship card here by the way. The Phoenix however is entirely a food venue so to get that wrong, and provide no explanation or apology, is really very bad. Its like setting up a gin wagon and running out of gin. You have one thing to do.....
The worst part is that the two pubs are s close together. Two very different sides of virtually the same coin. Oh, and the fact that they couldn't have manged to ignore WF's slow tortured walk to the bar and his looking at the menus, yet nobody ventured to tell us that we were in fact wasting our time.
At least we have rediscovered the excellent beer and food in the White Swan now. I think our next Monday night pub meal will be there.
Your very best health
Wee Beefy
Showing posts with label Customer Service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Customer Service. Show all posts
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Monday, 2 March 2015
Very poor at the Peacock
Hello,
despite recent moans, this post isn't in fact, about my current financial status. I mean, it may well be in two weeks time but at present I am getting by OK. Instead, this is a post about a practice which occurs in some pubs and not others. Its a practice that I can see no justification for, and, had I not noticed, would have, at least made me marginally more poor.
Yesterday me and Tash found ourselves in Bakewell. As far as I know all Bakewell's pubs (so I am not counting the Thornbridge selling bar by the river) sell real ale, and often the best choice has been at one pub, the Peacock. As we had an hour or two to fill we went in the Peacock, based on previous experiences, and ordered a pint and a half - Peak Ales Chatsworth Gold , which is 5% I think. This came to a rather surprising £5.60 but we didn't really think about it until later.
As a guzzler I was well ahead of Tash and so went back to the bar for a quick last one and ordered a half of Peak Ales Swift Nick. This is a slightly less pale 3.8% session beer. The barman pulled me a pint, which I pointed out was not what I wanted, then he poured half into the correct sized glass and asked for £2.00 which I gave him without thinking - although I didn't know it was so weak and had been thinking it was stronger. Even so, £4.00 a pint for a local real ale is steep.
After returning to sit in the snug with Tash I figured the barman had made an error. Well, two, if you count assuming I wanted a pint. So as Tash left I went to the bar and asked, politely, how much Swift Nick was. I was told it was £3.60 a pint - they all were. I asked him, and a barmaid now as well, why he had charged me £2.00 a half and he said "because that's how we do it".
So, a drinker wanting only a hakf - maybe a car driver, someone elderly, someone who simply didn't want another pint, pays an extra 20 pence. Just for having a half. What? The actual?
With Tash waiting outside I plumped not to ask further questions of the barman, or manager or landlord, who looked very much like he wanted an argument, so I walked out, but then fumed about it for the rest of the night. People have previously claimed to me that half pint glasses cost more to wash up so you round up the cost by 5p to cover that. This is absurd. Others have told me that it is to "encourage" drinkers to have pints, like in my post here (although that isn't stated, but someone said it might be the thinking. Whatevs...).
Whichever unlikely reason you attribute its an extra tax to pay which you shouldn't have to. There is no justification for ripping off people drinking a half. If the bar person had been honest and warned me (two halves, different staff) that would have made a difference. If the price list (and there is one) records it that is marginally better, although I didn't look at it because the writing is too small. However, to just say "that's how we do it" is terrible customer service, and is neither an explanation nor justification.
I don't know what your experiences of paying extra for a half are but I'm willing to bet that you weren't told about the needless surcharge first, and also, that it didn't amount to an extra 20p on an already overpriced beer. Luckily, other Bakewell hostelries came to our rescue.
In the meantime, my advice is, don't go to the Peacock. Not even for once of their bargain £23.00 12oz steaks.....
Wee Beefy
despite recent moans, this post isn't in fact, about my current financial status. I mean, it may well be in two weeks time but at present I am getting by OK. Instead, this is a post about a practice which occurs in some pubs and not others. Its a practice that I can see no justification for, and, had I not noticed, would have, at least made me marginally more poor.
Yesterday me and Tash found ourselves in Bakewell. As far as I know all Bakewell's pubs (so I am not counting the Thornbridge selling bar by the river) sell real ale, and often the best choice has been at one pub, the Peacock. As we had an hour or two to fill we went in the Peacock, based on previous experiences, and ordered a pint and a half - Peak Ales Chatsworth Gold , which is 5% I think. This came to a rather surprising £5.60 but we didn't really think about it until later.
As a guzzler I was well ahead of Tash and so went back to the bar for a quick last one and ordered a half of Peak Ales Swift Nick. This is a slightly less pale 3.8% session beer. The barman pulled me a pint, which I pointed out was not what I wanted, then he poured half into the correct sized glass and asked for £2.00 which I gave him without thinking - although I didn't know it was so weak and had been thinking it was stronger. Even so, £4.00 a pint for a local real ale is steep.
After returning to sit in the snug with Tash I figured the barman had made an error. Well, two, if you count assuming I wanted a pint. So as Tash left I went to the bar and asked, politely, how much Swift Nick was. I was told it was £3.60 a pint - they all were. I asked him, and a barmaid now as well, why he had charged me £2.00 a half and he said "because that's how we do it".
So, a drinker wanting only a hakf - maybe a car driver, someone elderly, someone who simply didn't want another pint, pays an extra 20 pence. Just for having a half. What? The actual?
With Tash waiting outside I plumped not to ask further questions of the barman, or manager or landlord, who looked very much like he wanted an argument, so I walked out, but then fumed about it for the rest of the night. People have previously claimed to me that half pint glasses cost more to wash up so you round up the cost by 5p to cover that. This is absurd. Others have told me that it is to "encourage" drinkers to have pints, like in my post here (although that isn't stated, but someone said it might be the thinking. Whatevs...).
Whichever unlikely reason you attribute its an extra tax to pay which you shouldn't have to. There is no justification for ripping off people drinking a half. If the bar person had been honest and warned me (two halves, different staff) that would have made a difference. If the price list (and there is one) records it that is marginally better, although I didn't look at it because the writing is too small. However, to just say "that's how we do it" is terrible customer service, and is neither an explanation nor justification.
I don't know what your experiences of paying extra for a half are but I'm willing to bet that you weren't told about the needless surcharge first, and also, that it didn't amount to an extra 20p on an already overpriced beer. Luckily, other Bakewell hostelries came to our rescue.
In the meantime, my advice is, don't go to the Peacock. Not even for once of their bargain £23.00 12oz steaks.....
Wee Beefy
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Cash Machshame?
Hello,
Sunday dawned bright and developed sunny so myself, Wee Keefy and Miss N embarked on a yomp in the country, ending at a public house. Tonight, Monday evening dawned dark and wet so myself and Miss N embarked on a yomp to the pub. Two very different pubs were encountered. Two very different outcomes prevailed.
Sunday saw us park up near Surprise View on the way to Hathersage to hike up through the woods and up to the top of the rocks overlooking Hathersage, Ringinglow, Burbage and Fox House. A scrabble and a cross country clamber later, with daunting grey skies over Padley Gorge, we headed out on to the road and then back through the woods to the car. We then decided to drive to the Millstone in Hathersage.
This was my first visit and I was pleased to see local real ales on the bar. I figured, being a food venue, I could pay on my card. I could perhaps have scraped together the pennies to buy Wee Keefy a pint and myself and Miss N a half each but that wasn't ideal, and besides, WK was driving, so would only be supping one. As it was I was informed on asking they did accept cards and our round included a pint of Deception for me, a pint of Batemans Autumn Red (or Haze!) for Miss n and a pint of the Yorkshire brewed Millstone bitter for WK. It came to £9.50, which is commensurate with the average £.3.15 a pint cost. It was rather nice, and we sat outside to sup the beer.
Guzzler I then went back for two more pints intending to pay with cash. Having got there, I decided it was probably better to pay by card. This time the bar staff stated that purchases under $10.00 attracted a surcharge of 50p. So I looked bewildered, as any rational person would, and paid with almost all of my change. So why the £10.00 minimum?
Having worked in an off license I know the sort of prices you could expect to pay the card machine companies. About 22p for credit cards and about 10-15 for debit, albeit in 2008. Any retailer already familiar with the benefit of allowing card payments would factor this into their prices but set a limit around £5.00. This isn't taking the piss, and is a legitimate expectation. I asked whether at £9.50, having not had the surcharge communicated, my first bill would have been subject to it and was informed that bill totals near £10.00 would have the fee waived. When I asked how I would know this, I was told there was a sign round what looked like the other side of the bar. There is no way, having just had an eye operation, I would have been able to see this. So why create this annoyance and potential deceit by making the rule ambiguous?
Tonight meanwhile, I arrived at Shakespeares and had a pint of Pixie Spring Prince of Bombay IPA at 5.5% which was only £3.00 a pint, plus a pint of the Salamander Spectre Porter for Miss N, who also tried the latest Dr Morton's special.. I also had a couple of pints of the Pixie Spring plus myself and Miss N shared a very inexpensive bottle of Nogne O Imperial Brown at £5.0 a bottle, plus halves of the Lowenbrau (or!) Paulaner Oktoberfest.. Throughout I paid by card, except where I got money back, allowing me to pay with real cash thereafter. The limit was £5.00 which it is almost everywhere on Earth, and I and the pub derived benefit form the cash withdrawn.
There are many pubs I go to which don't allow you to pay by card and that's fine. As a connoisseur of old and unsoilt pubs the existence of such venues is a great relief to me. However, if a pub does allow such payments that is also fine, not least because it furnishes the desirous spontaneity of a surprise pint after work, and encourages punters to buy more ale. The details of that arrangement have to be conveyed, and make sense, however.
I;m not suggesting that all pubs should allow card payments, but if your establishment does,. I'd suggest you make the rules clear, advise of them, and make them logical. Otherwise, you leave yourself open to looking a bit pernickety and like you haven't thought the process through properly....
Wee Beefy
Sunday dawned bright and developed sunny so myself, Wee Keefy and Miss N embarked on a yomp in the country, ending at a public house. Tonight, Monday evening dawned dark and wet so myself and Miss N embarked on a yomp to the pub. Two very different pubs were encountered. Two very different outcomes prevailed.
Sunday saw us park up near Surprise View on the way to Hathersage to hike up through the woods and up to the top of the rocks overlooking Hathersage, Ringinglow, Burbage and Fox House. A scrabble and a cross country clamber later, with daunting grey skies over Padley Gorge, we headed out on to the road and then back through the woods to the car. We then decided to drive to the Millstone in Hathersage.
This was my first visit and I was pleased to see local real ales on the bar. I figured, being a food venue, I could pay on my card. I could perhaps have scraped together the pennies to buy Wee Keefy a pint and myself and Miss N a half each but that wasn't ideal, and besides, WK was driving, so would only be supping one. As it was I was informed on asking they did accept cards and our round included a pint of Deception for me, a pint of Batemans Autumn Red (or Haze!) for Miss n and a pint of the Yorkshire brewed Millstone bitter for WK. It came to £9.50, which is commensurate with the average £.3.15 a pint cost. It was rather nice, and we sat outside to sup the beer.
Guzzler I then went back for two more pints intending to pay with cash. Having got there, I decided it was probably better to pay by card. This time the bar staff stated that purchases under $10.00 attracted a surcharge of 50p. So I looked bewildered, as any rational person would, and paid with almost all of my change. So why the £10.00 minimum?
Having worked in an off license I know the sort of prices you could expect to pay the card machine companies. About 22p for credit cards and about 10-15 for debit, albeit in 2008. Any retailer already familiar with the benefit of allowing card payments would factor this into their prices but set a limit around £5.00. This isn't taking the piss, and is a legitimate expectation. I asked whether at £9.50, having not had the surcharge communicated, my first bill would have been subject to it and was informed that bill totals near £10.00 would have the fee waived. When I asked how I would know this, I was told there was a sign round what looked like the other side of the bar. There is no way, having just had an eye operation, I would have been able to see this. So why create this annoyance and potential deceit by making the rule ambiguous?
Tonight meanwhile, I arrived at Shakespeares and had a pint of Pixie Spring Prince of Bombay IPA at 5.5% which was only £3.00 a pint, plus a pint of the Salamander Spectre Porter for Miss N, who also tried the latest Dr Morton's special.. I also had a couple of pints of the Pixie Spring plus myself and Miss N shared a very inexpensive bottle of Nogne O Imperial Brown at £5.0 a bottle, plus halves of the Lowenbrau (or!) Paulaner Oktoberfest.. Throughout I paid by card, except where I got money back, allowing me to pay with real cash thereafter. The limit was £5.00 which it is almost everywhere on Earth, and I and the pub derived benefit form the cash withdrawn.
There are many pubs I go to which don't allow you to pay by card and that's fine. As a connoisseur of old and unsoilt pubs the existence of such venues is a great relief to me. However, if a pub does allow such payments that is also fine, not least because it furnishes the desirous spontaneity of a surprise pint after work, and encourages punters to buy more ale. The details of that arrangement have to be conveyed, and make sense, however.
I;m not suggesting that all pubs should allow card payments, but if your establishment does,. I'd suggest you make the rules clear, advise of them, and make them logical. Otherwise, you leave yourself open to looking a bit pernickety and like you haven't thought the process through properly....
Wee Beefy
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Pub courtesies
Hello,
I have read a few posts recently by Tandleman highlighting the rather abstract view of politeness and unselfish pub behaviour demonstrated in some London hostelries latest here. I have noticed however that this is a widespread malaise, and throughout the UK people seem to have quite forthright views on pub etiquette and the rules defining the relationship between customer and staff.
One comment on the post struck me in particular :
"I'm physically incapable of leaving a pub without trying to catch the eye of someone behind the bar to say cheerio - it's an instinctive reaction, like looking right when crossing the road. But on this count alone, in the last ten years of pub-going in London, I've seen a big drop in the number of bar staff looking up to see if you're leaving." (Gueuzel)
This is a joyous affirmation of my own outlook in terms of pubgoer and pub staff interaction - an all too often encountered blight on an otherwise brilliant visit which can be so easily avoided. Here is my slant on the attitude of barstaff and the role of customers.
Hassle
The other reason is probably my Dad. I spent much of my formative drinking years in pubs with Wee Fatha, certainly when I tried my first real ale, and definitely on my first visits to far away pubs. His contribution to the pubgoer and barstaff experience is that he always says, sometimes in a single conjoined word, "oritethanks" when he leaves any pub, whether he has enjoyed his visit or not. That's a strong influence that I am glad I haven't shook off. (the strange thing is, he used to be a bus driver - so between us we have a strong shared knowledge of good, and bad, customer interaction)
Mainly, and crucially though, its because saying hello and goodbye is just polite. Whether you are serving or slaking.
Absence of welcome
Because the other problem is that no matter how determined the customer might be to maintain the two way exchange of warm words, some pubs just don't have a human touch. Customers are numbers, pints sold or meals masticated; the staff only look at the till, not your face. It seems that interest in the cursory hello and goodbye and the conscious treaty of civility between barkeep and barfly is waining fast.
Personally, I fully intend to keep on being polite, but every now and again I come upon and up against a hostelry so devoid of customer appreciation that its difficult to know how to react. So I shall leave this subject with a quote from my first ever post about a pub where pleasantries seemed gratuitous and indeed engagement of any kind seemed abnormal :
"Heading further into Sussex the level of hospitality dropped. Deep in Winnie the Pooh country, The Hatch at Colemans Hatch was a stark contrast to the New Inn. This unfriendly restaurant stocks a few beers to sell to its valued food customers and had no proviso for either welcoming or seating financially unrewarding drinkers. Squinting in pretentious near darkness at the pumps we selected Larkin’s traditional and more Harvey’s before finding a much sought after seat in the garden. The beer was fine, but when my Dad took the glasses back (as a courteous person would) the bar person looked at him with derision, and then glared at us when we said goodbye. Judging by the prices I am sure that the pub can easily afford to alienate drinkers, but it’s disappointing that financial demands should affect visitors to that extent."
Its time we re-established the pubgoer/pub worker relationship. Saying hello and goodbye isn't difficult for any of us, after all...
Wee Beefy
I have read a few posts recently by Tandleman highlighting the rather abstract view of politeness and unselfish pub behaviour demonstrated in some London hostelries latest here. I have noticed however that this is a widespread malaise, and throughout the UK people seem to have quite forthright views on pub etiquette and the rules defining the relationship between customer and staff.
One comment on the post struck me in particular :
"I'm physically incapable of leaving a pub without trying to catch the eye of someone behind the bar to say cheerio - it's an instinctive reaction, like looking right when crossing the road. But on this count alone, in the last ten years of pub-going in London, I've seen a big drop in the number of bar staff looking up to see if you're leaving." (Gueuzel)
This is a joyous affirmation of my own outlook in terms of pubgoer and pub staff interaction - an all too often encountered blight on an otherwise brilliant visit which can be so easily avoided. Here is my slant on the attitude of barstaff and the role of customers.
Hassle
Lets start by, as only Beefy must, adding a caveat. Like the role of being a bus driver or school teacher, I wouldn't want the job of working behind a bar (anymore). Not least because, like bus drivers and teachers, your job entails dealing with emotionally undeveloped, irrational, aggressive idiots on a regular basis. (please note, the above image is illustrative, any resemblance to a bar you might have been stood at is co-incidental, and any description of customers above is unrelated to anyone accidentally featured in the above picture, or actually there at the time.... )
So, caveats in place, its useful to remember that for a small number of usually louder punters, being an absolute cock is a behavioural prerequisite, leaving staff disheartened, annoyed, and immune to the needs of customers. So its important to think about what staff might be expecting from you.
However, pubs aren't always rammed, or indeed filled with ignorant clientele. Most of my shitty politeness experiences have come in quiet pubs. If you are one of only a couple or indeed the only person in a pub, being ignored or not speaking to the member of staff seems particularly rude.
Reasons (for) Greetings
The thing is, as Gueuzel points out, I too find it almost impossible to not engage with barstaff on leaving, even if only to give a nod and facial affirmation, or to say "cheers" or "see you". Weirdly, sometimes when I leave I find that I am willing even to wait for the reappearance of the barstaff who served me just to give my farewell. This is particularly prevalent in pubs I rarely visit.
But why?
Well, firstly, its because I used to work behind a bar. Mainly this was in a real ale off license and at occasional beer festivals. Admittedly I didn't really find many problems at the shop, in fact it was a great place to meet remarkable, interesting and inspiring people from different backgrounds who shared a love of ale. Here, one of the great joys for me was talking with customers, not even always to find out what they wanted to buy. Just taking the time to hear what they had to say. That engagement is something that I find I miss when I am on the other side of the bar.
Mainly, and crucially though, its because saying hello and goodbye is just polite. Whether you are serving or slaking.
Absence of welcome
Because the other problem is that no matter how determined the customer might be to maintain the two way exchange of warm words, some pubs just don't have a human touch. Customers are numbers, pints sold or meals masticated; the staff only look at the till, not your face. It seems that interest in the cursory hello and goodbye and the conscious treaty of civility between barkeep and barfly is waining fast.
Personally, I fully intend to keep on being polite, but every now and again I come upon and up against a hostelry so devoid of customer appreciation that its difficult to know how to react. So I shall leave this subject with a quote from my first ever post about a pub where pleasantries seemed gratuitous and indeed engagement of any kind seemed abnormal :
"Heading further into Sussex the level of hospitality dropped. Deep in Winnie the Pooh country, The Hatch at Colemans Hatch was a stark contrast to the New Inn. This unfriendly restaurant stocks a few beers to sell to its valued food customers and had no proviso for either welcoming or seating financially unrewarding drinkers. Squinting in pretentious near darkness at the pumps we selected Larkin’s traditional and more Harvey’s before finding a much sought after seat in the garden. The beer was fine, but when my Dad took the glasses back (as a courteous person would) the bar person looked at him with derision, and then glared at us when we said goodbye. Judging by the prices I am sure that the pub can easily afford to alienate drinkers, but it’s disappointing that financial demands should affect visitors to that extent."
Its time we re-established the pubgoer/pub worker relationship. Saying hello and goodbye isn't difficult for any of us, after all...
Wee Beefy
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