Other side of the enjoying going out again threads...

[lardyboy]

Really enjoying reading about people having great experiences going out to sit in comfort for a night out, even though there are strict rules to follow. I just wanted to share my experience from the other side last night.

As some of you may know, we took over a pub as managers, two weeks before we opened for outside table service only. the five weeks until the easing of rules, allowing people inside have been hard work, with the weather meaning some days have been dreadfully quiet and others the gardens have been full, front and back. It's been amazing, a great learning experience, we've met lots of wonderful people and it's been terrific fun, as well as stressful. Last night was the most stressful night we've had.

On Tuesday, our manager arranged an electrician to come and fix some unfinished electrical work in one of our newly refitted bed and breakfast rooms. He finished quickly and disappeared. When I finished my day job - I work in the home office doing IT self-employed - I went into the room, excited to see our third room closer to being ready to let. There was a fresh hole in the ceiling where the light fitting had been replaced and the fixed light switch was now fitted neatly in the wall, right underneath the old, non-working one, so you have a fifty-fifty chance of not switching the lights on first try. Then, shortly before opening, my wife discovered that the dishwasher was no longer working and half of the plugs in the kitchen, the ones operating the fryers, were no longer working, as well as half the lights in the ladies toilets.

We opened but had to apologise for not being able to offer food, unless it was a salad. Turns out the electrician had told our manager, who decided not to say anything to us.

We were going to lose some money, but the big problem was that last night (Thursday) was our first quiz night. The village had been talking about it for a fortnight and we had eleven teams, up to six people per team and almost all of them wanting the curry we had advertised for our quiz and curry night. Remarkably, my wonderful wife managed to cook food for all of them on the stove/in the oven, even the extra orders we weren't expecting were catered for - although the last ones had no rice, just naan bread. Our waitresses were running between tables all night, amazing young ladies.

The quiz was run, was a success and though there wasn't a lot of laughter during the quiz, there was a great deal of hilarity when the final scores were announced, with lots of jokes being passed between teams.

We closed at 11 and then set to tidying up, then handwashing all of the plates. We finished at 1:30. I was heading to bed and I discovered that our puppy has found one of our granddaughter's school shoes (she was staying overnight as our daughter was behind the bar all evening). The whole heel was missing

Checked google, the nearest big Tesco was supposed to be 24hrs opening. I arrived there at 2am. It was closed. Alarm set for 5:30, in bed by 2:30 and back at same Tesco for 6am to buy a temporary pair for today. Three hours sleep and today has been a struggle

So, I really hope everyone is really enjoying their nights out and remember that someone is working very hard to make sure yur night is great

[2point]

Your locals are lucky to have you, a caring publican is to be treasured.

Good luck with the incoming increase in trade!

[Bianca]

Kudos to you and your wife for how positively you dealt with it all.

Wishing you much success with the pub - and a bit more sleep.

[Tinks2014]

Wishing you all the best. I hope people appreciate you and your hard working staff . Sounds like a wonderful place to go.

[meboo]

I’m stressed just reading this ! Well done for getting through it

[Blue nose]

Fantastic effort. Well done.

[katiebaz]

Reading this has made me smile and big kudos for you for doing this. It is hugely hard work but also rewarding. We used to run a hotel with bar and restaurant and remember many such days. Including part of the ceiling collapsing onto a table following a burst pipe, fortunately the guests had just vacated it! We woke up one morning to a fridge that had stopped working overnight with all the breakfast food on it - resulting in me frantically buying eggs, bacon etc at 7am so we could cook everyone breakfast!

Good luck with it all - very hard work and exhausting but hope you enjoy it all too.

[duchy]

So when does the new manager start ?

[lardyboy]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. Wasn't looking for any response, just wanted to get it off my chest, but really appreciate the positive response. Being totally honest, the big stresses are nothing compared to coming through them successfully and making our customers happy. Love this job

[creamcake]

well done for keeping a super cool head .. think you might need an afternoon siesta !
Thank you for all your hard work in ensuring your customers had an enjoyable night out.