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Mr Bean Incidents


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A little while ago, we received a really, really interesting letter of complaint from some guests via the reservation system they'd used which I thought 'yall might find a short summary of quite funny...

1. The staff didn't know when we were coming.

2. They just told us that all the restaurants closed at 9pm when it was only 8pm when we arrived.

3. The antiquated hairdryer in the room had a strange smell when we used it and didn't have any hose attached to it.

4. All the restaurants were closed when we tried to get lunch at 1pm but they told us that they didn't close 'til 2pm.

Well, first off, we didn't know when they were coming 'cos they hadn't even told the reservation place about their flights and we'd no way of contacting them prior to their arrival.

The antiquated hairdryer is actually a room heater and the strange smell was her hair burning!

But most interesting are 2 & 4 which resulted from a rather catastrophic error on their part... they'd not changed their watches on arriving in France and in fact never changed them for the whole week! So, that 8pm arrival was really 9pm and all the restaurants were closed. That 1pm arrival time for lunch was actually 2pm so no lunch all week.

Turns out that they'd only ever been on holiday to Spain before and had NEVER changed their watches when they went on holiday!

That was OK in Spain as they could eat and shop pretty much any time, but created a whole series of "Mr Bean" adventures during the week of which the above are merely the tip of the iceberg.

Any other "Mr Bean" stories to share?

 

Arnold

 

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I would, but the couple described are definitely not your sister and her husband as we remember them and, as far as I'm aware, none of the problems I described happened to them.

We, as a matter of course, don't provide enough information to allow anyone to identify a client who we're critical of and sometimes make the examples a composite or change something, as we did in this case.

What we didn't add was that this particular couple actually made up some things in their letter of complaint to us ie it was just a rude and spiteful letter of complaint. However, I wanted to highlight the problems that guests can have stemming from a single, seemingly insignificant error on their part ie not changing their watches in this instance. We have had other guests who quite delibrately don't change their watches and have similar "Mr Bean" experiences during their time in France.

 

Arnold

 

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Not really. We were fairly busy at the time and so were telling people "8.30 to 10.00" for breakfast. They always arrived around 10am as people tend to when we give a range of times but nothing really unusual about that (unless we've had a lot more similar people than we've so far realised).

Towards the end of their stay, we considered it but though "nah, couldn't be that".

 

Arnold

 

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[quote user="mascamps.com"]

Any other "Mr Bean" stories to share?

[/quote]

Arnold, how the heck can we follow that?  Priceless! [:D]

Nothing to match.  On a lower level:

A couple who bought a Beemer in Germany to export to the USA.  Tried to go in to town for dinner but returned hungry because "the roads were too narrow to drive and there were cars coming the other way".

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Oh NO!  Not cars - not on a two-way road, coming in the opposite direction!!!  Whatever next.

We've just had dinner with an american guest who turned up in a 5 series BMW. She's based (military) in Germany so OH asked if she'd bought it whilst over here in Europe.  "Oh no I ordered it from the US"   Derrrr....[blink]

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My favourite line from customer (American - sorry all Americans here).  My husband tells them route to local tourist atttraction and warns "Be careful how you go, as you have to go over a  narrow 12th century bridge".  American customer squealing with delight "Oh my God, 12th century, in America we didn't even HAVE a 12th century"!

 

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Similar one last night Cerise - Military Gal's OH asked how old the house is, "about 275 years old" I reply, (quite modern by French standards of course)  "Oh my God, California isn't that old, it can't be"  He then spent the rest of the evening, standing in the courtyard, looking at the house in disbelief.
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Ah, but Coco, buying the BMW in the US and importing it would be much cheaper than buying it in Germany, daft as that may seem. For one thing, there'd be neither US nor German tax to pay on the imports (if memory serves, the US military in Germany have export type number plates) knocking 20% or more off the price. Also, if she could order it via the base shop, it would be much cheaper than that.

For those that don't know, all American diplomatic stations contain a shop offering goods at American prices (regardless of the actual cost of providing them) and you can order anything on sale from America through said shop. There is no delivery charge applied so, in theory, you could even order one of those build it yourself house kits if you were very keen. As far as I know, the American bases in Germany have the same facility hence it will usually be cheaper to order stuff via that than to buy it locally. I do stress "all"... even in the likes of Somalia you can buy anything that you can get in America if you've access to the American diplomatic compound.

 

Arnold

 

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That's very interesting Arnold and we have been told stories in the past from our military visitos about how they can buy "gas" on base at US prices, as well as all their vital foodstuffs.  However, it is strictly illegal (or at least against military orders) to buy stuff on behalf of people "off base" ie, US friends who just happen to be living and working in Europe but are not part of the military.  All our previous military visitors have had US plates on their vehicles because they have imported them from US to the base but this lady has a German plate.  She is actually only in the reserve so don't know whether she's entitled to full military "perks" (don't know why she shouldn't be).  So perhaps she's treated as these other US citizens who aren't allowed to benefit from the base prices.  Otherwise I don't know why she would have German plates rather than US ones???.
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Has anyone walked in on a couple - stark naked - in bed yet?. This happened to me this last week; their door was unlocked and ajar, the room was dark (shutters closed) and it was nearly midday...my time for servicing the rooms. I had no idea they were still 'in' as they had parked their car at the end of our drive and out of sight so I thought they had left for the day!.

'We had a lovely 3 course meal with steak and chips for only 8 euros last night...can you tell me what cheval is please?.' (Americans I might add)

Two weeks ago a family asked us: 'Do the restaurants here do French food?'.  Too many pizza and kebab outlets in France these days obviously I'm afraid. France, take note.

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[quote user="wen"]

Two weeks ago a family asked us: 'Do the restaurants here do French food?'.  Too many pizza and kebab outlets in France these days obviously I'm afraid. France, take note.

[/quote]

[:D] [:D] [:D]

It reminds me that 2 weeks ago we had a family rang us en route to check if the village restaurant would still be open as they were running late.  When I said yes, she said "What sort of food do they do?".  Baffled, I replied "French food."

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Coco, I'm not sure that it's "illegal" as such but not totally within the rules. All prices are as per normal US prices so, if you get the chance, fill up your tank on an American military base. Due to security concerns, I'd have thought it was by now the norm for Americans to use German plates.

These systems usually operate on a mutual recognition basis. So, for instance in Ethopia, the Australians run the weekly BBQ (really!), the Americans run the golf course (it's a MASSIVE compound) and provide everyone with goodies, not sure but I think the Brits run the entertainment there. One of the best diplomatic postings I gather, aside from the hassle of being stuck in the compound for the duration of your tour of duty.

There is no differentiation between services in this. So being in the reserve would give her the "entry ticket" to the base. Other "services" usually count as well so American civil servants based in the area (not necessarily on the base) and, in some cases, civil servants in some departments in other countries are entitled too. Not sure of the geography, but for example, the UK civil servants based in Berlin would usually be able to access the store in the American bases in Berlin as, usually, there would be a fair degree of mutual contact amongst the Brits & Americans ie each would have the appropriate "entry ticket" to the others base.

In case you're wondering, yes, the UK bases have a shop but it ain't up to the standard of the American store.

 

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Anything older than Abraham Lincoln gets similiar treatment from US guests to rural France.

One off the most bizzare examples from an American friend, whom we had staying with us was,  'cor........ how close are we to the stars'. In their defence; they were Nevadians, eyesight clouded by neon lights.   :-).

Apero

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Americans that I have met whilst travelling and in this instance Scuba diving.

Whilst learning how to use no decompression dive tables an example was used of diving at altitude (ie a mountain lake).

"So what altitude is our beach then?"

"Er zero altitude, it is at sea level"

"Yes but what altitude are the other beaches on this island?"

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Just had a rather extended conversation in French with a Londoner before we realised that neither of us was French. At nearly 5 minutes, it's my personal best before the penny dropped. Has anyone beaten that?

If nothing else, at least it shows that my French accent must sound more French than Brit now :)

 

Arnold

 

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