Dinner time drama

[Cerise]

Well we do see life!! Last night in the middle of dinner a guest had a major 'turn' and passed out.  Cue recovery position and first aid skills and call out for doctor - fortunately not too serious, simply fatigue, heat and combination of beer and the pills he was taking for toothache were all too much for him.  By the time all the drama was over it was gone midnight, and no-one had any pud (spent over an hour making the blasted thing too) and this morning everyone looking a bit pale and wan - me most of all.

Now my dilemma is this - should they all have to pay for last night's dinner, or do I just smile sweetly (whilst gnashing teeth) and say it is on the house?  2 couples for dinner (not together) and another couple who had eaten out early and gone to bed for an early night.  The latter I've already given a complimentary packed lunch and  apologised for all the noise.  They were fine about it.  But should the other 4 pay or not?  What do you think?

 

[Blanche Neige]

 no-one had any pud (spent over an hour making the blasted thing too) and this morning everyone looking a bit pale and wan - me most of all.

 

what a drama!

As the other non diners have already had a free packed lunch how about giving 50% rebate on the price of the dinner after all they did get the main course didn't they? This gesture would show good-will and maybe compensate for lack of pudding.[:)]

[Chauffour]

Why not offer them dessert for lunch the next day? At least then you won't feel bad asking them to pay.

We always do the payment thing for extras at the end of their stay, by this time they will have forgotten the fuss and you can then make a fair decision based on the situation and having judged their character a bit more. You will also have seen by then how he's feeling the rest of the week.

Most people would still be happy to pay all or part of the bill. After all they must recognise you still had to do all the work to prepare the dinner.

I say this with recent thoughts of a family staying with us, whose car broke down and we did all the running around and jumping through hoops with them to help with lifts, car hire, getting the repair done and there was a not a single offer of petrol money, bunch of flowers, box of chocolates offered...... (bitter - me?) Only consolation was we were able to charge them a bit more for the extra nights they stayed waiting for the repair to be done. We charged them a low rate as they were in a bit of a sticky situation, and the repair was going to cost them an arm and a leg. When they got back to the UK they mailed to say the company (Peugeot - spelling?) were paying for the repair!

You live & learn!

 

 

[Coco]

It's easy to say this because I'm not the one having to do it, but it's not YOUR fault that all this happened and as you say, you had prepared it all, so why should you be the loser?  Do you do 3 or 4 courses?  So had they already had 2 or 3 courses?  I'd offer a small discount (proportionate to the amounnt they had already eaten but surely not 50%!)  to those who are only stopping the one night.  For those that will be eating again I'd offer a discount to the value of the next night's dessert plus a complimentary drink of something for the inconvenience. These things happen.  After all, is the man who had the turn talking about offering to pay for the others loss of dessert?  I bet not.

[Owens88]

Should have left them some extra bottles and served the pud for breakfast (I'd have eaten it !).

No extra charge for the drama.

Glad he was OK though.

[Miki]

We were once sitting outside in Brantôme having a lovely meal in good

company when all of a sudden the wind got up quickly to gale force, it

took all the umbrellas,  stands, tables, and anything on the

table. Some meals were saved, I saved the wine and my glass (naturally

!) but my dinner went in the Dronne.

We all had to pay, act of God was the answer and of course to a point

they were right. They had not caused the problem, they had cooked what

we had ordered and brought it to the table, their part of the "contract" now completed of

course.

Yours was slightly different but you were really not the reason for their loss.

Sure, make a very small deduction, hold your breath, even mention how

sad it all was but be pretty casual about it all and any complaints,

keep calm and say "but it was not my fault, it was all cooked and

ready to serve but poor Mr..........had his turn and although he is

really the person that caused the loss, we can really ask him to pay

now, can we ?"

And smile all the time, werry Fwench, don't you know [;-)]

Funny old game this B&B innit !!

[Tresco]

Cerise, as a guest I would be utterly astonished if someone payed me (or let me off paying my dues) me for causing my hosts trouble.

If the guy had died in front of me as I was eating, fair enough (sorry to be blunt), but he didn't. Not that it would have been your fault anyway (what were you serving again?).

If it was me, yes, I'd reduce the bill, but not by much.[blink]

 

 

 

 

[Pads]

Hello Cerise.

He is probaly feeling a little silly now after putting him self in that position drinking taking pills in the heat ect, and was very glad you where there to ring the doctor and know what to do for him . The last thing on his mind now is weather hes going to get a discount for not having his pudding, and the other couple will probally be telling there friends back home more about that than what else they did on their hols as every one loves a drama......so give them there bills as normal and if any one says anything say the pudding was there if they had asked for it later they could of had it.and smile........ when you give him his bill say you hope he is feeling a lot better now. In fact he should be bying you flowers as a thankyou, for causing the fuss, I would if it had been me[:)]  

[Blanche Neige]

I think offer a discount on that meal, O.K. maybe my first suggestion of 50% was too generous.

Yes the other diners will certainly dine out on this event but it would be better if they end their tale by saying "the owners were so good to him and really sweet to us as they insisted on giving us a discount on the meal" rather than "................and do you know the owners still had the cheek to charge us the full amount for only half a meal, well we won't be going back there again! "

Perhaps Mr. "overindulgence" was kind enough to buy everyone a drink to compensate for the disturbance he caused ? [:)]

[Rob Roy]

"Cue recovery position and first aid skills and call out for doctor"

This raises an interesting point - how much first aid do most B&B owners know, and how often are the skills required or updated? For example, I was a designated first aider where I worked in the UK, but between one refresher course and the next the thinking on the recovery position had changed! I haven't done a course since coming to France (5 years) - perhaps it has changed again, although as long as I can put the person is put in some sort of recovery position I suppose that is O.K!

Cerise, I think you deserve a medal - and no discount for the guests[:)]

[Cerise]

Thanks everyone for your advice.  All are now recovered and happy and I have given the afflicted ones a free light lunch and the others a nice bottle of wine and they are all smiling.  Very frightening having a guest unconscious on the dining room floor I can tell you.  My cooking is not that bad, honest[:)]

Rob Roy - you are right about the first aid - probably should get mine up to date.  Many of our guests don't even seem to have as much as a plaster or an asprin with them and I seem to need the first aid kit quite often.  Thank heavens for our efficient doctor who was here very quickly - in case anyone wonders why I didn't call the pompiers it was because the guy came round quickly and the doctor is only just down the road.

 

[Ejc]

One thing worth learning is the "heimlich" procedure - this is used if someone (adult) is choking. My hubby was recently in our local when an elderly lady who was in the dining area choked - no one else knew what to do, but Nigel had done a first aid course ages back so he used this procedure.

According to him (I was at work) the lady in question was generously sized and he was surprized at just how hard he had to push to make this procdure work - you never do it for real in training. Anyway after 4 attempts - he finally got the process right and she coughed up a piece of gristle and turned from a horrible blue / white colur to pink again - and 15 minutes later was tucking into her dinner.

All her friends then proceeded to give hubby a hug and buy him a beer - I had to pick him up on my way home from work - as rather smuggley floated out to the car on a gentle waft of beer fumes. But on a serious note - the pub is in the country and no-one else there knew what to do - chances are if Nigel hadn't been there she'd have died....

[Jc]

I was in a restaurant having Sunday lunch when a diner at the next table collapsed into her main course;the waiter adminstered first aid until the sapeur-pompiers arrived and took her away.The owner declined payment as they left to follow her.We finished our meal and a little later were walking past the same restaurant and noticed all the people-including the collapser-finishing their meals.