It was almost a perfect week…just not quite. A client had requested a very last-minute meeting/workshop in London last week – confident that they would be able to arrange a suitable meeting room for us to convene in. As is so often the case, that confidence wasn’t matched by reality…or availability of meeting rooms.
Imagine my delight when I was able to secure a venue at such short notice on their behalf. Not only that, and if I do say so myself, at quite an impressive, and exclusive location as well. They were delighted that I was able to do so, and asked if I wanted to meet for a ‘bit of caffeine’ before the day was scheduled to start. Oh, fear not! I’ve arranged welcome refreshments as well! Check me out!
It all started to well.
Have you ever had the experience of needing to make a strong, justifiable complaint that just ‘doesn’t land’? It’s deflating and disconcerting I can tell you. We had hardly got down to business when the door to the plush meeting room opened to reveal an apologetic member of staff who asked if they could ‘check something’ they needed to just outside the fire door leading from the room. Of course – come in and do what you must, I replied. Please do come and assure our safety. My suspicions rose when another member of staff opened the door apologetically to ask whether they could just ‘go and get something’ from the other side of the fire door. Although tempted to say “no you bloody well cannot – get out” their chefs uniform persuaded me not to (as we were intending to have lunch at the venue, and it’s never a good idea to rile the people cooking your food).
Seven interruptions that day. Seven! Six of whom were staff members! The client was as exasperated as I, and so I thought I would regain control and show just how efficient and attentive I was to matters at hand. There’s a handy button in the room to contact the ‘events’ staff. I complained in the strongest, politest, but firm manner, and the response, or rather lack of, stunned me. “Oh, they shouldn’t be doing that, should they?” was her response. Well, no. It felt like she was simply sharing and acknowledging how frustrating that must feel – less of an “I’m really sorry, I’ll put a stop to that immediately”, and more a “Oh how awful…”. It just didn’t land. At all. Thankfully we were all as stunned as each other at the absolute lack of response, we simply raised collective eyebrows and returned to the task at hand.
We did all agree over lunch that the staff had probably not expected the room to be in use that day, and were clearly expecting to take a short cut to the outside for a fag break! Brilliant. At least the client was happy with the output, if not the venue!
The journey home was almost perfect. It felt like one of those drives through a city centre when your timing is so impeccable that every traffic light is green…just for you. Checking out of the hotel was seamless, the Uber was booked and confirmed within seconds, and arrived in a minute. The traffic was clear, and the London cyclists were less suicidal – I even saw one stop at a red light! The barriers to the train platform opened on the first scan. No one was in my seat. My phone opened immediately to have my ticket checked – straight to the right app. The cup of tea was delicious. The train ran perfectly on time. I timed the packing of my things away to perfection, and arrived at the train door just as the train was slowing to a stop. The two female crew members wished me a lovely day as the train drew to a halt. The ping of the doors being released echoed almost instantaneously with the full stop of the train, and I smiled outwardly as I moved my hand to the ‘door open’ button.
“That’s the toilet one” they both said in loud unison.
Brilliant.
