There have been moments this week when I have felt very much like an underpaid Admin Asst.............. I have been chained to our desk, reviewing all our policies and procedures and on Wednesday I sat for almost 10 hrs straight typing, collating, sorting and filing and I still have more to do tomorrow when I go in.
Our advertising for new staff has gone very, very well - we have been overwhelmed with applicants this time. So much so, we closed the list quite early because we had so many callers.
So many young people (17 / 18yrs) desperate for work, and some older people as well. Very, very sad to see and hear such desperation........... however, we have taken some great people on. Nowadays though I take people for their value rather than feeling sorry for them, ohhhhhh I have got harder!!!
We've taken a lovely young man in our kitchen who shows much potential and we are also taking on 2 young boys to be Apprentice's. The Apprentices are particularly exciting as its important to prepare for our future, and I am looking forward to helping these two grow and learn, and of course, what they will bring to our business. We've also got another 4 for the front of house, it means that hopefully we'll be able to have less holiday staff and more well trained permanent staff!
Very, very exciting to be able to be growing our business like this and importantly for the people we are taking on - its a bit like a dog not being just for Christmas, these jobs are (hopefully!) for the whole year - not seasonal!
On Thursday I attended a Customer Service Training course with a bit of knowledge about the Riviera Coast thrown in for good measure. I must say that it took me back to when I worked in Local Government, and staff attended courses because they blooming well had to! Those of us that had paid (a couple) were very attentive, but some of the younger ones were very giggly and frankly annoying, yet it was those that needed it most!!
A mixed crowd, there was a fab young man who after being made redundant 6 times in 6 years was starting his own Paddle Boarding company - his enthusiasm was infectious. Some young people from a big local attraction and also a camp site. There was also a contingent from a hotel that had been on the TV quite a bit, and it was interesting to make comparisons from what I'd seen on the TV to how they actually behaved. One of the ladies impressed me greatly with her loyalty to the old boss, but the lads, although nice confirmed their television impression. We have had the opportunity to appear in a TV series but we declined, and after seeing and then hearing their experiences first hand - I think we made the right choice........... the saying that all publicity is good publicity does not always seem to be true!?! But I do wish the new young General Manager good luck in turning the hotel around - for someone so young she had huge responsibilities - but a great head on young shoulders.
The menu planning for the summer is coming on a treat, and customers can be sure of a few nice surprises this year....... But next week we are off to Cornwall with Head Chef James and Manager Glo to a large trade show and take a look at what's on offer and what the trends are for crockery etc. I think we need to make a bit of investment in new crockery as I don't think we can limp through another year with what we have - especially offering food all day now!
Our new advertising boards have been done and are looking splendid - we are very lucky to have such a talented friend who does them for us. Even a new (last year very controversial) Man Creche sign!! They have made the front of the pub very eye catching and colourful and I think they look fab!
The title of this blog post pretty much sums up what this last week or so has been like really! The highs was the most amazing news that we've been shortlisted nationally for the semi finals of the BII (British Institute of Licensees) Licensee of the Year!! Very, very exciting news especially as it's a national award and they apparently had an additional 22% extra applicants this year to last year. There now follows a personal interview here at the Victoria in a couple of weeks and if that's successful a further interview process in London! But we are delighted to have got this far and give high praise to our fabulous team of staff as without them we would not have got to this stage even.
Business as a whole this week has been the normal post half term stuff - gone back to a reasonable trade, but I doubt we'll ever get used to this seasonal approach of all or nothing! However, the Hobbitt House bookings have been flooding in again this week - so thats great news as well. The road works here in Salcombe continue to annoy business's and drivers alike, but we are hopeful of an end in sight!
The lows have been a succession of things going wrong with our new home - a boiler leaking and going on to newly painted walls (which now need re-painting), then that leak also going into the conservatory wall, followed by furniture being delivered with wrong cushions and because scaffold was still in place a whole door frame having to come off - so more painting. Electrical goods bought by Curries duly delivered but with the tumble dryer not working! A truly awful customer service experience followed of countless calls and the usual awful things of dealing with major call centres. Leading me to e mail the CEO himself no less - amazing what info you can find on the internet.......... which resulted in a call TODAY (Sunday) from a very nice young man called James who made sense of what had happened, explained why it had happened and what he'll do to to try to make sure it shouldn't happen again to any other customer and a promise of a voucher for £20! The voucher is neither here nor there but the fact that he took the time to call twice, apologise, etc went a long way. Will I buy from Curry's or a sister branch (Dixons/PC World) again?? Truthfully, probably not - but at least James helped make the situation slightly better. Lets wait to see that the replacement works first!!!
Lastly - I fell of my chair I was sitting on in our office (no I wasn't Brahms & Lizst - 2 months now without so much as a drop!) when picking up something off the floor and smacked my head open on a sharp object! No stitches needed, but plenty of blood, a good few tears and a banging headache.........
The in-betweens have just been trying to pack up our home at the Victoria into boxes, whilst trying to do the day to day running of the business and other life 'stuff' as well. Talking of 'stuff' - how on earth do we accrue so much 'stuff' in our lives!!!!!! I wish I knew - it's been a revelation really......things have appeared that I have no knowledge of, whilst there have been other things that I thought had been long gone! Any clear space has a box, or bubble wrap, or something on it right now and thank the Lord for our upstairs restaurant which currently looks like a holding platform for Pickfords - or in our case - South Hams Removals!!!
So on the final subject of the house and moving, this will be my final blog for a couple of weeks, at least until we're in and settled. As well as the move I have lots of business'y stuff I need to get sorted for the Olympics and things like that, so not a lot of time for fun stuff like this blog......... sorry darlings!
Think of us doing the big move in a week and try not to miss your fix of Salcombe and the Victoria too much - I'll be back soon.. X
