Oh Mary….sorry to hear that you are getting agita over these guests! They will be gone soon enough and it will be their loss to have missed your freshly prepared delights. Why didn’t you charge them for the 3rd person? At least you would have a few extra $ to pay for the Tums you’ll need until they are gone.
We learned early on that no good deed goes unpunished when you have demanding guests. Setting limits and boundaries was not a difficult thing for me to do (I taught 16-18 year olds for 30 years…and survived!) but DH needs to be constantly reminded. There is a certain kind of person who will make us all jump through hoops to win the smallest smile….and even then they will write a less than perfect TA review. So we try to be kind, consistent but firm in doing only those things that work for us and hope that the worst of the PIAs has never heard of TA!
We do a 3 course, served breakfast in the dining room at 8:30. Chef’s (That would be me) choice. The entrée is served between 8:30-9:00 to accommodate the late arrivals and muffins, fruit, cereal etc are available at the table until 9:30. We adjust this time by 1/2 hour when we have folks who are attending a seminar for the week but we know that in advance and can plan for it. Whenever I take a reservation (We insist on speaking to the guest as a part of the reservation process and this is essential to us), I ask them if they have any dietary allergies: gluten, nuts, dairy or eggs or health conditions like diabetes that we should be aware of as we prepare their breakfast. That’s it. We do not cater to preferences (“I don’t like melon.” “I don’t eat eggs that look like eggs.” “I want pineapple, waffles, eggs benedict” You have GOT to be kidding me!) but we do make an effort make sure that everyone finds something on the table that suites them, whether it is granola and yogurt, home-baked bread and jam, fresh fruit or the hot entrée. Even so, we recently had a vegetarian who never told us that she would not eat meat and then complained on TA that she didn't get an alternative non-meat protein with her pancakes. (At least she owned up to the fact in the review that she never told us that she was a vegetarian....duh...we are good but we are not mind readers!)
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