Would you apologize for...

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Alibi Ike

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...being distracted? We had a guest here who required a lot of our time and had personal issues we had to handle quietly. It caused us to be distracted from the other guests. Everyone got the basics met, but I felt they also go the short end of the stick because we were focused on the other guest's personal issues. When I sent out our thank yous I apologized for being distracted as I did not want the 'new' guests to think this is how we always are. (Rush, rush, not a lot of close attention like usual.)
 
I personally would not have addressed it, there is always "one" guest that will do that to you, but unless the other guests specifically brought it up, I would have just kept mum. Then again, if that's what made YOU feel more comfortable, then that was the right thing to do.
 
I would not have mentioned it, especially in an after note. Surprise - some guests may not even have noticed you were distracted or not your usual. I often will have guests when I have meetings, band rehearsal, City Council....They come in and get settled before I leave or if they arrive after I have left, DH tells them which room is theirs and I go up to greet IF I get back at a reasonable time. WE feel it more than the guests do I think.
 
No...I would just focus on the positives of their visit in any thank you note. They may not have even thought that you were distracted at all!
 
I feel it is better off without saying anything, as we always say we are not robots and stuff happens...good and bad and we have our game faces on and keep on working. It doesn't mean we need to be ultra cheerful and pretend everything is happy all the time. Guests can discern a phony smile and fake hospitality. They would rather have you as you - even if it is part time vs their whole attention. Just my thoughts.
 
I wouldn't have mentioned anything either. The other guests obviously were not as needy as the one you were dealing with and they probably didn't even notice.
 
Guests are often oblivious to things you think are monumental.
Example: On my friend's charteryacht, my captain who also captains that boat, was on the flybridge and got a call from the first mate/cook who said, "If this fire gets any bigger, you're going to have to come down here and help me." (Click went the intercom as she hung up abruptly.) That's the last thing a captain wants to hear. He put the yacht on autopilot and came downstairs (he's got one hell of a poker face of any captain I've ever met!). The cook didn't understand that you can't put Corningware on the stove top (what the ??? I wondered), and she was carmelizing sugar when the casserole bowl exploded and started a sugar fire on the cooktop with flames reaching up towards the cabinets overhead.
Guests just 20 feet away on the aft deck NEVER knew it happened!
Another reason I don't let anyone else cook in my galley!
So, don't feel so bad thinking the others saw or experienced something you felt was bad. Chances are, they didn't unless they mentioned it to you or you drew a crowd at the time. I, myself, am often criticized for being too open and honest and making that same kind of apology. I will apologize, for example, for the pilothouse AC going out during a day charter when no one knew it happened. My business partner often corrects me and tells me "shut up - no one knew; quit putting down the boat!" I am trying to change my ways about what I share with guests, but it's tough.
Reminds me...I was on another charteryacht I didn't own last summer. As we were pulling out of the slip at Miami Beach Marina (I hate that marina due to its nasty current which results in the story I'm about to tell), I had just finished making a tray of tropical drinks with those little umbrellas and was walking around serving. The current caught the yacht and we scraped the whole side down the anchor/bow of the neighboring megayacht, and fortunately, the other yacht was big enough that its pulpit never hit a glass window on the boat I was on - it ran down the side just above the row of glass; otherwise that would have been a real mess. I learned that day, that you don't react...just smile, serve drinks and make 'em extra strong!...AND IT NEVER HAPPENED! Only a few folks who were outside at the time knew we wrecked into another yacht. When we pulled back into the slip to talk to the crew on the other yacht, the guests thought we just forgot someone and were re-docking to pick them up. Worked for me! "What was that noise?" "What noise?" "Oh, I thought I heard a crash." Meanwhile I was picking up and sweeping up the debris down the side of the boat. The rest of the day was fantastic!
 
Guests are often oblivious to things you think are monumental.
Example: On my friend's charteryacht, my captain who also captains that boat, was on the flybridge and got a call from the first mate/cook who said, "If this fire gets any bigger, you're going to have to come down here and help me." (Click went the intercom as she hung up abruptly.) That's the last thing a captain wants to hear. He put the yacht on autopilot and came downstairs (he's got one hell of a poker face of any captain I've ever met!). The cook didn't understand that you can't put Corningware on the stove top (what the ??? I wondered), and she was carmelizing sugar when the casserole bowl exploded and started a sugar fire on the cooktop with flames reaching up towards the cabinets overhead.
Guests just 20 feet away on the aft deck NEVER knew it happened!
Another reason I don't let anyone else cook in my galley!
So, don't feel so bad thinking the others saw or experienced something you felt was bad. Chances are, they didn't unless they mentioned it to you or you drew a crowd at the time. I, myself, am often criticized for being too open and honest and making that same kind of apology. I will apologize, for example, for the pilothouse AC going out during a day charter when no one knew it happened. My business partner often corrects me and tells me "shut up - no one knew; quit putting down the boat!" I am trying to change my ways about what I share with guests, but it's tough.
Reminds me...I was on another charteryacht I didn't own last summer. As we were pulling out of the slip at Miami Beach Marina (I hate that marina due to its nasty current which results in the story I'm about to tell), I had just finished making a tray of tropical drinks with those little umbrellas and was walking around serving. The current caught the yacht and we scraped the whole side down the anchor/bow of the neighboring megayacht, and fortunately, the other yacht was big enough that its pulpit never hit a glass window on the boat I was on - it ran down the side just above the row of glass; otherwise that would have been a real mess. I learned that day, that you don't react...just smile, serve drinks and make 'em extra strong!...AND IT NEVER HAPPENED! Only a few folks who were outside at the time knew we wrecked into another yacht. When we pulled back into the slip to talk to the crew on the other yacht, the guests thought we just forgot someone and were re-docking to pick them up. Worked for me! "What was that noise?" "What noise?" "Oh, I thought I heard a crash." Meanwhile I was picking up and sweeping up the debris down the side of the boat. The rest of the day was fantastic!.
I am going to re read this when we have big snow storm hereand pretend I am on a Yacht in Florida with a umbrella drink in hand.
wink_smile.gif
Mary in Bwater
 
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