The case of the disappearing mugs
Sep. 5th, 2011 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofastolatBreakfast was probably the most stressful time in the Summerfest bar, for several reasons. Firstly, there was the need to get up before 7 - a mere 2 or 3 hours after I'd fallen asleep - to tackle a mountain of tidying, preparing and essential washing-up solo, before the first minions arrived at 8. Secondly, it was the only meal in which bar staff did actual cooking, since we fried eggs to order. Thirdly, it was the most concentrated food rush of the day, since other meals were more spread out. And finally, it was the constant absence of our mugwithahandles.
Pellinor claimed to have brought 47 of these elusive creatures to the site, but on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings, we only ever found about 18. (I honestly can't remember if we had the same crisis on Friday morning, since I was serving hot food full time, leaving the drinks to someone else.) These all ran out within minutes, leaving us only with the substandard and rather pointless mugwithoutahandles. Many customers possessed asbestos hands, and were happy with these, but many others disliked them, and regardless of the customers' opinion, we had to spend time saying, "I'm afraid we're out of mugwithahandles. Do you mind getting a mugwithoutahandle instead?" which was a nuisance when facing a queue 25 people long. Moreover, we had to use one or two of our much-needed-elsewhere minions to scour the site for discarded mugwithahandles and hastily wash and dry them, and bring them back to use, where even the gift of two of them was greeted with much rejoicing.
Last night, Pellinor counted the stocks of mugwithahandles. He found 42. We know that two were broken, but that leaves only 3 having gone AWOL.
We have, therefore, two possibilities. Either over half of our supply vanished into people's tents on the Friday - which was a very wet day, and one in which loads of shivering people came to us gasping "Coffee!" - but almost all returned en masse after breakfast on Monday morning, or we spent hours and hours of effort and stress chasing mugs that were sitting happily in a bag at our feet, pristine and unpacked.
It was the former. Yes, yes, it was definitely the former.
Pellinor claimed to have brought 47 of these elusive creatures to the site, but on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings, we only ever found about 18. (I honestly can't remember if we had the same crisis on Friday morning, since I was serving hot food full time, leaving the drinks to someone else.) These all ran out within minutes, leaving us only with the substandard and rather pointless mugwithoutahandles. Many customers possessed asbestos hands, and were happy with these, but many others disliked them, and regardless of the customers' opinion, we had to spend time saying, "I'm afraid we're out of mugwithahandles. Do you mind getting a mugwithoutahandle instead?" which was a nuisance when facing a queue 25 people long. Moreover, we had to use one or two of our much-needed-elsewhere minions to scour the site for discarded mugwithahandles and hastily wash and dry them, and bring them back to use, where even the gift of two of them was greeted with much rejoicing.
Last night, Pellinor counted the stocks of mugwithahandles. He found 42. We know that two were broken, but that leaves only 3 having gone AWOL.
We have, therefore, two possibilities. Either over half of our supply vanished into people's tents on the Friday - which was a very wet day, and one in which loads of shivering people came to us gasping "Coffee!" - but almost all returned en masse after breakfast on Monday morning, or we spent hours and hours of effort and stress chasing mugs that were sitting happily in a bag at our feet, pristine and unpacked.
It was the former. Yes, yes, it was definitely the former.
