Spring, hayfever and other bodily functions

It's the first week of August and spring is in the air. It's already starting to get light earlier in the mornings - the sun starts to rise as I carry out the tables, chairs and umbrellas for the day whereas a couple of weeks ago it was still midnight dark while walking in and out the shop with furniture. Isn't it strange how the extra light makes the early morning furniture moving feel less menacing than when it's dark?
Together with the returned light comes the flowers the Western Cape is famous for this time of year, and together with the flowers, comes the pollen floating through the air and of course then the hay fever follows....

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful flowers I'm surrounded with in the arcade. Just a pity my sinuses and

  the following post nasal drip don't like them so much :) 

 

Speaking of bodily fluids, you won't believe what happened in the shop the other day!

I went to deliver flowers for OKASIE as my van is bigger than their bakkie and the particular bunch of flowers that had to be delivered was to big for the bakkie. When I came back, I noticed a bit of a commotion going on and when I queried Maritzi about it, the bathroom key turned out to be lost (this wasn't a problem as I keep an extra key in my till). So I took the extra key and went to check the bathroom to see if the lady who used the toilet prior to the key disappearing didn't perhaps lock the door with the key still inside the bathroom (This can easily happen as the door locks with a removable lock). As I opened the door, lo and behold there the key was - in the hand basin. I noticed the bathroom was left in a bit of a mess (I thought a lady would aim better - you'd think a blind man used the loo!) and sent our cleaner to go sort out the mess before another customer had to use the bathroom. (This is nothing out of the ordinary - we've discovered stranger things in our bathrooms - like dirty men's underwear in the washing basket ).

So the morning passed and our lunch rush arrived. I sat chatting to a table of customers at a stage and noticed Maritzi removing a chair from a table (I thought the customer might have complained that the chair was a bit wonky as all our furniture is secondhand, so I didn't make much of it and continued my conversation). As the customer left, I greeted her and enquired about her lunch - did she give me a surprise! Apparently the chair that Maritzi removed was soaking wet and had been urinated on!!!!!! I couldn't believe my ears! And who had been sitting on it last? The lady who locked the key inside the bathroom!

Luckily we have soap and water handy so I promptly took the offending chair outside and had our cleaner wash it properly and leave it in the sun to dry. The poor girl must have had it up to her ears with bodily functions for the day.

I have encountered strange things in my years of restaurant work but this was a first! Luckily the customer who discovered the chair is a regular and didn't take offence against the restaurant (Phew!). In fact, she claims it's the THIRD time something like this has happened to her! (How can something like that happen 3 times to one person???)

Well after a couple of days of disbelief, what was the lesson  learnt from this experience? Check the chairs as you clean the table after a customer has left!