The Old Bank of England, Fleet Street

If you go to a pub regularly, do not rate it for its best times, but its worst: on a bad day, how well do they do?

This pub has done well on good days for me for two years. I have taken many people there for a pub lunch - pie and mash. Very tasty, and adequate service.

Today I saw a bad day. The pie was dry, the mash was sloppy, and they brought my colleague the wrong drink. They replaced it with the correct one, but with staggering ill-grace.

We had some jumped-up Fuehrer march over, proclaim the price, and stand there with his arms folded whilst we paid. Rude, gruff, unfriendly. We paid �22 for our �21.85 bill. We got up to go and he returned with the 15p and said sourly "here you go - you wouldn't want to miss out on that now". With some grace, he might have earned a few quid tip. As it was, he got nothing.

I would remind them, and readers, that service charge is a discretion of the customer, not an obligation, nor a hidden tax. It must be earned.

14 Mar 2008 16:47