Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

Brixton news, rumours and general chat - January 2017

Status
Not open for further replies.
trabuquera said:
From the other side of the cash register - the owner/chef/manager's POV - unfortunately shygirl blundered into making some of the most common requests that café/restaurant businesses hate:

- taking up a table but not consuming a full meal or a large, profit-ridden order
- asking for off-menu food or portion size (nearly always a real hassle for staff, it's not just as simple as "well give me a half portion and charge me half")
- quibbling the pricing at all (you might be justified or not, but you can't expect a business owner to love this)
- comparing London pricing to Cardiff pricing (and £2.50 for baklava is really, really not all THAT expensive for London even if the baklava was tiny ... if you want value-for-money baklava you'd buy a proper wedge at a bakery, not go to a restaurant and then only eat a half portion of baklava)

None of that justifies treating a customer with contempt or disrespect, but I can see all too easily how this kicked off a bit, without anyone involved being 100% evil ;)
Click to expand...
Is £2 a fair price for a cup of hot water and lemon?

Quite a decent and objective commentary on cafe pricing.
 
discobastard said:
Fair enough. And as a disclaimer, I work in the research industry :)
Click to expand...
So the doctors' repeated intrusive lifestyle questions (even if you haven't smoked for years) are a form of "nudge theory" then?

On data use - surely there could be a way of anonymising GP health data - so issues could be monitored on a continuous basis without breaching confidentiality?
 
shygirl said:
I had a bad experience in the new Middle Eastern resto on CHL yesterday eve. Maybe its because they're new and anxious about how they're going to do there, but I found the main guy unwelcoming and unfriendly. I only wanted to have a coffee there, so popped in with my son who had just finished work on the Guiness site. Ok, so his jeans were dirty, but he didn't have his work boots on, but perhaps we shouldn't have gone in there like that. I was having a look round, mainly by the counter, saying how nice it looked, he was having none of it, and rushed us over to a table. That pissed me off a bit. Anway, I fancied some bakclava with my coffee, but didn't want as many as 6 (which is what was on offer), so asked if I could have 3 instead. He wasn't happy but agreed to it, then charged nearly as much as I would have paid for 6. The bakclava was tops, but for £2.50 for 3 very small bites felt a bit steep (or have I just got too:hmm: used to Cardiff prices). At the end, I was trying to discuss the bill, but the guy wouldn't even look at me, just kept waving his hands saying, ok, no problem. I saw red and told him not to shut me down and that if he wants to make a go of it, he needs to be friendlier and more polite with people. I left more or less shouting, "Carry on, you'll last long". Not my most dignified moment, but I couldn't believe how rude he was. When we went passed later in the eve, there were lots of smiley-faced customers in there, so maybe they're doing something right.
Click to expand...

Have had the opposite experience each time I've been in (3 times already). Incredibly welcoming and giving us free stuff (like baclava and chilli hummus).
 
shygirl said:
Oh, well, must have been how we looked, cos we certainly weren't made to feel welcome.
Click to expand...
That just makes it worse.
You should see the state of me in my work clothes and no one bats an eyelid in Herne Hill. I often have mud smears all over my face. Obviously they have a laugh when I've gone like.
 
So I go to the Ritzy cafe to work on a pressing deadline and end up with an unhinged woman talking at me for the best part of 45 mins.

Despite me politely and repeatedly apologising at the start for not being able to chat to her due to the deadline, she just went on and on and on until she was eventually removed by a staff member. She seemed happy enough anyway, and knew it was her time to go. She'd had two glasses of wine when I was there so perhaps she'd had a lot more elsewhere.

Her topics covered a lot of interesting ground though, including: the qualities of various champagne brands, David Bowie's silver hair, ley lines, how she was so funny when she was younger that her dog would laugh at her jokes, men who fiddled with babies, the independence of cats, Kennedy's death ("I knew it was murder and I was only 4 at the time") and much more, all loudly delivered in my earhole while I tried to work.

All the time this lady was talking to the side of my head I was garnering sympathetic looks from cafe patrons, who were clearly pleased not to have found themselves in the same seat as me. I think some quite enjoyed my discomfort!

When she was being asked to leave she asked if we could meet at 10pm tomorrow in Subway before adding, "Is there a Subway here?" I think I'll give that offer a miss.
 
editor said:
So I go to the Ritzy cafe to work on a pressing deadline and end up with an unhinged woman talking at me for the best part of 45 mins.

Despite me politely and repeatedly apologising at the start for not being able to chat to her due to the deadline, she just went on and on and on until she was eventually removed by a staff member. he seemed happy enough anyway, and knew it was her time to go. She;d had two glasses of win when I was there so perhaps she'd had a lot more elsewhere.

Her topics covered a lot of interesting ground though, including: the qualities of various champagne brands, David Bowie's silver hair, ley lines, how she was so funny when she was younger that her dog would laugh at her jokes, the independence of cats, Kennedy's death ("I knew it was murder and I was only 4 at the time") and much more, all loudly delivered in my earhole while I tried to work.

All the time this lady was talking to the side of my head I was garnering sympathetic looks from cafe patrons, who were clearly pleased not to have found themselves in the same seat as me. I think some quite enjoyed my discomfort!

When she was being asked to leave she asked if we could meet at 10pm tomorrow in Subway before adding, "Is there a Subway here?" I think I'll give that offer a miss.
Click to expand...

sounds like a typical night down the pub to me, but I tend to leave before I'm asked to.......
 
editor said:
So I go to the Ritzy cafe to work on a pressing deadline and end up with an unhinged woman talking at me for the best part of 45 mins.

Despite me politely and repeatedly apologising at the start for not being able to chat to her due to the deadline, she just went on and on and on until she was eventually removed by a staff member. She seemed happy enough anyway, and knew it was her time to go. She'd had two glasses of wine when I was there so perhaps she'd had a lot more elsewhere.

Her topics covered a lot of interesting ground though, including: the qualities of various champagne brands, David Bowie's silver hair, ley lines, how she was so funny when she was younger that her dog would laugh at her jokes, men who fiddled with babies, the independence of cats, Kennedy's death ("I knew it was murder and I was only 4 at the time") and much more, all loudly delivered in my earhole while I tried to work.

All the time this lady was talking to the side of my head I was garnering sympathetic looks from cafe patrons, who were clearly pleased not to have found themselves in the same seat as me. I think some quite enjoyed my discomfort!

When she was being asked to leave she asked if we could meet at 10pm tomorrow in Subway before adding, "Is there a Subway here?" I think I'll give that offer a miss.
Click to expand...
I wasn't me! and my dog never laughed at me...

Actually I think strangers in bars are fair game for random conversations - so much cheaper than seeing a therapist. Cheers!
 
friendofdorothy said:
I wasn't me! and my dog never laughed at me...

Actually I think strangers in bars are fair game for random conversations - so much cheaper than seeing a therapist. Cheers!
Click to expand...
I'm all for random conversations. But this was a never-ending random monologue delivered almost in my ear! Still, if it did her some good then I'm fine with that. Glad to have helped.
 
£2.50 for 3 baclava in a restaurant isn't that bad a deal. I bought 6 in the excellent and pretty cheap Turkish Food Centre in Camberwell on Saturday and I think it came to more than 4 quid.
 
It's all Brixton on BBC TV tonight. Comrade Bala documentary was on BBC2 9pm - 10 pm. Quite reasonable presentation - and a few interesting clips of non-riot Brixton 1970s/1980s. "We are 336" must have made a few bob as there were several panoramic shots of the Bala's flat in Peckford Place from the 336 Brixton Road building upper levels by the look of it.

Currently showing 10 pm - 11 pm BBC4 "Property is Theft" - life in Villa Road in the 1970s/1980s.
 
Apparently the owners of the Village are putting in planning for some sort of sliding doors to replace the shutters, looks like Pop has scared them
 
CH1 said:
So the doctors' repeated intrusive lifestyle questions (even if you haven't smoked for years) are a form of "nudge theory" then?

On data use - surely there could be a way of anonymising GP health data - so issues could be monitored on a continuous basis without breaching confidentiality?
Click to expand...
There probably is a way of anonymising GP health data but it would be a *hugely* expensive and legally tedious exercise to go through just for the sake of saving a few questions on a survey (which will give up to date info - no use getting anonymous data for somebody that hasn't visited their GP for 2 years). You would also have to spend ages defining all of the potential data fields you might ever need - and for all I know health records may be in note form, which is no use in a survey. Very complex and difficult exercise.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CH1
I'm not entirely sure what kind of music the DJs and MCs were playing in the ballroom at the Dogstar tonight but it was fucking great. Super mixed crowd with the music having a real London backdrop. Fabulous!
 
Well, I don't know much about these things. It skips a lot and if you look at horizontally it's not exactly spinning on an even keel. The speakers cut out a bit too but I don't know whether that's the connection or the speakers themselves. It's a cool old player and I'd like to keep it if poss. Might just need some tlc.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

editor
Cyclist killed in Brixton
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
T & P
T & P
blameless77
After work pint in Brixton?
Replies
12
Views
752
editor
editor
editor
Homophobia in Brixton
2
Replies
38
Views
5K
Tulster218
T
editor
It's a grim Christmas around Brixton: no lights, no tree and no funfair
Replies
1
Views
731
skyscraper101
skyscraper101
editor
Where to watch England vs Spain Euro 2024 final in Brixton
Replies
6
Views
489
madolesance
M
Back
Top Bottom