So it's been a weird few weeks with guests. A couple of weeks ago we had the worst week of guests the whole season. We recieved the manifest and realised we had a few dietary requirements to contend with which was nothing new and therefore no big deal. The guests arrived and I sat down with the gluten free guest and our menu to go through it with her and work out how I could best accomodate her needs. She looked at me like I had a large turd growing out of my forehead and informed me that it was a 'dietary requirement, not and allergy' and she was 'sure I could deal with it'.
This grandiloquent response only spurred me on to take her needs into further consideration and wow her with my care and attentiveness. Dessert that night was an apple and citrus tart, the pastry in this dish meant our gluten free guest had to have something different so I set to work creating a stuffed baked apple for her. I hollowed the apple out and delicately layered the inside with a mixture of crushed almonds, currants, apricot and caramelised brown sugar. I then laboriously made a sweet lemon syrup and drizzled it carefully, first over the apple and then in a circle around the dessert I had created especially for my guest. I roasted it slowly on a low heat for 40 minutes before serving it to her, smile on my face that I had created such a treat that I was sure she would appreciate.
'Lucky me... I'm getting an apple.'
Bitch.
The week continued in a similar fashion, sarcastic comments, disapproving looks, faces like slapped arses. There wasn't a lot A and myself could do without the silly cow actually telling us what we were doing wrong though. Luckily the weeks only saving grace was the 3 or 4 lovely guests that actually came up to us at the end and apologised for having shit friends with wooden planks up their bums. Turns out the only reason 'Glutemous' didn't come up to us and voice her complaints is because she wanted to wait until the end and write it all down in our Customer Service Questionaire (anonymously too, coward) in an attempt to make us lose our end of season bonus and get us in trouble with the company.
We handed the CSQ straight into our manager and explained the situtation. He told us not to worry and that he knows we are doing the very best we can. Sometimes you just crack open an egg hoping for a tasty treat and unfortunately find a rotting chicken fetus inside.
Wow...Rant, I'm sorry.
Anyway the following week perked us up so much. A group of 13 with 7 kids. All lovely. The family couldn't do enough to help us out and the kids were so much fun. A notable mention was Ruben, the 9 year old street dancer who I had a moonwalk-off with in the kitchen.
After such a horrible week the week before I was so nice to have a group who all got along, were happy, and appreciated everything we did for them. The final night of the week we spent in the chalet playing a game of 'Who's in the bag?' with them. A firm Christmas favourite with my family at home so it was really something to sit down with the family and join in.
And last week things only got better. A group of 12, similar ages to ourselves who were very keen...no almost forceful in getting us to join in with their fun and games. Some evenings before leaving the chalet we were forced to complete a drinking game before we could leave the door.
It was this drinking game that caused 7 out of 12 guests to vomit over the balcony creating a huge red wine massacre in the snow outside the front door of my apartment. As disgusting as it sounds it was nice to hang out with a group of guests who we could hang out with in our chalet as friends and not people we were technically 'working for'.
The week ended with our best tip of the season and A getting the email address of the 'hottest guest ever', wants some work experience with him apparently, I dunno!?
I have just finished greeting this weeks guests, all of them are over 60 and retired, another change of pace. I'll keep you posted.
Next time... tales of our mid season mash up in the nearby city of Annecy (to which I don't think any of my company will be welcome back in the near future).
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