LITTLE TO LOVE AT FOOD *****'S MARKET

<p>I decided that rather than buy my quiches in Cape Town (where I live) and refrigerate them till the next day when I needed to serve them up (at a function to be held at the Fossil Park on the West Coast), I would order and collect them from FLM in Vredenburg so that they were freshly baked.</p> <p> </p> <p>I duly called that branch but, having difficulty in making myself understood (I am English-speaking), I got put through to Janine who duly took my order but, being the sceptic/cynic that I am, I followed this up with an email, ending up writing “Please don’t let me down”.</p> <p> </p> <p>Did they? Oh yes, indeed.</p> <p> </p> <p>I travelled up from Cape Town and arrived to collect the quiches at the appointed time of 13:45 on Sa****ay 21 May only to find there was no trace of my order on the board and only to be told that “the man who bakes these things didn’t come to work today”. No ‘phone call to tell me this – nix.</p> <p> </p> <p>Apopletic with rage, I insisted on speaking (how I didn’t scream at him, I still don’t know) to the branch manager, Heinrich, who tried to brush me off with “sorry for the inconvenience but …”. Admittedly he did offer to prepare, bake and deliver my order to me (18km away, nogal!) by 14:30 which was when the function started, but I – and you, dear Reader – know that only the winner of The Great South African Bake-Off could have managed that.</p> <p> </p> <p>Clearly there’s a serious breakdown in communication within that branch – from taking an order to pinning it up on the order-board to following up whether it has been completed etc. and that comes down to poor management so, Heinrich, you can’t blame only the baker or Janine; you have to take some of the discredit yourself.</p> <p> </p> <p>Suffice to say, I drove to Pick ‘n Pay and bought eats there to serve up at the function and it will be a long time before FLM sees me again – but, then, I guess they really don’t care.</p> <p> </p>