Later this week but not today!

I don't know if any of you remember how, in the CCR, people would usually stay as late as possible to enjoy? Well, I should say that one of the things that shocked me yesterday was that by the time I left which was well before the last flight of the day boarded, every other passenger had left too. Some I heard wanted to go to Soho others just to wander in the terminal. That to me speaks volume about the current failure. A successful lounge is one where passengers enjoy statying and want to stay.

Sadly, before that, my worst fear about several people having loud/speaker phone conversations as is usual in many AA lounges and much rarer in my expereince in the CCR was verified and noone told them anything (and I had other things to do than play amateur rule maker). It was annoying when it lasted though thankfully they all left with the two AA flights that boarded.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that two different staff members who recognised me discretely asked me to write and complain about the situation. I heard one of them asking the same of another person who must have been a CCR regular. I also recognised one of the FFD regular staff who didn't tell me anything (I am less frequent there) but looked overwhelmed too. They were angry about both the staffing (the two people there when I was were really struggling to manage on their own) and the food and drinks shortages which they see as chronic (the bartender - who was not one of the people asking me to complain but seemed unhappy too told me that they get so little Krug that when they get a shipment, it basically disappears within an hour or so and then there isn't any for several days after that).

So in case anyone worries about putting the staff in a tricky situation if they complain you should know that from what they told me this is what they actually want us to do as they seem to blame staffing, purchases, and management/organisation on the bad state of things and it affects them arguably even more than it affects us. I mean don't take me wrong, as a passengers, this was a rubbish experience - I had bad food with almost no choice, didn't get the drinks I wanted, and got stressful service. But that was one visit and a disappointment in part due to high expectations and habit. For them, it is their every day life, and if they keep facing overwork, ridiculous shifts, lack of supplies preventing them from doing their job and scores of unhappy customers who won't all be as reasonable as you and I (a proportion will undoubtedly take it on staff even though they shouldn't), it will soon be unbearable for them to work there.