HIDDY

This thread is a fuss about nothing.

redsox1918

So I want bang for my buck May I suggest that those staff wanting a full breakfast have this before the lounge opens.

I pay my money and expect the service. If you are sat in 1st have you ever had a cc member say sorry you can not dine now or I can not get ua drink as I am eating?

Any difference?

HIDDY

If you want a waiter waiting by your seat in the Galleries just to take your order for a glass of Champagne at 5.30 in the morning you had better expect to start paying a hell of a lot more for your ticket.

You would have every right to complain if the food hadn't been put out for your arrival in the lounge. However going by your post this had already been done by the staff and it was time for their breakie break. A well deserved break no doubt since they had probably clocked on at some ridiculous hour in the morning. ^

SpeedbirdLHR

Catering/housekeeping staff should not be taking food from the lounges. This was always an issue and they have been told many times about it. Indeed, when we had lounge managers, this was one of the things there were keen on checking into. However since they left last year and haven't been replaced, it seems that there has been an increase in catering/housekeeping staff have definitely been taking more stuff from the lounges.

Further it as always an issue going back to the T4 days, and we were always told that neither BA or catering/housekeeping staff should be taking things from the lounges, yet every day we would watch the catering/housekeepign staff leave with bowls of soup or noodles or plates of sandwiches and drinks etc. Yet, if a BA staff member was seen with anything that looked remotely like lounge food (even when brought from home), the same catering/housekeeping staff were quick to report this.

HilFly

As long as there are some bacon rolls left for me I really don't care. I don't know what arrangements the contract staff have with their employer - maybe they get a meal while they're at work as part of their benefits package. Maybe they take the bacon rolls from outside the kitchen because they've been sitting around so they eat them and fresh ones are brought out for passengers.

It's my job to use the lounge, to eat the food and drink the drink, not run the place. If I have a service complaint I will make it through one of the usual channels.

bealine

This thread is a complete fuss about nothing.

Next time I'm working the lounges, I'll tell the brown-jobs to be more discreet, which they will resent because as Speedbird LHR said, they have always been quick to tell tales about BA staff.

However, if they have been told and they continue to be overt in removing food (to which they may be entitled) and newspapers/magazines (which definitely do not belong to them), then I will alert our managers.

m0hamed

I have experienced this at T5 Galleries First. At first I was rather appalled because while I waited 20+ mins for someone in a brown uniform to notice me, other staff members were surfing the internet, 2 women were having a meeting in the dining area with food and drink, and I could not get anyone's attention.

This has happened on more than one occasion, and in my experience Qantas would never tolerate this, so I was very surprised that BA would.

Mark_T

I'm sure that some of you, like myself must have worked in catering in their youth, no matter how long ago that was

Every place I worked, staff meals were controlled and taken in a way that was not obvious to customers. What we were allowed to have was fair and reasonable and certainly didn't involve a free-for-all from the buffet.

The absence of management is obviously a key contributing factor and perhaps if it was being properly controlled the cross-subsidy from the staff lounge could be reduced ...

dark_horse

Oooh, just scraped in under the FT 2-year 'statute of limitations' on outdated threads.

Gosh darn it, now someone else will be along to pick up on this non-subject as though it was a) important; and b) had never gone away...

fraisse10

If you have a problem in getting staff to fulfil your desire for Champagne pre-05:30, may I respectfully suggest that your bigger problem is not the absence of staff but the presence of the urge....

irishguy28

Buy that man/lady a Bollinger!!!

VolcanoMan

But did you actually see them eat it? You have no idea, surely, what their work pattern and duties are, surely?

Myself, my response is "who cares!" this thread is a waste of time and I have no idea why I'm even typ

TeamStorm

Couldn't agree more BBB, however I do think that 'pinching' things in front of the customers doesn't look great - if it's going to be 'tolerated', maybe people could be a little discreet ?

I'm not sure it would look good in front of customers if at the end of a meeting nicked all the whiteboard pens, or put the food from lunch into my bag.

.... I can't imagine you pushing your trolley down the aisle and deciding you like the look of a bread roll and eating it as you do service - in effect I guesst that's what the staff in the lounge are doing. I've certainly seen the people who man the little luggage room eating bacon rolls whilst on duty, just doesn't look great..... even before we get to any morale argument.

My personal suspiscion (having worked in fresh food many moons ago) is that any wastage probably far out-strips any 'nibbles' by a considerable margin.

Ed

HIDDY

Well indeed....two years later and my views havn't changed on the subject.

The nosey parkers really need to chill out or go join a neighbourhood watch scheme.

Tim1975

Agree with you completely. So long as there is enough food for passengers I don't have a problem with staff helping themselves a bit. It strikes me as rather mean spirited to begrudge a guy on minimum wage an occassional bacon butty. If it takes a bit of free food to keep his morale up and doing his job well then so be it.

I never really undertsand why people get so petty and worked up by this kind of thing. I am getting free food to snack on so why would I bregrudge anyone else getting it.