===
I had one of the most frustrating conversations with the banquet manager in charge of my wedding, which happens to be in less than 10 days!
She is so inflexible, unaccomodating and just bordering impossible! Not to mention repetitive and has the comprehension level of a child!
All I need to know from her today was the following:
- what time can my coordinator and I meet with her, the floor manager for our night and their florist next tues;
- the floor plan for the evening so that I can arrange the seating arrangements since the tables are oval and not round;
- what sort of arrangements can she help me with in regards to my wedding cake, that will be coming with me when I check in on Sat.
Those don't seem like too difficult to understand tasks, are they?
Point 1 - the meeting
Instead of giving me a straight answer of yes, no, let me arrange with them and I'll get back to you asap, she gave me this 'round the whole world' answer: i'm not sure if the manager can make it; I thot you have already seen the room, there's no need to see the sound room as there is only 1 cd player (my music coordinator requested this point so that he knows what his limitations are on that day, which I totally agree); .... and a whole lot of other stuff that I can't even remember.
At the end, after repeating myself twice over that I need to know the time by today, she said 'Oh I can only let you know after I've checked with the manager's schedule.' Well DUH!
Point 2 - the floor plan
I gave them my own version of how I thought the room could be laid out last week during the food tasting. But I remember repeating more than twice that the plan wasn't accurate and it was only my suggestion. I asked that they tell me what they think was physically possible instead since they are more familiar with the room than I was, or so I thot!
Today when I asked her if she can at least let me know how the table are facing she referred to my drawing and said ' I'm looking at the plan you gave us and your tables are a lot more oval than ours, so the plan would be different. If you want me to give you a floor plan the tables will be drawn as rounds, not ovals.' I couldn't believe what I was hearing from her!! So I slowed down my speech and tried explaining to her as I would child:
- I have already told her the plan was not accurate;
- how can she give me a floor plan showing round tables when the actual tables are oval;
- no matter how close to round the tables are they are still ovals and ovals have a definite point on two sides (I also reminded her that I have seen the tables physically and know what they look like)
- it is crucial to me to know how they will be arranging the tables so that I know how to seat my guests (I actually had to repeat this point twice throughout the conversation on this topic)
Actually a simple 'Ok I will look into it for you and let you know asap' would have suffice and the matter settled. But oh no, not her. She kept bringing up the plan I gave her and how it's not accurate, and that the plan she does will show round tables instead of oval. Talk about repeating oneself!
To top it of, she starting telling me how they will be laying the room out: tables first, than stage, than dance floor. Super DUH!! I know what will be in the room since I requested for the stage and dance floor, and I don't need to know the procedure. All I wanted to know was where the tables will be facing in relation to the aisle and stage!!!
In the end she said, rather unhappily, 'I'll get the floor plan done for you.'
Point 3 - the cake (the conversation on this topic really took the cake! pun intended)
She knows I will be bringing my own cake and I distinctly remember mentioning to her that I will be checking in with the cake and I'll need help to store it before my cake lady arrives to fix it up.
The arrangements on my side was such that the cake will be sent to my place a few days prior to the wedding for reasons too long to mention here and is of no concern to the incident that I'm talking about.
All I needed to know from her today was what sort arrangements will be made for the storing of my cakes (my cakes will be in 5 boxes). Gosh the moment I mentioned about the cakes I could almost hear her tense up over the phone.
(I wanted to say that this is a summary of the conversation, but as I read thru it again... nope this is it. All I took out were the various versions to my questions and her repeated answers.)
Q: Where will my cakes be stored?
'Since your cakes are not from us I'm not sure if our fridge is big enough to store them.'
'Since your cakes are not from us we have to give priority to our own cakes and may not have the space for yours.'
'Since your cakes are not from us I cannot be responsible for them.'
Q: Where will my cakes be stored?
'Our fridge upstairs is not very big and is used to store the ingredients for the day, so there may not be enough space for your cakes.'
'No we do not have a freezer upstairs.'
'I don't understand why can't your cake shop deliver the cake for you on the day. That's how others usually does it.'
Q: What if your chef really says that the cakes can't fit. Can you help me come up with another solution?
'What solution can you suggest?'
'See even you can't come up with a suggestion, what do you expect me to do?'
'You can't push it to me to solve this for you.'
'Why can't you get the cake people to deliver the cakes here on that day for you?'
Arrggghhh!!! God help me deal with stupid people!
No comments:
Post a Comment