Heathrow's Terminal 5 may at last be running like the finely tuned machine always intended but it seems likely that behind the scenes there's still the occasional bit of turbulence.
Kitchen Rat caught up with several former Sutcliffe caterers recently and got to chatting about what a balls-up the launch of the new terminal had been this summer.
However what goes on front of house is, according to those that used to work there in the distant past, only the half of it.
Conjuring up the image of the Morlock's from HG Wells Time Machine, the former caterers reminisced about how they feared to venture into the subterranean-like bowels of the baggage handlers' domain, all too aware that dynamite had a longer fuse than many of the workers.
While the caterers experienced bank robberies, fires and fatalities during their time at the airport it was the baggage handlers that kept them on their toes, as they would threaten wildcat strikes if the cheese sandwiches ran out.
Although one baggage handler actually resorted to throwing a malfunctioning vending machine at one of our brave caterers once, it was the Great Teacake Scandal that was spoken about in near reverent tones at our meeting.
Seems that when the caterers took over, someone suggested that they should replace the baggage handlers' Eccles cakes with an improved version that actually contained real fruit.
This was a mistake. The Morlocks had grown accustomed to their artificial treats.
"They didn't like the cakes and immediately threatened to strike, so in the end we went back to the previous ones, which had artificial sweeteners in them and certainly no fresh fruit filling."
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