Getting Lost Downriver Got Them Exactly Where They Needed To Be

When I was in my teens, I used to spend the summer working at my uncle’s pub, partly to help him out, but mostly because it had been my dream to run my own restaurant since I was five. I loved working there because my uncle would show me how to do almost every job in the pub. I worked as a waiter and in the kitchen, and he showed me how to order and take stock, prepare menus, and so on. Best of all, he paid me, so it was a great way to earn money and learn “the biz”.

I’d been working there since I was fourteen, and my uncle taught me a great many things over the years, but one thing he was quite adamant about was how he dealt with customers. He would always tell me it wasn’t worth trying to please customers who had no interest in being pleased.

As with any establishment, we had our fair share of problem customers, and my uncle had zero tolerance for them. If you had a genuine complaint or issue, he bent over backward to make things right. If you were looking to score free stuff or were just complaining for the sake of it, you got asked to leave.

I was sixteen. One swelteringly hot day, a bedraggled-looking family trudged to the bar and asked if they could have some tap water. They looked like they had crossed the Sahara to get here or something.

I gave them each a glass of tap water and they guzzled it down.

Mother: “What is the cheapest food item on your menu?”

I pointed to the snack section on our menu. Because the family looked fit to drop, I found them a seat outside in the shade. When I took their order, the kids kept begging for more than the basket of chips the mother was ordering, telling her how hungry they were, but the mother ordered the chips and nothing else.

I rushed back in to get her order to the kitchen. They were falling a little behind, so I quickly helped out before heading back to my post. On my way back, I saw the mother come out of the ladies’ room. It was obvious she had been crying. I realised it was none of my business, but this woman looked so unhappy, so I stopped to talk to her.

Me: “Are you okay?”

The mother burst into tears, so I took her to a quiet corner. It was hard to understand some of it through her tears, and she was cagey or vague about some details, but from what I gathered, they were having money issues because her husband was getting royally screwed by his employers. They were fighting it, but in the meantime, they were strapped for cash.

The kids still needed to be entertained over the summer holidays, so they decided to have a cheap day out and go on a nature walk along the river. They had a picnic by the river and generally had a great day, but when they tried to walk home, they got lost. This is a rural area with a lot of walks and trails, some of them marked, some of them not.

Mother: “We tried to follow the river to get home, but we’ve been walking all day and still haven’t gotten anywhere familiar.”

This was in the days before mobile phones were commonplace, let alone smartphones.

Me: “Where did you come from?”

Mother: “We live in [Village].”

That village was over ten miles away! My guess is that they followed the river the wrong way — easily done.

Mother: “My kids are exhausted and hungry, but we only have enough for the chips we ordered. We have no money for a taxi, and there’s no one we can call to come and pick us up. My kids are starving and tired and I have no idea how we’re going to get home! Do you have a map so we can figure out our way back?”

Me: “Just leave it with me.”

I immediately went to my uncle, explained the situation, and asked if there was anything we could do. Surely, we could get them more than a basket of chips. They had three children, all under ten, with the youngest being a toddler.

Uncle: “It’s too hot for a family to go without a good meal and a cold drink. Give them whatever they want.”

The mother was hesitant, clearly embarrassed about receiving charity, but eventually, the family ordered a meal each. My uncle made sure to give them extra-large portions. Every bite was eaten.

Once they’d finished, my uncle had a chat with the parents about how they would get home, and after much back and forth, he offered to give them a lift. 

When my uncle came back, he told me:

Uncle: “This is why we don’t try to please people who can’t be pleased. Because if we spent all our time and money trying to appease them, we wouldn’t be able to help customers like that.”

I didn’t see the family again for the rest of the summer, but I hoped they were okay.

A few weeks later, we received a cheque from the family to pay for the meal we had given them, and they attached a thank-you note. My uncle tore up the cheque and wrote back to explain that he wouldn’t cash it. He told them to keep the money and get the kids ice cream, instead.

The following summer, I went to work for my uncle as usual and was delighted to see the family come back. I was relieved to know they were okay.

Mother: “We’ve wanted to come back for a long time, but we haven’t had the money until now.”

They ended up becoming regulars.

As I said, I have so many stories from those summers helping my uncle — some good, some bad, and some just plain funny — but this story and what my uncle told me really struck a chord. I see so many stories on this site where businesses and managers give in to problem customers, so I wanted to share this story.

Over twenty-five years later, my uncle and his pub are still going strong. There have been rough patches here and there like the recession and the current major health crisis, but the pub has pulled through. My uncle even helped me set up my own restaurant, where I take his motto of customer care to heart.

This story is part of our end-of-year Feel Good roundup for 2022!

Read the next Feel Good 2022 story!

Read the Feel Good 2022 roundup!