more London smiles (updated)

Bill's is a new chain, well at least to me, of restaurants in London. http://bills-website.co.uk/  I had been to the one in Islington a couple of times and really liked it as much for the food, which seems to have something for everyone, vegans to carnivores and all those in between, as the ambiance and the staff/service.

We tried the one in Hoxton Square this time, and both my colleague and I were just the tiniest, weeniest, bit disappointed with our first tastes of our food when it came.  It just happened that the waitress was standing nearby and must have overheard or caught our expressions, (good attentive service), and asked us if everything was okay.

It was.  The food was good but just not rave about.  They offered to change our meals but no, we insisted that everything really was fine and that if she hadn't asked at that precise moment, we certainly wouldn't have mentioned it.  When I say it was good, I'm not being British in a "don't make a fuss" way, we both cleaned our plates.

Anyway, after our clean plates were taken away the manageress came over to discuss our meal with us and to see if there was anything they could do.  This wasn't just platitudes, we both felt it was true service with a smile.  So Ellie at Bill's in Hoxton Square, (and the waitress whose name and photograph I didn't get), a big thumbs up to you, and we'll be back.  

Meanwhile, a huge thank you to someone I've been wanting to feature almost since I began with the idea for this blog, Jackie at Waitrose in Finchley Road, NW3.  

Jackie mainly works on the tills and like so many of the staff at this branch have worked there for many years and know their customers by name, (Sue I'd also like to give you a thumbs up and a thank you).

However, like the day I took this picture (apologies for the fuzziness and a bit of thumb!) the shop was mayhem busy and although there may have been tills with less of a queue, regulars would rather wait for Jackie than go through quicker somewhere else.

So Jackie, a big thumbs up and thank you for making that weekly shop so enjoyable and I so love your smile, that I'm going to stick another picture of it here!

As always, if you have come across some special person doing their job with a smile or you want to say thank you to someone, please do send us your guest post to everdayfolk@gmail.com together with your contact details and pictures if you can.  If you're taking a picture of someone, please ask for their permission first.  Thanks.

23.11.13 - This P.S follows a lovely Sunday hug-smile-fest in Waitrose on 17th November. I was at Jackie's till (of course) having a little chat when lovely Sue joined us and finally let me a get a shot of her. While this was going on the smiliest dancer/Pilates teacher ever, Joumana of @IJADdance @JouDance, joined us and we had a lovely tete-tete.  Funniest thing was the lady in the queue behind me, who was sweet and patient, must have wondered about this weird lady hugging and photographing people as she shopped.

A guest post from Angeleno - PACIFIC OCEAN POSITIVITY

From Los Angeles:

Hello Positivity Posters! 

 
Sending an enthusiastic thumbs up from sunny Southern California on behalf of all those that came out on Saturday for Coastal Clean Up Day http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html to comb the beaches for trash and admire the sea awash with surfers...by my count there were at least 200-300 registered volunteers in just our little section of the beach alone (and I saw similar crowds while driving up the coast early Sat am enroute to my destination)...

a couple pix to document the fabulous volunteer effort with especially happy photo of my dear friend Nancy Taylor with septuagenarian volunteer greeter Sara who was a joy to speak with and a wealth of information. Thumbs up ladies! :)
 


Volunteer Nancy Taylor and powerhouse volunteer wrangler/greeter Sara Meric of the Santa Monica Conservancy 

surf wasn't that great but the company sure was!


Volunteers working en masse

Volunteers lining up to help











Volunteers working around beach goers, Santa Monica Pier in the background

Angeleno is a television & film producer in LA.  

Angeleno is not her real name.

Another London thumbs up or two

My first thumbs up this week goes to to Barnet Council recycling bin men; not people usually associated with "pleasant service" but Keith and Paul give a lie to this reputation.

For those unfamiliar with Barnet's (current) recycling policy (it is changing on 14th October in some ways), they give you a blue box and a black box.  The black box if for paper and glass while the blue box is for cans, some plastics and cardboard. Yes, you have to separate your paper and cardboard and woe betide you if you get this wrong as you get this "note from the headmaster" stuck on your boxes telling you off and that you must redo it.

Not yesterday.

I had been having a clear up of some old personal files and had been shredding like mad so I had two big bin bags just full of shreeded paper, way too much for the boxes.  I had left the boxes on top of the bags with hopes that even though there are strict instructions not to use bags, they would see that it was all paper and they would make an exception.

As it happened I was home when the truck came down the road so I came out in to the street to explain what the bags were.  I was greeted by Paul (on the right of the picture)  who just smiled and said no problem.  However, as I turned back to my boxes I saw another man, Keith (on the left of the picture) going for my stuff, so I explained to him what I had been explaining to Paul, and again, a lovely smile, a "no problem" and a couple of thanks from the two of them.  So, Keith and Paul, a thumbs up from us for service with a smile, thank you.

Later in the day, I was down in the West End and coming back on the bus with my mother, she thought she had lost her pass getting off the number 19 earlier, (pleased to say she has subsequently found it), so we got on a bus at Piccadilly Circus with some trepidation since often the drivers are so grumpy in the traffic and tourists of the West End that if you don't have the right ticket there and then, they'll just tell you to get off.

Not so yesterday.

We got Andy.  (He didn't want his picture here for company policy reasons).  Andy not only gave my mother a right to travel pass but he looked up the bus company that runs the 19 so she could call the right depot. 

We then watched Andy deal with the many tourist requests all the way along Regent Street and Oxford Street not just with patience and a smile, but with genuine assistance.  All those requests for "go to seldridge?" (Selfridges) "go to ford square" (Oxford Circus) and on and on were deciphered and answered with the same courtesy we had received.

So Andy on the 139, a big thumbs up from us and since I haven't got a picture of you, here is a nice picture of a 139 at Piccadilly Circus from Timitrius 

http://www.geolocation.wsv/W/File%3ALondon%20139%20bus,%2028%20March%202011.jpg/-/en

I'm afraid I also have to give one thumbs down this week, not to a member a staff, but to a member of the public dealing with a member of staff.

To the man being rude to the young woman on the bread counter in Waitrose, Finchley Road, at around 10:15am on Thursday, 19th September, .   Unnecessary.   You know who you are.

So, to end, as I always do, if you want to say thank you to someone or just tell us about a nice smile that made your day, this is your pin-board and we're happy to put up guest posts.  Just follow the contact details below.   Thanks.

A Greek post

This is a mini post from the Ionian islands in Greece.  We have to make a little exception here to the term "staff" since on the islands in the tavernas in particular, nearly all the people who work are family. Of course there are exceptions but.... 

My first thumbs up and thank you goes to Yianna in her family cafe in Sivota on Lefkada (Λευκάδα - also known as Lefkas and a few other English variations).

Sivota has a big boating fraternity where sailing flotillas come in for one night and leave the next morning added to a few luxury motor yachts and the day to day yachties who spend their summers sailing around the beautiful Ionian.  However, because people come in, want serving and most of the time will never, ever come back this way, service can sometimes be a little perfunctory to get the numbers served without investing too much of one self.  Imagine, no one in a cafe one minute, then fifty English, Italian, German et al of all ages, wanting serving at the same time and then three hours later, no one again.  

Anyway, Yianna and her family were most definitely an exception.  We went in for a light lunch and had a lovely homemade beetroot dip followed by egg and chips with a chilled white wine, (okay, the lunch grew).  Yianna was funny and helpful to both us and in particular a table of Italians nearby who didn't have any Greek or English to understand the menus.  

Then, a rather unpleasant Belgium man came in off his footballer style motor boat; middle aged with paunch but still wearing a crop top with hot pant style shorts, a red bandanna tied on his head pirate fashion and dripping in jewellery.  You get the picture.  Whereas the Italians hadn't had the language to communicate, they made an effort and Yianna of course understood.  This "gentleman" used the method of saying the same word over and over, louder and louder within Yianna's personal space.  Yianna maintained her smile, and together with the whole cafe worked out what he wanted, (which she didn't have), and with a flourish she produced something alternative that she thought would please him, (it did), and the status quo was resumed.

So Yianna, thank you and a thumbs up  from us.

Staying in Sivota and next door, I would also like to give a thumbs up to the lovely guys in the Sivota Bakery but, my apologies,  I failed to get their names or photos).

Another person I failed to get a name or photograph for was the lovely lady cooking in one of our favourite tavernas, Trehantiri, in Vathi on Ithaka (Ιθάκη - aka Ithaki, Ithaca etc).  It was a very hot night and she handled an enormous influx of patrons brilliantly and I had one of the best pieces of chicken on a grill I can remember, and, all with such a warm smile.  So thank you and a thumbs up .

My last Greek post about service with a smile doesn't include a photograph or any names after some consideration, even though I did get lovely smiles on film, it just doesn't feel right and I hope you'll understand when I explain; we are now on Paxos, (Παξοί - Paxi), and we're sitting at a taverna at night, it's very hot again, still in the 30°s, (about 90°F), while the temperatures in the kitchens, which we can see must well be above 40°(about 104°F).

We could see this young woman in the kitchens doing all the washing up above the steaming hot water, and our companion, an Austrian yachtsman that lives in Greece, went and picked some bourgainvelia, and went over and gave them to her.  The smile he was rewarded with, and that she had on for the rest of the meal was truly a sight to behold.  Our decision to not use names or photographs was after consideration of the gossip that can occur in a small village and we wouldn't want any misunderstanding or a belief that there was more between this man and woman than this simple gesture.

Therefore a thumbs up both to the Austrian and the washer-up and in place of their smiles, a pretty picture of Paxos.  

Don't forget, if you have someone to thank or a smile to comment on, just send in a post and share it with the rest of us.   Look forward to hearing from you.

A guest post from Kate Ansell - THE LOVELY VOLUNTEER

A fortnight ago, partly by choice and partly through genetic circumstance, I found myself with three hospital appointments in three days.  By day three, I’d sort of had enough of healthcare environments  Fun tho it was to compare the waiting rooms and clientele with one another – Twitter seemed convinced the men eating sarnies in the gynaecology waiting area were all transgender; I was more certain they’d just bought a lunchtime butty from the stall around the corner and stumbled in by accident – by day three, it wasn’t funny anymore.  

It was therefore unfortunate that I got invited to another hospital appointment a week later – I’m just medically interesting.

Having been such a regular attendee, I thought I knew my way round St George’s Hospital, so blithely left my appointment letter and map at home, having entered what I thought were all the relevant details into my phone.  St George’s feels like it’s as big as two Hyde Parks, but I got the taxi driver to drop me off outside the relevant wing, and all seemed well.

So I was a bit befuddled to find myself stomping up and down the corridor ten minutes later, failing to find the clinic I was supposed to be attending, or even a sign pointing in that direction.  Plus, I’m disabled and walk with a stick, so stomping is not a core skill of mine. 

Which is when Lovely Volunteer came to my rescue.  I can only call him Lovely Volunteer because I didn’t get a chance to read his name badge, which is a shame. 


Lovely Volunteer accosted me in the corridor, sat me down, and helped me figure out where I was supposed to be going, even though he was as confused as I was by the information I’d been given.  He gave me his best possible guess at where I was supposed to be, and told me to come back if he was wrong. 
  

Brilliantly, he was right, and I attended my clinic without further incident.  I got sent for some blood test, got confused about where I was supposed to be going, and Lovely Volunteer pointed me in the right direction again, thus saving me miles of pointless knackering stomping.  Hurrah!

The other thing about Lovely Volunteer is I’m pretty sure he had the same impairment as me – I admit it, I didn’t look at his name badge ‘cos I was too busy looking at the alignment of his knees and feet, if anyone did that to me I’d punch them, I  can only apologise – so I’m going to take a guess that hanging out in hospital corridors looking for lost people to help out probably isn’t the easiest or most comfortable way for him to spend his day.  That’s his choice and I salute him for it.  If I could get you a stool to perch on, I would, mate.  But, thank you.

Kate Ansell can be found on twitter @CrippledWriter

Half a bank holiday

Friday night turned in to a local smile fest and continued on Saturday in Northamptonshire and Warwickshire.

Friday evening, London, the man and I got a bus to West Hampstead.   We were on a number 13 (there is a point to this stay with me) rather than wait for the 328 as its just a short walk down from Finchley Road.   Being the bank holiday, London was lovely and deserted so the bus was hurtling along Finchley Road with no one getting off the bus and no one flagging it down to get on.

Our stop for West End Lane was approaching so we rang the bell.  The "stopping" light lit up but.... The driver went past the stop.  However he was stopped a few feet further along by the traffic lights, about the same time he heard me saying "excuse me" in my best polite British manner.

The driver couldn't have been nicer or more apologetic, he let us off with a smile, a honk on the horn and a wave agreeing he was having too much fun on the lovely empty roads. So number 13 driver on the Finchley Road/West End Lane junction Friday night at about 8:00pm, may we give you a thumbs up.

A walk down the hill then towards The Black Lion pub.  Coming down the hill you get a great view of the fire station and we could see the fire engines out and the blue lights flashing but no sirens.  Peculiar? Not when we realised it was for the benefit of a three and five year old who were being allowed to sit in the cabin and have their pictures taken. (hope this doesn't get anyone in trouble) but a thumbs up to the firemen at West Hamsptead station

Arrived at the Black Lion where we greeted by both Gloria and James.   More of James later in future posts about the Black Lion and the Read for RNIB Day Campaign http://www.rnib.org.uk/getinvolved/readforrnibday/Pages/read-for-rnib-day.aspx but for now Gloria.

I first met Gloria last year when taking part in World Book Night.  I was giving away copies of Pride & Prejudice and her smile then just wowed me - here's the evidence - and you can still enjoy that smile when she's at work in the pub so Gloria, you get a thumbs up as well.


The man felt like pizza and although we seriously like La Brocca being a very warm nice summer's night I didn't fancy a basement so we plumped for Pizza Express.  It was the right decision.








The staff were collectively and individually having their own smile fest and it was lovely to eat in the middle of that.


Reginaldo, our waiter (on the right) was sweet and we had a nice joke about my ignorance that Syrah and Shiraz are the same grape   Then the manager, Ago, (in the middle), was very helpful over my runny egg on my pizza, while also being very funny (ha, ha) about his name being like Argos.

Meanwhile, the chef, Frederico, "the ugly", was grinning like he was on a red carpet with the flashbulbs going while he tossed the pizza dough, delighting the watching children when he pretended to make a mistake.

There were many other smiling chefs and staff there that night, including Serena on the left in the picture above. So not only a thumbs up each to Reginaldo, Ago and Fredericobut. Thumbs up to Pizza Express West Hampstead staff
.

With all those smiles our Friday night was a delightful thumbs up night.


No photos to accompany the smiles and service on Saturday evening but some folk that deserve a few thumbs up; first of all Mark on the bar in The Olive Bush, (http://www.theoldolivebush.co.uk/# ) in Flecknoe village (Warwickshire) for some true old fashioned pubican hospitality,and to Jane and her staff for serving some homemade pub "fayre" all with fun and smiles and then on to Braunston in Northamptonshire where a local, Pete, was running a pop-up pub in his home, (which was the site of a pub many years ago, the Dog & Gun), for charity.  The music, drink and atmostphere were aces, so thank you Pete and a thumbs up to you
.

service with a smile

London is bathed in sunshine and it is definitely making a difference not only to my mood, but others too.  I just hope that this feeling I have had since starting this blog of seeing the good continues once the grey returns.

Staying on seeing the good and the positive, it is most definitely continuing at the moment and I feel like I could almost post daily, which is really weird.  Londoners are meant to be surly and people are supposed to be miserable in their jobs, according to the press, but all I keep seeing is people smiling and giving that extra something.

Today a British Gas Service Engineer came to the house.  We'd made an appointment, managed to narrow it down from a 12:00 to 6:00 slot to a specified two hour slot.  Now, I don't have to tell you that this waiting in for a service engineer, particularly for the utilities, is normally a groan making event; we wait in for hours, they do or don't come, then there might be some sucking in of the breath between the teeth over the issue.  Not today.

I was telephoned by the engineer to let me know that he was on his way and would be with me within 15 minutes.  This was within my two hour prescribed slot.  Already I was in pleasant shock.

Devene arrived, and as you can see from his picture, he arrived with a smile.  He was polite, efficient, knew his stuff, (and some other stuff too), and with a smile was off again.

So, Devene, from us, thank you and you get a thumbs up  .

And while I'm on a little "thank you" jag, I want to say thank you (not in any particular order) to the helpful folk at Myeloma UK http://www.myeloma.org.uk/, the lovely people in reception at Volvo Cars Central London (Swiss Cottage really), NW3 http://www.volvocarslondon.co.uk/contact-us/11/volvo-cars-central-london-aftersales, the helpful people I spoke to for general advice at Get Private www.getprivate.com NW3, St. John's Wood Medical Practice http://www.stjohnswood.nhs.uk/ NW8 for their continuing care and attention to my mother. the really nice and jolly (tall) guy on the till at BP Connect Fuel Garage, Finchley Road, NW3, the nice gentleman at Vistaprint I spoke to on the 19th who is getting married on the 24th (an additional thank you and good luck to him) and to the giggly manager (?) at the Cancer Research Shop in St. John's Wood High Street http://stjohnswoodhighstreet.com/charity-shop/ NW8.  Thank you all and thumbs up -