Blue mountain cafe - walked out (Lounged)

[gsirett]

I've been going there for years (occasionally)

It used to be good - the staff at least seemed to know a little about food and how to make a good coffee

The last time I went (about 4 weeks ago) - the staff seemed to have all been replaced by a bunch of teenagers who were poorly trained, and didn't know the first thing about the menu.

My tea turned up - must have had a total of 3 leaves in it (and i like a strong cuppa). Asking for a few more leaves to be added seemed to complelty

I've been going there for years (occasionally)

It used to be good - the staff at least seemed to know a little about food and how to make a good coffee

The last time I went (about 4 weeks ago)all had changed - the staff seemed to have all been replaced by a bunch of teenagers who were poorly trained, and didn't know the first thing about the menu.

My tea turned up - must have had a total of 3 leaves in it (and i like a strong cuppa). Asking for a bit more tea to be added to the pot seemed to completely confuse our the teenager - he just couldn?t work that one out (so brought me another pot of weak tea ? which they then tried to charge us for)

I had to ask two of them to stop them dancing (not proper dancing ? more wiggling) next to our table to the pumping techno (and don?t get me going on that)

To cap it off, I watched them slicing up cakes for people and...wait for this...licking the knife between cuts.

I don?t blame them - they clearly hadn?t been trained and had no experience in working in a cafe and I?m sure a lot of these things will be put right by the management but I won?t be going back until they get their act together

[clive3300]

Unfortunately the hospitality industry overwelmingly relies on nearly the cheapest people money can buy. Until restaurants / cafes feel the market will bear the higher costs of better staff, this is always going to happen.

I wonder how much the total running costs of a restaurant would change if they increased wages from ?6/7 to ?10 an hour.

Just asking.

[mamafeelgood]

clive what sanity you speak. speaking from family experience, we are the only non continental dwellers, it is pathetic what people have accepted as 'good' food in this country. having said this, i have never liked the service or the food in BMC, i think it's overpriced for what they offer.

p.s. louisa: if one prefers free range eggs to battery, or, organic sausages to meat scraped off the floor ones - does that automatically make the person someone you deride? or does that demonstrate that the person cares about what they put on their mouth? i am not having a go, i am genuinely interested to know what you think about quality of food, but please do not hide behind class stereotypes...

[KalamityKel]

The good...the bad..and the...

tis always the same, many different experiences but yet the overall can't be too bad as the establishment is still surviving...

[Louisa]

mamafeelgood, sometimes people on a low budget cannot afford these supposedly better quality items you make claim to being so fantastic. I would suggest any food from a decent source and sold at reasonable prices is a good thing. I buy fairtrade fruit from the supermarket if it's a foreign fruit, and I try to buy locally produced British if it's in stock and what I want. But many of the people who buy expensive items do so because they want to feel as though they are being offered something others are not getting. I see this in places like Blue Mountain, Mon petit chou and GBK every day of the week. You cannot justify selling meals at these sorts of prices in local cafe's. But it makes good business sense i guess if you can live with a guilty conscience.

Louisa.

[Administrator]

As a preventative measure I am asking that you please keep this discussion on topic.

[Cassius]

Why should anyone have a guilty conscience - if people are happy to spend the money on these items then everyone is happy - the customer is happy because of the supposed superiority implied in purchasing the item (if that is true) and the supplier is happy because they've made a larger profit.

After all there would be no cosmetic or beauty industry at all if we followed your criteria - after what is really different between a cheap moisturiser and a really expensive one - yet the expensive brands sell because they sell hope as well and if an expensive coffee brings more happiness than a cheap one why should that be knocked - as long as there still are places where one can get cheap and cheerful.

Edited to say sorry Administrator - written before your post.

[Louisa]

I quite agree Cassius, and the fact people are prepared to spend a fortune on an item which has the same cosmetic or natural purity as a cheaper item then it proves my point about how fickle and downright stupid the middle classes are. Go ahead and spend money, i'd certainly not have it on my conscience if I owned a snobby cafe locally!

Louisa.

[Asset]

I see this in places like Blue Mountain, Mon petit chou and GBK every day of the week

you get out a bit don't you - lucky you.

[clive3300]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I quite agree Cassius, and the fact people are

> prepared to spend a fortune on an item which has

> the same cosmetic or natural purity as a cheaper

> item then it proves my point about how fickle and

> downright stupid the middle classes are. Go ahead

> and spend money, i'd certainly not have it on my

> conscience if I owned a snobby cafe locally!

>

> Louisa.

Are you really as poverty-stricken as you make out? A fortune? On a cosmetic or a GBK burger?

This stuff costs nothing.

Seriously, if you are really horrified about the price difference between a chicken shop burger and a GBK, or different minor cosmetic products you should spend your time studying for a new career or something rather than ranting here.

As with many people on this forum, I buy better quality stuff because I prefer it and the difference in price is irrelevant. Sometimes I get ripped off a quid here or there because I dont research and check for the best price on minor stuff. I am ok with this because I value my free time. I would never waste my free time price checking to save a few quid.

Added, to be on topic

BMC - I prefer it to greasy spoons (except on hangovers) but its not my fav.

[macroban]

> I buy better quality stuff because I prefer it and the difference in price is irrelevant.

[mamafeelgood]

it was not a personal question about specific preference, i was just interested in what one might consider worth paying more for that's all and if it's 'middle class' to want to eat well or just plain common sense but sadly due to cost not available to anyone.

i don't know if i'd call GBK middle class, it's just a chain (oooooooh noooooooooooooooo i fired another hot topic up there)

either way i stand by the fact that bmc is not worth the hype, as mentioned before i think petit tou just off bellenden beats it hands down, oh and the peckham park cafe.

[clive3300]

GBK is certainly not high falutin' food! But its a very decent, solid burger. I generally happily pay ?6? for a GBK over ?2? for elcheapo chicken burger.

I am not British so dont have the class hangups, but it seems that actively eating unhealthily seems to be more a working class thing than eating well is a middle class thing. I gather that people who are quite or even wealthy, yet view themselves as working class (e..g footballers, quite a few bankers, etc) appear to take pleasure in eating anything deep fried/greasy/covered in salt/tasteless/you get the picture. Its a cultural choice of some, and not necessarily an economic choice.

[Mark]

Please can people stop replying to Louisa and her "class" comments, she always drop them in to any discussion about buying things in the area and and you can't logically discuss things with her. I'd suggest ignoring her flaming comments.

I went to BMC and had a cup of tea there about three weeks ago which was fine.

[edited once]

[Louisa]

Mark, it seems you cannot raise a post without bringing my name up can you sweetie? If you have feelings for me then dont be shy, i'm looking for an excuse to dump Mr Louisa atm.

Clive3300 for people on a low income that ?6 that you shrugged off as cheap is actually an hours work for them. You obviously fit into my catergory of middle class who enjoys spending. You cannot appreciate the value or worth or anything, you see yourself as live today pay tomorrow. It worries me. You know you arnt getting anything better, but because you are wet behind and ears and because of aspects of snobbery, you buy these more expensive items anyway. You create class distinction in this country, not people like me who raise these issues.

Louisa.

[Administrator]

Lounged

[Fuschia]

-- moved topic --

[RosieH]

LOL, Louisa that's priceless. I think what everyone's been saying is that they know they're getting something that IS better.

frankly, none of us need to wear nice clothes. we could wear a sack with holes cut for the arms. and we don't need a comfortable car - we could buy a cheap one that would still get us from A to B, but it might smell a bit and one of the seat springs poke us in the arse. and we don't need films (when there's tv) and literature (when there are tabloids) and music (when we could whistle). No we don't need them, but hurrah that life affords pleasure, and one such is eating delicious food.

I like to spend all my money on high class rent boys, but why should I when I could pick up out of towners from the Bishop for nothing. WHY? because they taste better and I can.

*I made that last bit up.

[Guest]

When I've been worried about money, I ate at home because it's cheaper. Eating out is a choice, and once you get past the basics, while quality is important, what people are really prepared to pay more for is ambience and service. BMC is actually quite a good fit for ED in that sense, so it's not surprising people go back there despite the chips being soggy.

[clive3300]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Clive3300 for people on a low income that ?6 that

> you shrugged off as cheap is actually an hours

> work for them. You obviously fit into my catergory

> of middle class who enjoys spending. You cannot

> appreciate the value or worth or anything, you see

> yourself as live today pay tomorrow. It worries

> me. You know you arnt getting anything better, but

> because you are wet behind and ears and because of

> aspects of snobbery, you buy these more expensive

> items anyway. You create class distinction in this

> country, not people like me who raise these

> issues.

>

> Louisa.

Fabulous. I now am inspired to test the resilency of the chrome bumper of my new Range Rover on those povo kids selling matches on the other side of the railway tracks.

[Cassius]

The middle classes are NOT the ones who live today pay later. The 'real' middle classes are usually very careful with their money - it's the nouveau riche or even the nouveau just a bit riche who are guilty of this - the people who have 'beer incomes' with 'champagne lifestyles'.

[Louisa]

I disagree completely. The "new middle class", the urban 20 to 30 something who has supplied ED with the gentrification, are the very people who enjoy wasting cash on extravagent lifestyles and travelling, and I believe that this is primarily because they do not understand the worth of money and have failed to live through a recession when times have been hard (that counts ofr most people though) and secondly and probably most likely, because aspects of snobbery run through their veins passed down from previous generations. They honestly believe that good living makes them better in every possible way to poorer people, be that for cultural or economicreasons.

Louisa.

[KalamityKel]

Louisa I'm most curious on your thoughts about the 30-40s...

[Cassius]

Well you know completely different people to me - in fact I don't recognise anyone that you talk about. My family and friends would be considered terribly middle class (books everywhere, maybe even a piano or two) and all think that consumerism and materialism are rather vulgar. I honestly think you are mixing middle classes and nouveau riche up.

[clive3300]

Louisa Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I disagree completely. The "new middle class", the

> urban 20 to 30 something who has supplied ED with

> the gentrification, are the very people who enjoy

> wasting cash on extravagent lifestyles and

> travelling, and I believe that this is primarily

> because they do not understand the worth of money

> and have failed to live through a recession when

> times have been hard (that counts ofr most people

> though) and secondly and probably most likely,

> because aspects of snobbery run through their

> veins passed down from previous generations. They

> honestly believe that good living makes them

> better in every possible way to poorer people, be

> that for cultural or economicreasons.

>

> Louisa.

I dont have official figures (as I cant be bothered to find them) but according to the times

"Middle-class people have average incomes of ?25,500, some 24 per cent more than the average ?20,500 working-class income. "

Well middle class "25 grand" is nowhere near what you need for the extravagent lifestyle you appear to think they have. A champagne / jet set lifestyle requires well over 100k to sustain.

Interestingly from this linked article:

The WORKING class

A ?live for today? attitude; believe that income is the best measure of social status; borrow to spend on treats

The MIDDLE classes

Invest in shares and ISAs; believe that education is the best measure of status; live in a detached house

The UPPER classes

Generally describe themselves as middle class; avoid taxes; universally disliked