Fawlty Towers Alive and Well in Cottesloe



It's 1.50pm on a sunny and gentle autumn day at Cottesloe Beach.
Stunning.  

We walk into a local cafe – the only cafe that has a sunny, north facing, grassed outdoor area on the whole beachfront - with several guests.  

We walk inside to the counter with the reasonable intent of ordering a meal and a coffee. A girl in the front of the queue asks for a bowl of soup.  

"Hang on love, I'll check." comes the response from behind the counter.  

"Hey Rob. Any soup still on?" 

Rob (apparently he is the chef) emerges from the kitchen that is covered with dirt and an appearance of being ‘run down’.

"Nah. We're closing.” Says Rob. 

“Sorry, can’t do any soup luv. Cooks finished for the day”, explains our host. 

The young lady client just walks out shaking her head.  

We are 'smarter', ordering a vegie Panini for almost $11.00 each and that was obviously a fair request as no check with Rob was made. 

So we sit outside in the glorious sunshine at a table that is filthy with old coffee and food stains. Our food arrives and we start our meal.  

Just as we were sipping our coffee another waiter comes along. 

"Sorry yous (sic) guys, but we're shuttin' up so ya gotta go".  

Welcome to Perth's iconic Cottesloe Beach 2012!  

As a city desperate to attract overseas visitors and fellow Australians from ‘over east’ surely Cottesloe Beach-on of Western Australia’s ‘iconic’ tourist’s spot- could do better than this?

Sure, critics will argue that this is because the “Keep Cott Low” mob lead by the high-profile John Hammond, has until the premier stepped in agreed to any desperately needed development to take place. This is not true of course, but also it doesn’t excuse this level of service to be thrussed upon visitors to our beach-or us locals either!

We all know just how hard it is to attract good quality staff in WA to wait on tables. Perhaps we should allow young Balinese waiters the opportunity to work here for 12 months? They speak perfect English, are trained to five-star standards and understand about providing quality services for valued clients.

The sooner our local councils and tourist authorities address this issue of appalling service the better for WA.

In the meantime we just need to seek out those establishments-including one just south of this particular cafe that do train their staff well and deliver a level of service and competency we enjoy in Bali and Europe.

Anyway, I gotta go and get a coffee down at Cott. Before 2pm.


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