So Bora Bora was not just a postcard, there was something more than just the dreamlike sceneries, the picnics on a boat in the middle of the lagoon on day of the year…

The particular evening described in “Bora Bora, New Year’s day” ended up in quite a messy affair… an hotelier or restaurant owner’s worst nightmare, when the operation slips out of control in a downward spiral… 

Running and sweating, while desperately trying to catch up on the orders of a hundred and twenty guests, who are understandably trying to get your attention to ask a very basic question : “what happened to my main course, it has been 45 minutes since I finished my starter!”

Let’s have a look at the situation on the “battlefield” that evening :

• 120 hungry guests, tired from New Year’s Eve celebrations, wishing to get an early meal, so that they could retire to the comfort of their over water or garden bungalows
• 1 extremely stressed out chef
• 1 dishwasher
• 1 pastry chef
• 1 somewhat stressed out (but fortunately not as much as the chef!) Food & Beverage Manager (me)
• 1 General Manager, who I called so he could come and help out with the service (not always a good idea to live at your place of work!)
• 1 waiter, also tired from New Year’s Eve celebrations…
• 1 hostess

That’s a ratio of, hmmm,  17 to 1… : to welcome, take drinks and food orders, serve drinks, prepare dishes, serve them, etc etc…

After about 50 guests were seated, we were already starting to lose the battle… I don’t exactly recall how, but we somehow -eventually – managed to feed every one of our guests… But this came at a high price ! I don’t think I have ever felt so hated  than that night!

Whenever I dared looking around me, I could see an army of hands lifted everywhere across the restaurant!!  I had become the center of attraction of the whole world around me, but for the wrong reason!! I was expecting to be lynched on the motu’s highest coconut, before the evening was over!

The morning after, as many guests were checking out, they of course wanted to have a last word with “the manager”… 2002 was definitely starting in style…

Nevertheless, many years after, I still think Bora Bora is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, its people are amongst the most guenuine and warm people I have ever met.

 

This is surely the reason why guests from all over the world keep returning to French Polynesia : a true smile is, after all, as equally or even more important, than speedy and accurate service…

The good thing with life’s traumatic experiences, is that they always point out at something valuable, which is not always obvious right away, but becomes so, eventually.

On this particular night, some of us learned, or were reminded that, no matter how hard or difficult the task might seem to be, all you have to do is to give it your best,  just get on with it, because it is often the only solution you have…

This is a common trait with hoteliers around the world… think about it next time you check in into a palace, behind the impeccable looks and smile, there is that man on a wire…

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