Table talk
Costly attempt to improve behaviour
Whitbread was counting the cost last week of holding a behavioural skills seminar. This ended with not only the proverbial piss-up - but also a punch-up.
The company lost its Appeal Court challenge to an unfair dismissal claim decision, brought after the sacking of three employees attending the course.
The employees had taken advantage of the free bar and ended up misbehaving sufficiently to warrant the sack, said Whitbread. But the court ruled that, although the men's actions had been deplorable, they were still unfairly sacked.
Saucy fare uses dukes as setting
Andrew Phillips, general manager at London's Dukes Hotel, has been amused by the appearance of his property in Harold Robbins's new paperback, The Stallion.
On page 98, a passage begins: "The elegant little room in Dukes Hotel had a fireplace, in which logs had been laid." One sentence later it carries on: "ÉRoberta threw aside her black dress, her bra and her panties and waited for him in a black garter belt holding up dark stockings."
This is a family magazine, so I won't continue. Suffice it to say the book is not called The Stallion for nothing.
Danes and Scots team up to mourn
With commiserations to the customers and staff of the Fox and Hounds Scottish pub in Herning, Denmark, who have seen their two favourite football teams - Denmark and Scotland - cruelly knocked out of the opening round of the Euro96 competition.
The pub's bar manager, Tyrone Reid, wrote to tell me of his elaborate plans for the tournament, which included setting up access to the World Wide Web for all the latest football news.
A party is planned for the last day of the event in the hope that "even England" - their last hope - makes the final.
Alsatian apparition at regular haunt
After a period of relative tranquillity, there are yet again ghostly goings-on at Flitwick Manor in Bedfordshire.
General manager Sonia Banks tells me that a police officer honeymooning there last month suffered a series of spooky experiences. Balls were thrown, keys dropped and the poor man was even felt he was being pushed back into his bed.
But most mysterious was his vision of a white animal, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the large Alsatian that had been kept by the Brooks family who owned the property in the last century. Another shaggy dog story?
Knocked for six by new shape of chips
FOR all those weight- watching fast-food fanatics who just can't bear to give up their chips, a new design created by the Scottish Agricultural College could make all the difference.
Hexagonal chips contain up to 20% less fat than a traditional chip. The explanation, it seems, is all to do with surface area. I wonder how many chefs will be experimenting with this geometric approach to our favourite dish?
Slip into something more revealing
Most hotel guests depend on the facial expression of their host to tell them his or her mood. Not at Overton Grange near Ludlow, Shropshire where new proprietor/manager Igi Gonzalez wears slippers that reveal his mood.
On the day I visited it was Mr Happy covering the toes, but I am reliably informed that Mr Grumpy slippers are soon to be purchased to allow for a variation in moods.
