Every time we say goodbye
There comes a time in one’s life when invitations to retirement do’s outnumber all others. One such invitation I was very sorry not to be able to accept was for Travel 2’s charismatic Vic Taylor’s bash in London.
So many people have expressed a desire to say a proper goodbye to this popular man that another do has been arranged for Manchester, and a third for Cairns – just like Frank Sinatra, he can’t leave the stage.
Vic has been with the Travel 2/4 team for more than 15 years and will be sorely missed by agents who had come to regard him as a supreme problem solver and a man who never lost touch with his roots. He was always available at the end of the phone to speak to a desperate agent and never stuck inmeetings like other suits are. He is a man with great generosity of spirit and concern for others. This was evident by the way in which he continued working while disguising the fact he had undergone life-threatening surgery and was suffering from a long-termillness.
By all accounts there was no sign of anything amiss at the party he attended with his wife Grace, where I have it on reliable evidence he broke into one of his customary tap dance routines.
Over the years many of us in the industry have been treated to his entertaining time step in a variety of different venues. The one I shall always remember was performed in the confined space of the Bales’ Team Dragon Boat on the Thames during the Dragon Boat Races! That certainly got us all under starter’s orders with a splash!
At 64 Vic is still not content to sit back, he is currently studying for an Open University degree and is heavily involved in volunteer work for those suffering from epilepsy.
Vic was presented with a telescope as a parting gift as astronomy is his hobby. So, as Vic gazes at the sky, the travel industry says au revoir to one of its shining stars.
The many wives of Malta
More problems with partners. Sal booked a female client to a hotel in Malta.
The lady was insistent on the particular hotel and when asked for a second choice in case of a lack of availability she replied,
“No, it’s got to be that one. That’s where myhusband has taken all his wives!”
And with that, wife number three or possibly four, walked out with a flourish.
Men behaving badly
On the subject of men behaving badly, one chap was lucky to leave our shop intact this week when he came in to book a holiday to Gambia.
He and his wife were considering an option with Gambia Experience but when it came to makingdecisions on such things as resort, accommodation, flights and so forth, it was clear the husband dictated terms.
“What about me?” wailed his wife.
“You, Dear? You’re excess baggage!” he smirked.
Outnumbered by four women staff members and his wife, I would say that was a foolish jibe to make, and indeed the stunned silence that followed soon produced a red faced, stuttering male and a very angry looking wife. Jules ushered them out of the door before the much abused wife decided to cancel.
Tailor-made expectations
Some members of the public are still completely in the dark about the meaning of package holiday. They fail to grasp that it is the consumer who adapts to the terms of the package and that anything else ceases to be the set holiday and becomes a tailor-made, invariably at extra cost.
I’ve offered countless holidays that would be fine for the client ‘if you could change the times to fit in with the cat’s injection, astrological predictions, etc’ or, as in this week’s case, ‘if you can hold it over until I get the OK from the hospital that I can travel.’
When I explained to the sweet old lady that it wasn’t possible to do that, she looked quite non-plussed.
“You’d think in this day of the Internet the tour operators and the hospitals could communicate, wouldn’t you?” she said.
I told her to put it in writing and fax or e-mail health secretary Frank Dobson immediately!
Standing to attention
Years ago when I worked for a multiple, a whizzo go-getter was brought in from outside the industry to shake us up, dress us down and show us how to increase profits.
The first thing he did was to combine jobs, lose people and cut wages. Then he moved on to the clients. To save on furniture costs and to ensure they didn’t become too comfortable he removed all the seating, forcing clients to conduct their business standing up.
For his efforts he was rewarded with a fancy title and a huge pay rise. It was a difficult time for all and we all had a view about the man in question.
Imagine how dismayed I was to think he may have had a point about the customer comfort factor.
One rainy afternoon this week I sat in silence as a male client browsed through brochure after brochure from the rack. He had declined my offer of assistance, although he managed to tell me he was interested in the Channel Islands but couldn’t be definite about dates as yet.
Time passed and, as the rain showed no sign of letting up, he pulled up a chair in front of me and read the brochures carefully, making it clear he did not want to engage in conversation.
I stood up, I sat down, I squeezed past him, I circled his chair. I offered him my card for when he was ready to book, and joked that his wife would be wondering where he’d got to. Nothing would prompt him to leave.
Eventually there was a break in the clouds and he hopped to his feet bidding us goodbye with a cheery wave. Now tell me would he have stayed long enough to memorise every detail of those brochures if he had been forced to stand up and do it!