Ever wonder why the tourist industry isn’t booming in Southend?

Perhaps my story will be instructive.

It was a rainy afternoon, so I took my baby daughter and our elderly dog to one of the canopied cafes on the seafront.

I ordered a cup of tea for me, and a slice of buttered white bread for the baby.

When it arrived I asked the cost and was told £2.55.

This took me back a little and I found I was 50p short.

I could have confessed after drinking the tea and feeding the baby, but I didn’t.

I asked if I could bring the 50p back later, when I had walked to the cash point on Hamlet Court Road.

The waiter loudly derided me, turning to other customers to say that “obviously”

he couldn’t do that. I had to leave immediately.

We went to Hamlet Court Road, collected £20 and came back. The waiter had trashed the order and given my table to some other customers.

I offered to pay and he would not accept it.

So, at the risk of losing 50p on a slice of bread (and, since I returned, the risk was justified) he lost the entire order, my family’s custom for ever and cast doubts in the customers who all went quiet to hear why I was offering money for nothing.

The irony was, that when I left I found ample change in another pocket to cover the bill.

Paul Miller
Coleman Street
Southend