Anyone who reads this column will know that I cannot abide poor customer service and I do feel that we put up with it too easily in England.

However, it’s also not fair to and then never praise a company or business when something is exceptional.

We recently went to a pizza restaurant for a meal when two of our usual five were away on sleep-overs.

Child number three felt very left out and we thought we’d cheer him up with his favourite treat, ice cream in a bowl with sweets.

Having placed our order, we were handed bowls to fill up with salad. When my husband got up, his jeans were soaking wet at the back. It was frankly disgusting.

We called the waitress over and she said: “Could it be where the seat was wiped?”

Presumably this was due to the fact that the cushion was some kind of plastic. I asked her to touch the chair, whereupon she agreed the amount of liquid did not equate to that left behind by a damp cloth. We hadn’t even had a drink at this stage, so were not responsible for any spillage.

The seat was duly removed and the manager said she’d apply a discount to our bill and thanked us for being so reasonable. A new chair was found.

Later, our £50 bill was reduced by half. At home the jeans were washed and all was fine. This was one example of where a potentially negative situation was turned into something positive. It ensured we won’t mind visiting again.

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