The OFA Cafeteria

In the past five months, I have visited The Old Frees' Association more times than I have ever done so in the preceding five years.

That would include eating at the cafeteria at the OFA. The food is not bad, actually, and I quite enjoy their chicken chop. But yesterday, I tried a few mouthfuls of my son's fish and chips and was pleasantly surprised.

By now, most of the staff at the cafeteria would have noticed me as a rather familiar face at the clubhouse and also an OFA member. Nobody but the OFA members would huddle down with the OFA president or some of the other members of the management committee and the editorial team at the Tavern and sometimes at the Library.

All the cafeteria operators - present and previous - are fully aware that OFA members are entitled to a 10 percent discount on their food bills. Yet, every time I eat at the cafeteria, I see that the staff act as though everybody are strangers to them and they try to charge their customers the full amount. And every time, I've to remind them of my OFA membership status before they would deduct the discount from my bill.

Yesterday was no different. The boss wasn't around and one of the lady staff tallied up the bill and passed it to me.

"Hey, where's my discount?" I asked her. "Oh, you're a member, is it?" she asked me back, and then quickly minused out the discount.

I know that they are only doing their job - it's a procedure practiced from the top down - but really, I'm getting tired of this little game they play with all their customers, whether they be OFA members or not. The only reason why I keep eating at the cafeteria is because of their chicken chop.