Once again I am looking for staff.
It isn't that I have lost anyone. But finally I am beginning to understand the patterns of this business and discovering that there are enormous holes in my staff rota that cause problems.
But getting staff always seems a chore. I have always hoped people would just walk through the door offering their services but, sadly, they don't. Or rather those that do I don't want.
My principal member of barstaff is taking a week's holiday next week and I need someone now.
And I am incredibly disorganised when I am recruiting. It takes forever for me to get an advert in the paper, then process the responses, then send out application forms, then sort those, invite people for interviews and reject the ones who are not successful. Often the resulting decision is made on the flimsiest of reasons. I am sure there are better applicants out there but, often, I choose impulsively. Sometimes the result is good. Sometimes it isn't.
This time I am looking for someone to work a couple of evenings a week. But they must be able to do Saturday.
In a break with my usual practice of putting a lineage ad in the local paper - which is very expensive for what you get - I have simply put a card in the local newsagent's window.
Surprisingly the response has been good. At a 20th of the price of a lineage ad this is proving cost effective. But there have been a succession of applicants insisting they cannot work Saturday evenings. They are immediately non-starters.
I hope it will get resolved soon. In the meantime we can get by. I've three daughters, plus my wife, who can step into the breach. But it is tough on them and I'd rather have it sorted properly. After all, I initially took a pub on to escape my family, not work with them.