legends · 3 min read ·
Waitlist
A restaurant's waitlist texts show a couple released from the list and seated anyway, facing the door.
**Saltmarsh Kitchen · Waitlist SMS log**
**Host station:** front desk · **Service:** Friday dinner · **Quoted wait:** 35 min
· · ·
**19:04 · Outgoing (Saltmarsh)** You're on the waitlist for 2 at Saltmarsh Kitchen. We'll text you when your table is ready. Reply STOP to leave the list.
**19:04 · Incoming (Lucy Ferrand)** Thanks, that's us.
**19:31 · Outgoing** Your table will be ready in 10 minutes.
**19:41 · Outgoing** Your table is ready. Please check in at the host stand within 5 minutes or your place will be released.
**19:42 · Host note:** Lucy Ferrand did not check in. Party of 2 released from waitlist.
· · ·
**19:43 · Incoming (Lucy Ferrand)** I'm here. I was in the toilet. Can you still seat us?
**19:43 · Outgoing** Sorry, your place has been released. You may rejoin the waitlist.
**19:44 · Incoming (Lucy Ferrand)** Please, we've been standing at the bar for ten minutes. There's a man beside us who keeps telling us he's the one who booked. He has our name on his phone.
**19:44 · Host note:** Waitlist shows a party of 2 under Lucy Ferrand, added 19:04, status *released*. A second entry under the same name was added at 19:44. Status *active*. Quoted wait: 0 min.
· · ·
**19:50 · Outgoing (Saltmarsh)** You're on the waitlist for 2 at Saltmarsh Kitchen. Quoted wait: 0 min.
**19:50 · Incoming (Lucy Ferrand)** I didn't send that. I'm not on the list. Who is this?
**19:50 · Outgoing** Your party is ready. Please check in at the host stand.
**19:51 · Incoming (Lucy Ferrand)** There are two of us at the bar and we're not moving. The man next to us has stopped talking. He's just smiling. He says he can see the table from here, and that it's already set for two, and that the two chairs are facing the door.
· · ·
**Host notes (Friday, 20:15)**
Table 9 has been seated since 19:50. Party listed as Ferrand, 2. Guests not seen arriving. Staff report a couple sitting at Table 9 with their backs to the room, facing the window. Both are wearing coats and neither has ordered.
Cover count at Table 9: 2. Cover count on the books: 0.
· · ·
**Booking system audit (Saltmarsh, Monday)**
Waitlist entry for Ferrand, 2, added 19:04 Friday: *released*. Second entry added 19:44: *active*. Third entry added 19:50: *seated*.
Entry 3 was created by the host station at 19:50. The host station login used was the front desk tablet. The tablet was offline at 19:50 and has no record of a login.
Entry 2's creator is listed as *Lucy Ferrand (customer)*. The customer's phone number has been checked. It is the same as the one for the man at the bar, who has no booking and is not in the system.
· · ·
**Customer feedback form (Saltmarsh, 22:40, submitted by Lucy Ferrand)**
*Food: fine. Service: very slow. Table: we were given the one by the window. The view is of the car park, which is empty, except for a silver car which has been parked in exactly the same space all evening, with its lights off, and a woman inside it looking at the restaurant, with her hands folded in her lap.*
*We've asked the staff to tell her to come in. They say she's already seated. We don't know which of us is her.*
· · ·
**Host notes (Saturday, 19:00)**
New waitlist entry: party of 2, name *Lucy Ferrand*, quoted wait 35 min. Customer's phone number is listed as *the number of the front desk tablet*.
Table 9 has been reserved for the same party. Both chairs have been pulled out from the table and are facing the door.