Morag from Manama

I’m a great believer that accidents do happen, bad service can be given and mistakes are made but … and, it’s a big old important BUT … it’s how these situations are dealt with that can make all the difference to your experience.

Life isn’t perfect, things happen, of course they do, and usually when we least expect them to.

So, when we decided to treat our daughter to a day at the beach on her 13th birthday, we pushed the boat out and forked out for pricey day passes to a popular beach club on the island because it’s not every day you become a teenager.

There were a few niggles upon our arrival with only one member of staff trying to cope with an influx of guests, confusion over our lockers and a general lack of information but we eventually made it out to the beach.

Things were going swimmingly although it was busy and the staff members were noticeably overstretched but hey, the sun was shining and everyone was happy.

The birthday girl decided to try paddle boarding and was having fun until she developed a migraine; big brother tookover her board that she had rented whilst I tended to his crying sister.

I quickly realisedt hat sadly we’d have to head home when a fellow beach guest came running up to me pushing a wheelchair and announcing that my son had, had an accident!

It’s that moment that is every parent’s nightmare and everything seems to go in to slow motion mode. Thankfully, a friend was nearby and took care of my daughter whilst I ran off in the direction of the beach, to find my son shivering, wrapped in a towel and blood oozing from his foot.

The member of staff that had been operating the rental of the paddle boards hadn’t realized that it was our daughter’s paddle board that our son was on and had angrily shouted at him to get off. So, in a panic, our son had jumped off and landed hard on something sharp in the sea.

Everything happened so fast after that as the kind Italian gentleman got my son in to the wheelchair that he had fetched and friends gathered to help us in to our car as a trip to the hospital was inevitable - his foot was a mess and still is.

All in all the beach birthday treat turned in to a complete disaster, I recall another member of staff repeatedly trying in earnest to remove the beach towel that my son was wrapped in and asking for my phone number so that they could call me later - I presumed to see how my son was or maybe it was to make sure we returned the towel.

Were they helpful? No, they were absolutely useless! Have I had a follow up phone call? No, I have not! But to be fair, as I was getting in to my car, the member of staff did remind me that we could return up until 11pm that night …