Barbary Coast manager Pasquale Bufano talks about his role in helping stranded Steam Packet passengers.
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00:00So hi, my name is Pasquale, I'm the manager of Barbary Coast.
00:06And then obviously you were here on Monday night,
00:09would you like to talk us through what happened on Monday?
00:11Yes, well Monday night I was doing my usual routine.
00:16We had a busy night, a lot of foreign, a lot of tourists,
00:20as we know it was the Manx Grand Prix, so it was quite hectic.
00:25But yeah, I was about to do all my clothing,
00:29catching up and everything and then a lady,
00:32which they were eating with us,
00:34it was her, her husband and her family basically,
00:37and the son, she came back and she asked me
00:40if she could charge her phone,
00:42because she was very busy with emails and she goes out,
00:46I said yeah, of course, you can charge it with her.
00:48And then she explained to me, then the boat was cancelled
00:51and basically they were there in the car
00:55and I said, well, I was very concerned with that,
00:57where's your family?
00:58I said, they're just in the car,
00:59I said just tell them to come in, you know, like invite them in.
01:03And then they said to me,
01:05then they were basically going to sleep in the car.
01:07So I just literally told myself,
01:09I'm not going to let you and your family sleeping in the car,
01:13so you can come in mine.
01:15What time, sorry, what time did this happen at, roundabout?
01:18Roughly, it was 10, 10, half past 10, half past 10.
01:25And what time do you guys close at Barbary of a night time?
01:28Well, we do the last door there,
01:30usually our last door is about 10 o'clock,
01:32but we always, if it's quiet, we close, we tend to close early.
01:34I think that night we closed just around between,
01:37between 9.30 and 10 o'clock,
01:39so she come back, I was closing down,
01:41so she come back, it was like,
01:44usually 10.30 or something.
01:46And then, but yeah, as soon as I said to her,
01:51I'm not going to let you sleep with you and your kid in the car,
01:54you know, like, I'm not going to let you sleep,
01:55you can come in mine.
01:57And she goes, how about all the people that are there?
02:00And I said, what?
02:01I said, yeah, there's some people there,
02:02then they weren't going to be thrown out at 12 o'clock
02:05because the place is shut at 12 o'clock.
02:07So, and I was joking, you know, like,
02:11you know, like it can be happen, you know,
02:13like you can't throw people on the,
02:15that night it was raining, windy,
02:18it was a horrendous night.
02:20That's, that's why, of course, they cancelled the boat.
02:24So I said, I talked to them because I said,
02:27let me go and have a look on the sea terminal
02:29because I was very concerned about all the people.
02:31I said, they can't do that.
02:33Literally, I said, I was, you know,
02:34like they can't physically do that.
02:36It's not, it's against the human's right
02:39at the end of the day or something, you know.
02:41So I literally, I left whatever I was doing.
02:44I said, I'll be back here.
02:45The tail was shut anyway, so everything was down.
02:49There were a couple of, a couple of staff was still in.
02:51So I went in there and I see that there were families,
02:55there were kids, pensioners, people who can,
03:00you know, like they were there.
03:01And so I started asking around, what's the situation?
03:03I said, you have the bikers and they don't have a car.
03:06They were meant to sleep outside under the rain.
03:10So, and I literally, at the beginning,
03:13at the beginning, I said, I'll bring all of you as a mine.
03:17Which I thought, I thought my roommate,
03:18the one boy was not going to be happy with it.
03:21So I said, I'll bring all of you as a mine.
03:22I said, how do I, how do I going to fit them in mine?
03:26I said, there's no chance I can fit them in mine.
03:27I said, and I started, my brain started thinking,
03:30I said, okay, okay, okay, I've got, I've got a solution.
03:33I've got a big place here.
03:35Of course, I couldn't, I couldn't have,
03:38I couldn't bring people in without the permission of the boss.
03:44So when I come back here, I see them again.
03:48We were both concerned and everything.
03:50And I said, you know, I'll send a message to the boss
03:52and I said, and I asked the permission, you know.
03:56And I haven't-
03:56Was it hard to get permission?
03:58No, no, no, no, no.
03:59I was, I was just waiting.
04:01I knew, I knew the way, I knew,
04:02I knew for the fact that they would have said yes.
04:06And the only fact, the only thing is when I,
04:08by the time I send them the message,
04:10then it was quarter past 11.
04:11So one of the boss was asleep
04:14and, and I was carry on with the cash shop.
04:17So I told myself, if as soon as I finish here
04:20and I haven't got no answer,
04:22I'm going to take an executive decision.
04:27Which I don't know how to say, you know.
04:28But, but luckily enough, he answered me.
04:32The boss, the main boss asked me,
04:35asked how many people we were talking,
04:37which were about between 20 and 30,
04:39as far as I could remember.
04:40And, and I said to him, I said, don't worry,
04:44I'll be up all night.
04:45I'll take care of them.
04:46You know, like everything's going to be all right.
04:49And he said, yes.
04:49And as soon as, as soon as I got the okay,
04:51I look at the lady and I said,
04:53she said, okay, let's go and get them.
04:56So we literally went over and I went over
05:00and start calling everyone.
05:02They were, the people, they were all shocked.
05:04I said, and I said, don't worry.
05:06By the time I went over then, the boat arrived.
05:11So I couldn't really see which,
05:15which one they were, the people that were stuck there
05:18or the people that they were coming in.
05:19It was a mix of everything.
05:21So I remember, I remember the people I talked to.
05:24And then I remember before I told,
05:27before I took all that decision,
05:28I went to speak also with the, with the,
05:30with the desk of the sea terminal and asked them,
05:33I said, are you generally going to close the place
05:36and leave these people out under this weather?
05:39And they said, they said, there's nothing they can do.
05:42There's nothing to do with the sea terminal,
05:44the steam packet.
05:46And I said to them, but again, at the end of the day,
05:49I think, in my opinion, they should take responsibility
05:53because yes, they closed the, it's been canceled.
05:58You need to give a roof or something to these people.
06:02What were some of the peoples who stayed here the night?
06:05What was their response to you welcome them in?
06:08They were very, they, they couldn't believe they were there.
06:12It was, it was, I was proud.
06:15You know, like it was, it was good.
06:17It was a good atmosphere.
06:18They were, they were, they couldn't believe it.
06:19You know, like, and when, in fact, when I went there
06:21and I said, come with me, I literally take,
06:23take everything, come with me.
06:24You know, like, and then say, yeah, well,
06:27and then I keep running.
06:30They were two French people.
06:31They couldn't speak English.
06:32And then I can, I can understand French language.
06:35I can speak, but you know, like, and see the Barbary Coast,
06:38you know, like, and some of them knew the places.
06:40Some, some others they didn't knew.
06:43So I explain it roughly.
06:45So they all meet up here.
06:46So I send them all over
06:47and I was carry on trying to find others.
06:51So when I arrived here and they were all waiting at the door,
06:54it was kind of like, it was, it was a good,
06:57and they were all very thankful and everything.
07:03They were, they were happy.
07:04They were happy.
07:04You know, like as soon as I sent them in,
07:06I offered them coffee and Frenchies,
07:08making them feel warm.
07:09I said, lie down.
07:11I said, help yourself, lie down wherever you want.
07:15And it was, there was some chicken leftover
07:17because, you know, like we always have chicken leftover
07:20for the staff.
07:20And most of the time, we don't eat it sometimes,
07:24so chicken leftover, I warm it up.
07:25I give them some food.
07:28Then I realized they weren't sleep comfortable.
07:30So I took all the tables away.
07:32I put them chairs, make sure they were comfy.
07:35So, you know, like, again, try and give her,
07:39give her hospitality, you know, like give her some.
07:42Your customer service showing through.
07:44Yeah.
07:46Yes, correct.
07:47Yeah.
07:47No, you know, like, again, I think,
07:50I think we do live in,
07:55I'm a foreigner, OK?
07:56But I've been here for 15 years.
07:58And I think, what I think is we actually live on,
08:06we pretty much live on TT and Monks Grand Prix.
08:09And we live on this tourism, OK?
08:12And we live on them.
08:14They come here and they spend a lot.
08:16And they give us, they pay for our wages.
08:19They give out, they give this island,
08:23the nominee we have around the world at the end of the day.
08:26So we need to take care of them.
08:29And then there were, there was an 87 years,
08:32when, when there was, it was all kind of people.
08:35There was an 87 years old, 86, on the 80s,
08:39pensioner, Marshall.
08:42He comes in and help us.
08:44And then we can't do that to him.
08:47You know, we need to take care of them at the end of the day.
08:50In fact, then when, in the middle of the night,
08:53you know, like when I took a video
08:56and I send a video to the boss to show him,
08:59to make sure everything is all right.
09:01So I send a video to my assistant, Morgan,
09:06which I want to thank her as well,
09:08for her, because she was here and help us,
09:10help him, help.
09:13And she's not, she's not nominated.
09:14She does not get the appreciation.
09:17So she was here and helping.
09:20And when she arrives here, I had the chance also to,
09:23because when I, again, when I went over there the first time,
09:27there were a lot of people coming in.
09:28So I couldn't see it.
09:29And then while she was here,
09:30she went to also and see maybe if in the,
09:33in the bus stops they were and said,
09:34I said, good ideas.
09:35And you stay here.
09:36I'll take the car and go back to the,
09:38to the sea terminal and see it.
09:40And when I arrived there,
09:41there was an old man sleeping on the pavement,
09:44on the pavement under the rain.
09:47It was, I think it was like that,
09:48that was around one o'clock.
09:50So the terminal was closed at one o'clock in the morning.
09:53And as soon as I saw it,
09:54and there was another couple in a car,
09:56and I said, I'm not going to wake him up.
09:58I said, come over, you know, like it's calm there,
10:00you know, like get warm, warm yourself up.
10:03And I went to the, to the guy,
10:05the guy was sleeping, I said, can I, can I?
10:06And so I grabbed all his suitcase.
10:08They were all very mad up.
10:09They were all, all, all the people here,
10:11they were very mad up.
10:12And I'm sure for them, that'll be a memory.
10:14Yeah.
10:14A memory for them.
10:15It might come from something negative,
10:17but I'm sure it was left with something positive.
10:20Something, yeah, I know.
10:22At least we need, we need to make the difference,
10:25you know.
10:25I agree.
10:26We need to make the difference, that's the thing.