The team and I were having a chat this morning during a brief respite from proof-reading our M/June issue, the discussion was about the the large number of food questions we’d received in the office, in just one week. The questions came from not only our Best Of Welsh & Borders food producers, but from festival organisers too. The calls all begin with ‘hope you don’t mind me picking your brains, but you’re sure to know the answer’. Well if they’re advertisers with us and supporting Welsh Country magazine, then of course we do bend over backwards and do our to solve their problem, but some of them aren’t with us, but getting 10 out of 10 for cheek. Then we have to remind them that we support and help those that are with us and if they are not then this is wag food’s telephone number, refraining from asking why they didn’t pester them first. As we no longer know who is left in the food department or their roles, that’s all do, bearing in mind that it has still cost us time and money.
What did raise a smile, but then grumble, was why are we often the first point of contact for food queries when it should automatically be the food department shouldn’t it? For any of our advertisers, our team know they are there to help and if we haven’t got the answer, we’ll still try and find it, as it’s one of our free add-on services, even though it feels like we are running wag’s unofficial food information centre. I’m sure if I was wag food, I’d want to know why questions aren’t being directed at them, the supposed source of knowledge and information, but perhaps they don’t realise they are not always the first point of call. If they can’t grasp why not, they only need to read welshfoodbites and see how much effort I have to make to get answers from them, bearing in mind I’m a journalist, which means in the UK at any rate, that I get prompt answers and great service. But allow me to offer further help, again for free, for wag to get further help on this, I suggest they need an image change, along with a reminder that without food producers and festival organisers not many wag food people would have a job, whilst a further reminder is that these very people pay their salaries. More food for thought here?