Rains ruin it for cafe customers who love to enjoy meals outside

Dubai: The rains put a damper on the plans of people who love to sit out and sip coffee or enjoy a snack in the open, café staffers said.

Milian, who works at Paul in BurJuman said: "Smoking is not allowed inside the mall and some customers who are smokers prefer to sit outside in the open. The rains definitely caught us unawares, but waiters are now ready to assist customers to bring their plates inside."

Another waiter working with a popular international chain of cafés said: We have a coffee shop on Shaikh Zayed Road. Most of our clients prefer to sit and drink their coffee and work on their laptops as we offer free wifi service."

Vinod, supervisor at Costa in Dubai Festival City said: "Many of our customers prefer to sit outside under the umbrellas even if it is a slight drizzle. We provide umbrellas for each table outdoors and as it is pleasant outside, we had a larger number of customers the past few days."

Ashraf Khalil of Chillis said: "Some of the customers who were eating outside ran when the rains started, forgetting to pay for their food. One of our customer's cigarette lighter went missing when the wind started blowing. We tried to offer him another one, but he refused and wanted only his lighter. We searched all over the place but couldn't find it. Some customers were very stubborn and would not come inside even if it was raining hard."

He said the rains lifted the customers' mood. "Nobody complained when some orders were delayed."

Uttab Bhandari of Cinnabon café said: "Most of our customers really enjoyed the rains. When its started raining heavily they ran inside and when it stopped, everyone went back out."

He said it hardly ever rains here, so people are excited when it rains.

Meanwhile, hypermarkets and supermarkets recorded an upswing in the sale of umbrellas.

I can?t believe how they are complaining about rain! I have been here in UAE for five years and I love it when it?s raining! It?s not raining for the whole year unlike in Philippines.
Kristina
Dubai,UAE
Posted: April 04, 2009, 10:24