24/05/2026
Myself, my daughter and her fiance took my mum out yesterday to celebrate her retirement.
The food was fabulous. The cocktails were great.
But the service was… meh.
We’d booked both places in advance one for food and one for cocktails but still waited ages for drinks or even for someone to come over and serve us.
Meanwhile, the people sitting at the bar were getting served constantly because they were louder, asked and chased more.
And honestly, it reminded me of all service based businesses.
For example- My work is planned in advance. My days are packed with meetings, deep-focus work, training, helping the team, and solving client problems.
Then the phone rings and someone suddenly needs something “urgently”.
The reality is, there are very few true emergencies in accounting. But when a client feels stressed, it becomes urgent to them, so of course we try to help as quickly as we can.
The challenge is that reactive work always tries to jump the queue and like a lot of business owners, I’ve realised I can’t just keep being the answer to everything.
Some things can be delegated- a lot can’t - im the only qualified accountant and the most experienced so the buck stops with me.
In the past, I’d drop everything. Work evenings and weekends. Always be available.
But since having Gray, and becoming a single mum again my boundaries have changed.
I’ll still work hard. I’ll still help clients. I’ll still go above and beyond.
But I’m no longer willing to sacrifice every evening with my baby for something that could realistically wait until tomorrow morning.
Ironically, we still tipped both places yesterday… but I probably wouldn’t go back.
Because good service isn’t just about reacting to the loudest person in the room.
It’s about managing expectations, protecting quality, and working as methodically as is humanly possible without breaking.
I think a lot of service based businesses struggle with this.
How do you balance being responsive without rewarding constant firefighting?
