I had a sleepless night having volunteered to do cloakroom duty in the morning, the hardest of the front-of-house duties in a busy exhibition from my admittedly limited experience. Thank goodness, it wasn’t raining and the queues weren’t too long so that people checking their coats, bags, scarves and cameras were more friendly than when I did it before. I find it interesting to experience the full mix of people coming to see Abstract Expressionism from all over the world – young and old, families, Scandinavians and Americans, most of them polite as they extract their cameras and mobile phones from their bags. There were no complaints, I hope.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
What percentage of your customers recognise you? When they do does the ensuing chat upset the queue? Stoker
Yes, it does a bit – or probably upsets the other people behind the counter. But I recommend it ! It gives you a different view of the world. Charles
The women who checked coats at the Bolshoi in Moscow during the Cold War were impressive and a little scary. They knew everyone. An important job during long Russian winter !
Yes, I hope I managed to be a touch more friendly. Charles