Surprise birthday lunch was on the menu for Agnes
Chef helped make her own buffet without realising
A long- serving member of staff at a busy hotel was given a surprise birthday buffet – which she made herself.
Agnes Corrigan is a breakfast chef at the Normandy Hotel, in Renfrew, and has been there on and off since she was 17- years-old.
She celebrated her 65th birthday earlier this week and her colleagues decided to throw her a surprise birthday lunch.
But they asked Agnes to prepare the buffet to stop her guessing what was going on.
Agnes has spent most of the past 48 years of her working life at the hotel and general manager Parminder Purewal said: “We led her up the garden path a bit.
“We had to ask her to stay in after her shift and make a staff lunch while we were preparing the room for her.
We led her up the garden path a bit. It was a complete surprise Parminder Purewal
“We thought she would catch on otherwise.
“All the staff chipped in and we gave her some money. She’s a valued member of staff here and we were happy to do this for her.”
He added: “We gave her a guard of honour lineup as she came in. She actually burst into tears, I don’t think she’s had anything like this before. “It was a complete surprise.” Agnes, who lives across the road from the hotel in Kirklandneuk, started there as a waitress in the steakhouse when it was owned by Stakis.
She was asked to work in the kitchen one night when they were short staffed and she never left.
She now works as a breakfast chef with early morning shifts starting at 5am till 1pm.
“Every day it’s different,” she said. “I’m used to the early mornings and it’s handy for me being just across the road. “It’s a good buzz in the kitchen.” Agnes said she was touched by the collection of money for her birthday and the effort everyone went to for the surprise lunch.
She said: “They kept me in the kitchen after my shift and got me to do my own buffet! I didn’t know it was for me at the time.
“It was a lovely surprise, a lovely thing for them to do for me. I’d like to thank everyone for all their effort.”