It’s uncommon for a head of state to only casually drop into a restaurant for a snack. Rarer nonetheless for them to be turned away.

However that’s precisely what occurred on Saturday when the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, was turned away from a preferred cafe in Wellington which was full resulting from coronavirus distancing measures.

“Omg Jacinda Ardern simply tried to come back into Olive and was rejected trigger it’s full,” a Twitter user named Joey wrote at about noon.

His tweet was accompanied by a ghoulish emoji, suggesting he was horrified that area was not made for the Labour chief, regardless of eating places being restricted to a most of 100 individuals and not less than 1 metre between seated teams. 1 / 4 of an hour later, he added: “By no means thoughts they sorted her out.”

Arden’s associate, Clarke Grayford, responded to his tweet a number of hours later, taking the blame for the transient hiccup to their day.

“I’ve to take duty for this, I didn’t get organised and e-book wherever,” he wrote. “Was very good of them to chase us down st when a spot freed up. A+ service.”

Whereas leaders in different nations might ship employees forward to make preparations, a spokesperson for Ardern’s workplace mentioned ready at a restaurant was one thing anybody may expertise throughout New Zealand’s virus restrictions: “The PM says she simply waits like everybody else.”

With out offering his identify, the restaurant’s proprietor told the New Zealand Herald that he was happy to be speaking about “one thing light-hearted and enjoyable” following “the drama and stress” of the earlier two months.

He confirmed no exceptions had been made for Ardern and that she and Grayford had been initially turned away by the restaurant supervisor. Nevertheless, the supervisor then ran down the road minutes later, after a desk grew to become free – which he careworn is a courtesy prolonged to different clients.

“She had a stunning brunch and left half an hour later,” he instructed the paper. “She was beautiful with all of the employees … [and] she was handled like a standard buyer.”

Refusing to disclose what the prime minister ordered, he confirmed that the couple didn’t have their 23-month-old daughter, Neve, with them. “[It was a] date brunch,” he mentioned.

Fewer than 1,500 individuals have been contaminated with Covid-19 in New Zealand, and 21 individuals have died, after the federal government pursued a vigorous elimination technique, shutting its borders on 15 March and getting into a country-wide lockdown 10 days later.

Because the nation edges again to regular, the incident exhibits that whereas New Zealand’s prime minister has reached close to record-breaking approval ranges, the nation is remaining vigilant. “We’re following each one of many guidelines,” Olive’s proprietor mentioned.