It appears that not even the Prime Minister of New Zealand is exempt from coronavirus restrictions, as she was turned away from a café in Wellington.
The reason she was turned away was that it had already reached its limit of customers under new social distancing rules.
A post about the incident was made on Twitter, with Ardern’s partner Clarke Gayford sheepishly responding as to why the couple were turned away.
“I have to take responsibility for this, I didn't get organised and book anywhere,” he admitted.
“Was very nice of them to chase us down the street when a spot freed up. A+ service,” Gayford said.
The owner of the café, Olive, said that they were bemused by the media attention and explained to the NZ Herald that it was nice “after all the drama and stress” of the past two months to talk about “something light-hearted and fun”.
“She had a lovely brunch and left half an hour later. She was lovely with all the staff … [and] she was treated like a normal customer.”
The café owner also confirmed that it was a date for the couple, as they did not have their 23-month-old daughter Neve with them.
“[It was a] date brunch.”
Cafes and restaurants were not able to operate during the level 4 lockdown in New Zealand and under level three, they could only serve takeaways.
As the restrictions were eased to level 2, cafes and restaurants were able to open if they followed strict social distancing rules and ensure contact tracing is in place.
Customers must be seated at a distance from each other and be served at the table instead of the counter.
This article originally appeared on Over60.