I know a number of our Forum members are studying Business Administration, to prepare themselves for the corporate world, so I thought this story might be of interest to you.
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the waiter who took our order, as well as the busboy who brought our water and utensils, carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. As I looked around the room, I noticed that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. Curious, when the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, "Why the spoon?"
"Well," he explained, "The restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all our operating processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frquently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift."
As luck would have it, one of our dinner guests dropped his spoon and our waiter was able to replace it with his spare. "I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now."
I must say, I was impressed. Then I noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's fly. Looking around, I also noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their flys. Mystified, before our waiter walked off, I asked him, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?"
"Oh certainly!", he replied. Then he lowered his voice. "Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we could save time in the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of 'you know what', we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent."
Even more impressed, I asked, "But after you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."
Happy Motoring!
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the waiter who took our order, as well as the busboy who brought our water and utensils, carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. As I looked around the room, I noticed that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. Curious, when the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, "Why the spoon?"
"Well," he explained, "The restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all our operating processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frquently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift."
As luck would have it, one of our dinner guests dropped his spoon and our waiter was able to replace it with his spare. "I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now."
I must say, I was impressed. Then I noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's fly. Looking around, I also noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their flys. Mystified, before our waiter walked off, I asked him, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?"
"Oh certainly!", he replied. Then he lowered his voice. "Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we could save time in the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of 'you know what', we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent."
Even more impressed, I asked, "But after you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."
Happy Motoring!
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