NE_Diver
Contributor
last one for the night
I was dining out at a rather chi-chi restaurant last night - the candlelight was just right, music in the background and the wine was delicious.
We'd just finished the entre and our waiter was taking the orders for desert when I noticed he had a spoon tucked into his jacket pocket. Looking around I realised all the waiters were similarly equiped. Being the curious type I asked the waiter what the reason was...
"Well sir, we had some management consultants do a 'time and motion' study and they found that we were wasting an average of 2.5 person-hours per day going to get a fresh spoon every time a patron dropped theirs. Hence we all carry a spoon in preparation now".
Indeed, shortly afterwards I noticed someone drop their spoon and within a few moments a waiter had replaced the spoon with his spare. I was impressed and made a note to revise my opinion of management consultants.
As we were finishing up, I also chanced to notice that all the waiters had a little string pokeing out of their waistbands. I called our waiter over to enquire...
"The same consultants sir. They calculated that we loose just over 5 person-hours a day washing our hands after a 'comfort stop'. By attaching a string to our <ahem> <ahem> we're able to pull it out using the string and avoid sullying our hands, thereby saving the time we'd normally spend washing them".
Again, I was impressed, but then realised a hitch...
"So" I asked "I can see how the string works for removal, but how do you get things back in afterwards?"
"Well sir, I can't speak for the others, but I use the spoon"
I was dining out at a rather chi-chi restaurant last night - the candlelight was just right, music in the background and the wine was delicious.
We'd just finished the entre and our waiter was taking the orders for desert when I noticed he had a spoon tucked into his jacket pocket. Looking around I realised all the waiters were similarly equiped. Being the curious type I asked the waiter what the reason was...
"Well sir, we had some management consultants do a 'time and motion' study and they found that we were wasting an average of 2.5 person-hours per day going to get a fresh spoon every time a patron dropped theirs. Hence we all carry a spoon in preparation now".
Indeed, shortly afterwards I noticed someone drop their spoon and within a few moments a waiter had replaced the spoon with his spare. I was impressed and made a note to revise my opinion of management consultants.
As we were finishing up, I also chanced to notice that all the waiters had a little string pokeing out of their waistbands. I called our waiter over to enquire...
"The same consultants sir. They calculated that we loose just over 5 person-hours a day washing our hands after a 'comfort stop'. By attaching a string to our <ahem> <ahem> we're able to pull it out using the string and avoid sullying our hands, thereby saving the time we'd normally spend washing them".
Again, I was impressed, but then realised a hitch...
"So" I asked "I can see how the string works for removal, but how do you get things back in afterwards?"
"Well sir, I can't speak for the others, but I use the spoon"