G
Gazzer
... THE SPOON ...
For all of you who frequent restaurants and understand the need for
the service to be faster, this short story is a timeless lesson on how
consultants can make a difference to an organization.
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant and noticed
that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt
pocket. It seemed a little strange.
When another waiter brought our water, I noticed he also had a spoon
in his shirt pocket.
Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their
pockets.
When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, 'Why the spoon?'
'Well', he explained, 'the restaurant's owners hired Andersen
Consulting to revamp all our processes. After several months of
analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently 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, I dropped my spoon and he 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 was impressed. Then I also noticed that there was a string hanging
out of another waiter's fly.
Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the a string
hanging from their flies. So before he walked off, I asked the
waiter,
'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?'
'Oh, certainly!' Then he lowered his voice.
'Not everyone is so observant. A consulting firm the management
employed found out that we can 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.
I asked 'After you get it out, how do you put it back?'
'Well,' he whispered, 'I don't know about the others, but I use a
spoon.'
For all of you who frequent restaurants and understand the need for
the service to be faster, this short story is a timeless lesson on how
consultants can make a difference to an organization.
Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant and noticed
that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt
pocket. It seemed a little strange.
When another waiter brought our water, I noticed he also had a spoon
in his shirt pocket.
Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their
pockets.
When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, 'Why the spoon?'
'Well', he explained, 'the restaurant's owners hired Andersen
Consulting to revamp all our processes. After several months of
analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently 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, I dropped my spoon and he 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 was impressed. Then I also noticed that there was a string hanging
out of another waiter's fly.
Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the a string
hanging from their flies. So before he walked off, I asked the
waiter,
'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?'
'Oh, certainly!' Then he lowered his voice.
'Not everyone is so observant. A consulting firm the management
employed found out that we can 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.
I asked 'After you get it out, how do you put it back?'
'Well,' he whispered, 'I don't know about the others, but I use a
spoon.'
