The Spoon
A lesson on how consultants can make a difference in an organization.
Last week, we took some friends to a new restaurant, 'Steve's
Place,' and
noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt
pocket.
It seemed a little strange. When the busboy brought our water and
utensils,
I observed that 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 inquired, 'Why the
spoon?'
'Well, 'he explained, 'the restaurant's owner hired
Andersen Consulting to
revamp all of our processes. After several m onths 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 bette r prepared, we can reduce the number of t
rips
back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift..'
As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he replaced 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.
I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's
fly.
Looking around, I saw that all of the waiters had the same 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.
That consulting firm I mentioned also learned that we can save time in
the
restroom.
By tying this string to the tip of our 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%.
I asked quietly, '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'.
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