Very impressive!

A lesson on how 

consultants can

make a difference 

in an organization. 

Last week, we took 

some friends 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 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 a consulting firm to revamp 

all of our processes. After several months

 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 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 my spoon.'