>>> 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. I also noticed that there was a string hanging out
of
>>> the waiter's fly.
>>>
>>> Looking around, I noticed that all 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
>>> found out that we can save time in the restroom. By tyi ng 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
the
>>> spoon.