 |
 |
>Last week I took some friends out to a restaurant, and noticed that the >waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a >little strange, but I ignored it. However, when the busboy brought out >water and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. I >then looked around the room and saw that all the waitpersons had a spoon in >their pocket. When the waiter came back to check on our order I asked: "Why >the spoon?" "Well," he explained, "the restaurant's owners hired Andersen >Consulting, experts in efficiency, in order to revamp all our processes. >After several months of statistical analysis, they concluded that customers >drop their spoons 73.84% more often than any other utensil. This represents >a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our >personnel are prepared to deal with that contingency, we can reduce the >number of trips back to the kitchen and save 1.5 man-hours per shift." As >we finished talking, a metallic sound was heard from behind me. Quickly, >the waiter replaced the dropped spoon with the one in his pocket and said: >"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 rather impressed. The waiter continued taking our order and while my >guests ordered, I continued to look around. I then noticed that there was a >very thin string hanging out of the waiter's fly. Looking around, I noticed >that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their fly. My >curiosity got the better of me and before he walked off, I asked the >waiter: "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right >there?" "Oh, certainly!" he answered, lowering his voice. "Not everyone is >as observant as you. That consulting firm I mentioned, also found out that >we can save time in the restroom." "How so?" "See," he continued, "by >tying this string to the tip of ...you know... we can pull it out over the >urinal without touching it and that way eliminate the need to wash the >hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent" "Okay, >that makes sense, but... if the string helps you get it out, how do you put >it back in?" "Well," he whispered, lowering his voice even further, "I >don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."