A Good Observation

[Kamal Hasan]

*A timeless lesson on how consultants can make a difference for 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 the busboy brought our water and utensils, 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 Mckinsey & Co., 
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 115.27 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 bathroom. 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 bathroom by 76.39 
percent.' 

'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.' 

=== 

And be careful, the next time you visit a restaurant.*