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 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 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.'
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 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 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.'
