Oldfart 0 Posted February 26, 2012 The spoon:A lesson on how consultants can make a difference in an organization.Very Impressive!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 hisshirt pocket.It seemed a little strange.When the busboy brought our water and utensils, I observed that healso had a spoon in his shirt pocket.Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in theirpockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I inquired, 'Whythe spoon?' 'Well, 'he explained,'the restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consultingto revamp all of our processes.After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon wasthe most frequently dropped utensil.It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table perhour.If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number oftrips 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 hisspare. 'I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead ofmaking an extra trip to get it right now..' I was impressed.I also noticed that there was a string hangingout of the waiter's fly.Looking around, I saw that all of the waiters had the same stringhanging from their flies. So, before he walked off, I asked the waiter,'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you havethat 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 inthe restroom.By tying this string to the tip of our you-know-what, we can pull itout 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.' Share this post Link to post Share on other sites