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 members 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.
He explained, "I'll get another spoon the 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 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 restroom by 76.39 percent."
I asked, "After you get it out, how do you put it back in?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."
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 members 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.
He explained, "I'll get another spoon the 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 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 restroom by 76.39 percent."
I asked, "After you get it out, how do you put it back in?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."
![[rofl]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_rofl.gif "ROFL [rofl]"){kind=icon}