Product Promotion – Maintaining the Standard
If there’s one thing that gets my goat, it’s bad service. Having spent many years in the catering trade, I understand the tenets of courtesy and patience. As a waiter and barman I learned quickly that people are all different and their ability to negotiate a menu or drinks list can sometimes be baffling and frustrating!
When a customer is rude and short with you, it’s all too easy to rise to the perceived threat and fire back a volley. What we should realise is that in each other’s long lives, we only meet for fairly brief interludes and in that short span of time we have a limited opportunity to assess each other and communicate effectively.
Of course there’s a skill to understanding and being understood – practise helps.
Years ago when working in a restaurant, I had a woman order a steak. She returned it saying the plate was cold. The chef transferred the food to a clean plate from the warming rack. The woman insisted it was still cold. The chef held one side of the plate over the range’s flame for 60 seconds and instructed me to hand that part to the customer. She burned her hand, the kitchen laughed, she had a bad night, I felt bad, the chef got his books, he felt bad, the restaurant owner was without a chef, she felt bad. And it all could’ve been avoided…
Moments like that help form your personal standards and you carry those with you for life. Even if we’re desperately busy in our office, we always make time for customers and listen to the detail. If your plate is cold, we’ll make sure you won’t burn your fingers.
You’ll find good service is at the heart of every good business!