by swissarmygirl » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:53 am
> THE STRING AND THE SPOON 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 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
> 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.
>
> "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
> 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?"
>
> "Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the
> others,
> but I use the spoon."
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." - Albert Einstein
4 Hats Studio
