Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 12:42:55 -0600
Subject: Fw: consultants

>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, but I ignored it. However, when the busboy
> brought out water and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his
> shirt pocket, then looked around the room and 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 Anderson
> Consulting, experts in efficiency, in order to revamp all our processes.
>   After several months of statistical analysis, they concluded that
> customers drop their spoons 73.84 percent more often than any other
> utensil. This represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per
> table per hour. If our personnel is prepared to deal with that
> contingency, 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 spoon. "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
> rather impressed.
>
>   The waiter served our main course and I continued to look around. I
> then noticed that there was a very thin string hanging out of the waiter's
> fly. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string
> hanging from their flies. My curiosity got the better of me and before
> he walked off, I asked the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why
> you have that string right there?"
>
>   "Oh, certainly!" he answered, lowering his voice. "Not everyone is as
> observant as you. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that
> we can save time in the restroom."
>
>   "How so?"
>
>   "See," he continued, "by tying this string to the tip of you-know-what,
> we can pull it out over the urinal without touching it and that way
> eliminate the need to wash the hands, shortening the time spent in the
> restroom by 76.39 percent."
>
>   "Okay, that makes sense, but if the string helps you get it out, how do
> you put it back in?"
>
>   "Well," he whispered, lowering his voice even further, "I don't know
>   about the others, but I use the spoon."