OT: Consulting Companies

[Guest guest]

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 rest room. 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 rest room 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. "