It’s rare to find good service these days. But it’s not for the lack of intent, and goodness is a round -t rip ticket. Try looking at the waiter’s eyes the next time you order (b etter still, with a smile – w hich costs you nada ) . The saying is trite, but it isn’t untrue: “A smile confuses an approaching frown,” and that smile probably will turn the frown upside-down, particularly in the food and beverage industry, where stressful and gruelling schedules make friendliness medium- r are. The following scenarios, inspired from real life, are simple examples of how customers, managers or employers can better understand workers and in turn, make them better soldiers of the company and the industry. Remember, when your workers step off the line , blunder , and don’t know what to do, the solution is simple : teach them and encourage them on.

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The No-Sugar Client and the Super Sweet Smile

“Do you put sugar in your lychee shakes?” A customer asked her waiter. Immediately, he fell silent. The twenty-something waiter was clueless, though he was working at a respectable café. The diner was once a livid person who spewed words of frustration at service staff. She knew displeasure in the past and bellowed many a times , “What? You don’t know?” or “How can you not know?” But over time she also learned that people – even trained ones – c an make mistakes.

The man replied, smiling “I will go and ask” (after fumbling about for a moment) . Her tilted head and expression meant two things : she was to reprimand him further or to welcome his response. She chose the latter. The wait staff returned to note that the kitchen indeed puts sugar in the drink by default, but he added that they could make an exception for her, smiling all this while.

Unfo rtunately, her order arrived and tasted like syrup had been used. He didn’t fully get the nature of her request.

When the waiter came by again, she could only smile in return, as he had indeed added no extra sugar in her lychee drink. She could have yelled, but his earnest smile made her think that the service attempts are not all that matters, it’s about being human to another human being, it’s what matters most.

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The Employer with Nothing but Ingredients

Strangely, some people who know little to nothing about cooking can find great success in the restaurant business. There is an owner of a chain of restaurants in Singapore who is a clueless chef. The only recipe he knows of success is this: first, regularly ask the chefs for their opinion of the menu, and second, share with them that indeed, his ignorance can be useful for their food and business. In other words, he works with, not above, his employees, and he sees that the chefs work withhim forthe restaurant, not for him at the restaurant.

The employer purchases all the ingredients for his chefs to frut ify their ideas, accepting that he himself will not know all aspects of the business and therefore will have to depend on the knowledge of the employees. He self-reflects , “Disrespecting my employees would be like disrespecting myself, after all, for these are the people I had regard ed a s worthy and capable when I hired them . If I have hired them but now treat them like dirt and don’t encourage ideas and thoughts, then I am not trusting and respecting myself and my own decisions.”

Our attention shifted to the plate, filled with sausages, potatoes, and spinach, as he finished the sentence, thinking of how this restaurateur succeeds with his calculated and artfully ignorant skills.

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In short, good employers equals good workers equals good customers. It’s that simple, really.