With some of our children visiting us at home, we have been through a lot of cooking to make sure they felt at home. Lots of home cooking including bacon and "dippy eggs" meant that going out to breakfast was in the cards.
Of course, going out to breakfast in SW Roanoke County means going to Famous Anthony's at Southwest Plaza. We were a lot later getting there than usual and the place was a beehive of activity. It reminded me of the Fishmonger story.
Two or three years ago, I ran across an article in the Wallstreet Journal. It was called "Learn From Fishmongers, How They Approach Work." One of my favorite quotes from the article is this.
"The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest. The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness. It is those things you do halfheartedly that really wear you out."
Walking into what we consider our home-away-from-home Famous Anthony's this morning, we found it packed with customers who were all being taken care of by the very energetic crew of waitresses. What always amazes me is how each waitress connects with her customers in a personal way and makes certain that they get what they want from the kitchen. The other impressive thing is how they work as a team. Sometimes there is a hostess, but sometimes there isn't. It doesn't matter, you always get seated quickly. Then someone will get your drinks, and it might be your waitress or another waitress who has figured out that you need something to drink. Your coffee cup might get filled by your waitress or another one who happens by and sees that you need coffee.
If you can sit back and watch it for a moment, the waitresses have time for personal interactions with each other while still delivering exceptional service to their customers. They might be occasionally irreverent towards management and even joke at some of us regulars, but it creates a wonderful atmosphere. As much as we like the quick, reasonably priced food, we really go there because we feel at home. We know many of the waitresses by first name, Wendy, Ginger, Janelle, Tasha, Jean, and Robin, last but certainly not the meekest. There are other whose faces we know, but we just haven't caught their names yet. We even know some of them well enough to tell when they have run into some challenges at work or home. Yet in spite of the many times we have gone there, it is the rare time we don't get absolutely great service.
There are restaurants that might have fancier menus or even some food that I might like better, but there is just no place where I think you will find a better team of waitresses. You might find some individual people who excel in other places, but this is a whole group of individuals who through their cooperation and dedication to doing more than a good job create an exceptional experience just as the Fishmongers do.
The Fishmongers story refers to the Pike Place Market in Seattle.
"John started to understand what was happening here. A bunch of fishmongers -- not M.B.A. professors or organizational gurus -- were showing him how to bring more fun, passion, focus and commitment to work."
I see the same thing in the Famous Anthony's at Southwest Plaza. There a group of waitresses are showing they know more about how to create an efficient, effective, and enjoyable workplace than all the vice presidents I have ever worked for in my over twenty years in the corporate world. These ladies connect with their customers. Your typical corporate vice president wants an environment that serves his ego rather than customers and the company. Far better to have a place filled with waitresses or customer service people who are focused on satisfying their customers and have been empowered to do whatever is necessary to make that satisfaction part of every customer's experience.
A couple of weeks ago we ate at another place close by but light years away in atmosphere. The waitress took our orders and brought our drinks and then disappeared. The restaurant wasn't very busy. In fact the owner was eating with a young lady not far from us. Finally another waitress brought us our food and left so fast, I didn't even have time to ask for an extra napkin to help keep me presentable while I ate my chicken wings. It was "all you could eat wings" night so I had come hungry and planed to have a second serving.
I expected our waitress would show up about half way through our meal and ask if I wanted more. I finished my wings and our waitress was still nowhere to be seen. A couple of waitresses were obviously making certain that the boss got the best of service, but we were being ignored. Even Glenda, who leisurely works through her food, finished her meal and still no waitress much less ours had checked on us.
Glenda decided to take matters into her own hands and found a waitress and told her to put in another order of wings. Ten minutes later two different waitresses swoop by to tell us the order is in and will be out shortly, one is our original waitress who makes her first appearance since taking taking our order and delivering our drinks. Another fifteen minutes and still no second order of wings. There are still only a couple of customers besides us and the boss who continued to get most of the attention from the waitresses.
Finally we flag down our waitress and tell her to bring us our bill so we won't miss the movie we had planned to attend. When she brings the bill, she tells us the wings were just about to be served. Glenda asks could I just have them in a box. The waitress says sure, leaves the bill, and disappears. Ten minutes later, still with no wings, and our waitress is waiting on some new customers, I leave money on the table for our bill and leave. We haven't been back.
Talk about a different atmosphere. There were ten times the number of customers in Famous Anthony's this morning, but probably only twice as many waitresses. We got fifty times the service this morning from waitresses who were far busier than those in the other restaurant. Sometimes I think it is all about attitude. If your boss is up on pedestal and has to waited on, then right from the start you have an organization built to serve internal needs instead of your customers.
My management philosophy was always never ask an employee to do something that I won't do or even something I haven't done many times before on my own. In past businesses that has meant lugging equipment, helping set-up and tear down shows. Yet if you add your effort to what your people are doing, it is a lot easier for them to add value to the customer experience. If your boss is more concerned about his perks and being waited on than he is about helping you meet the needs of customers, then it is unlikely your customers are going to have a great experience like we find on a regular basis at the Southwest Plaza Famous Anthony's.
If I ever decide to run a restaurant, I'm going to go take lessons from these experts. It will be worth more than a MBA.
Here's some final advice from the Wall Street Journal Fishmonger article, I know I can't say it any better.
- Play: Work made fun gets done, especially when we choose to do serious tasks in a lighthearted, spontaneous way. Play is not just an activity; it's a state of mind that brings new energy to the tasks at hand and sparks creative solutions.
- Make their day: When you "make someone's day" (or moment) through a small kindness or unforgettable engagement, you can turn even routine encounters into special memories.
- Be there: The glue in our humanity is in being fully present for one another. Being there also is a great way to practice wholeheartedness and fight burnout, for it is those halfhearted tasks you perform while juggling other things that wear you out.
- Choose your attitude: When you look for the worst you will find it everywhere. When you learn you have the power to choose your response to what life brings, you can look for the best and find opportunities you never imagined possible. If you find yourself with an attitude that is not what you want it to be, you can choose a new one.
It is hard to quarrel with the success that you receive from throwing yourself into a job wholeheartedly. It might not be your dream job, but it just might a step towards that job. Then there always is the chance that it is the one job that you do really well which also makes you happy. There is nothing to be ashamed of in that.
A wise man once told me, "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." I was being promoted to my first management position then, and I learned over the years that getting higher and higher positions in an organization does not mean that automatically you'll be happier or working for nicer and more qualified people. If often means just the opposite, so it always a good rule to enjoy where you are, if you can.
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