ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - August 31, 2007
Issue #500 of the EHC is certainly a milestone, so bear with me while I get a little nostalgic.
It's hard to imagine today, but when EHC #1 debuted on July 31, 1997, only a handful of my subscribers had e-mail. I had created the EHC as a vehicle to share items of interest to the online hospitality community that the majority of those receiving my monthly newsletter wouldn't have understood at the time.
My early publication schedule could best be described as "sporadic" -- I put an issue together whenever I had enough Internet-related items to make it worthwhile. At the end of the first year, I was up to EHC #24, but I had finally settled into a regular weekly cycle and abandoned the Internet-only content. At the same time, enough people were discovering the wonders of cyberspace that the EHC totally replaced my old monthly hard copy newsletter (which I couldn't afford to keep mailing for free anyway!)
Times have certainly changed since I began this noble experiment. Most of you are now plugged in to the Internet 24/7 with a high speed connection. EHC #1 had an audience of three dozen. EHC #500 is going out to 5284 operators (and non-operators) around the world. Not bad for a few years work!
This was the final note at the bottom of EHC #1: "Please bear with me as I discover what I should be doing with this e-mail update." I can assure you that process still continues and the request still applies. Those few who have been with me from the beginning know that Issue #500 is a very different beast from Issue #1 ... and I can't wait to see what Issue #1000 is going to look like! (After that, I quit!) Thanks for being part of the adventure.
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INFORMATION PLEASE
Words of Wisdom From The Archives
Staying with the nostalgia theme, I thought I would share Issue #24 in its entirety. I haven't re-read this story since I published it (July 24, 1998) but I got choked up when I read it again. Hopefully it will move you as well. Happy Labor Day weekend.
Today is going to be a long one. We leave at 6:30am and arrive in Brussels tomorrow morning! While we are cutting holes in the sky, I thought I would share a story I received from an old high school buddy. (Actually, ALL my high school buddies are old, but that's beside the point!) This is longer than my promised 3-minute reading time, but the message is something you might want to think about so I hope you will forgive the length.
Information Please
When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but l used to listen with fascination when my mother would talk to it.
Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person -- her name was "Information Please", and there was nothing she did not know. "Information Please" could supply anybody's number and the correct time.
My first personal experience with this genie-in-the-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn't seem to be any reason in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy. I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway.
The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear. "Information Please," I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. "Information." "I hurt my finger," I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.
"Isn't your mother home?" came the question. "Nobody's home but me," I blubbered. "Are you bleeding?" "No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts." "Can you open your icebox?" she asked. I said I could. "Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger," said the voice.
After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. I asked her for help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math. She told me my pet chipmunk, that I had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruits and nuts.
Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary died. I called "Information Please" and told her the sad story. She listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was un-consoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage?"
She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in." Somehow I felt better.
Another day I was on the telephone. "Information Please." "Information," said the now familiar voice. "How do you spell fix?" I asked.
All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was nine years old, we moved across the country to Boston. I missed my friend very much. "Information Please" belonged in that old wooden box back home, and I somehow never thought of trying the tall, shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall.
As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me. Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.
A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information please."
Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well, "Information." I hadn't planned this but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell fix?" There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now."
I laughed. "So it's really still you,' I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time." "I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your calls meant to me." I never had any children, and I used to look forward to your calls." I told her how often I had thought of her over the years, and asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister. "Please do," she said. "Just ask for Sally."
Three months later, I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered "Information." I asked for Sally. "Are you a friend?" she asked. "Yes, a very old friend," I answered. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said. "Sally had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago."
Before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Paul?" "Yes," I replied. "Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called. Let me read it to you." The note said, "Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean." I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.
(Anonymous)
Never underestimate the impression you may make on others!
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KEEPING YOUR HEAD ABOVE WATER
Grocery prices have increased substantially over the past several months and many areas have seen increases in minimum wage.
This forces operators to face some tough decisions. Do you absorb the extra cost? Do you raise prices? Can you tighten up your cost controls enough to compensate? What to do?
This month we look at how operators are responding to this double-whammy ... and how their changes are working for them. This is the last chance to add your thoughts to the August survey. We'll have a new issue to explore next week.
As usual, I will send copies of the survey results to everyone who participates. In the meantime, you can download copies of all past EHC surveys -- including both massive WOW Ideas collections.
Add your thoughts to this month's survey.
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THE PERPETUAL QUESTION
"What did you learn from your staff today?"
There were no new contributions this week, so I'll have to recycle some comments from the EHC archives. Is nobody listening to the crew?
I have seen your Perpetual Question so often that I had ceased to notice it ... until I found myself listening carefully to one of my waiters. He had several suggestions for improving some of the day to day small roadblocks that, while not necessarily mission critical stuff, get in the way and tend to irritate the wait staff and make their jobs harder.
The bigger "aha" story is when this same waiter, now that he was being heard, said "You know, the host staff doesn't care about the guests. They have no vested interest in making sure that guests are responded to promptly and sat expeditiously because they make the same wage whether they seat 100 guests or 50. This job is my career and this is how I feed my children. For the host staff, this is a transitory job. They will move on eventually to do something related to their college degrees."
As much as I tend to discredit blanket indictments, I kept this thought in the back of my mind. At 3:55 the very next afternoon, two of my "best" hosts were sitting in the lobby waiting to start their shifts at 4:00pm. What was most amazing is that the day host had left the front desk to seat a customer and in the few minutes that she was gone, eight more customers walked in. They were all standing at the front desk, waiting to be acknowledged.
There sat my two "best" hosts, five feet away, chatting on the couch in the lobby, seemingly unaware that guests were waiting, unattended. Did the guests become important at the stroke of 4:00pm? Were they somehow not important at 3:55pm and what, as managers, had we been communicating (or not communicating) to the host staff that would allow such a mindset to develop.
Of course, the hostesses had a litany of reasons when confronted about this, and, as hard as it was, I listened to those excuses. (I wasn't on the clock yet, the last manager used to get mad at us if we clocked in early, etc.) Between the lines there were clues to where we had gone wrong and what was lacking.
Needless to say, as managers we spent a fair amount for time discussing this at our meetings and with the crew in general. I must say that this whole episode has led to be ask that question each day. The answers are out there, we just need to ask and listen. Thanks for reminding me of that. -- Roger Brewin, GM, Ivar's Acres of Clams, Seattle, WA
Amen.
Never doubt that the most important (and profitable!) skill you can develop is your ability to truly listen.
What did you learn from YOUR staff today?
I will continue to collect your answers to this important question until they put me in the ground. Just click on the link above and contribute your insights for the common good ... and your own as well!
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LIGHTEN UP!
The Noble Experiment Continues
Here is the weekly report on my personal project to lighten up:
Goal: -50 Last Week: -3 Total: -11
OK, feels like I'm back on track again ... and without the daily walking I told myself I would do. This weekend it's into the woods for sure!
Several people have joined me in this audacious venture. I applaud their courage in "going public" like this. Best of all, the process is working!
Cindy Casady -- Goal: -30 Last Week: -2 Total: -7
Trice Micheals -- Goal: -50 Last Week: -1 Total -4
Mary Jo Beniger -- Goal: -25 Last Week: -2.5 Total: -4
Steve Ulrey -- Goal: -12 Last Week: -3 Total: -3
What do you say? Do you have the courage to put yourself on record? We all work better when there is someone or something to hold us accountable.
If you are interested in how it's going, scroll down to the bottom of the EHC each week and check out the progress. If you could care less, don't!
© 2007 Restaurant Doctor