[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
The Speed of the Room
Tip #35 in my little book for servers, 50 Tips to Improve Your Tips, urges them to move with the speed of the room. I say ...
Good service is invisible. That is, it never detracts guests from the reason they came out -- to be with their friends and enjoy a pleasant meal. A frantic server charging around in an otherwise calm dining room can be a major distraction for guests. When it happens, it may diminish both their experience of the meal and your tip.
To avoid this lapse of service, try being invisible by moving at the speed of the room. If the pace of the meal service is lively, move more quickly. If the feeling in the room is relaxed, your movements should be slower.
If you move at the speed of the room, your activities will never be a distraction and your guests will have a better time. It takes some practice but it can be fun!
There is a wonderfully timeless flow to the daily life in our little village: the morning visit to the boulangerie for your fresh baguette and croissants, a coffee at the cafe, the old men who meet on the street every morning to chat for a few minutes, a pastis in the afternoon sun. Life is good in Provence ... and also delightfully unhurried. That is the flow of life here.
While most visitors come to SEE Provence, the more important goal -- at least in my mind -- is to attempt to BE Provence. We poke around in old stone villages and learn to appreciate the food and wines, of course, but the challenge of a trip like this is to slow down to the speed of life in the area and learn to appreciate it for what it is.
All too soon we will all go back to our "normal" lives, but perhaps if we can focus on learning more about the wisdom of how life flows elsewhere, some of it will rub off and we will evolve a bit.
To the extent that tourists are an annoyance to the locals, I think has more to do with the fact that they are moving at a different pace than everything around them. Just as in a dining room, when you move with the speed of the room (or the region), your activities will never be a distraction and everyone will have a better time.
It takes some practice but it can be fun! In fact, it may be the most important reason for traveling.
© 2009 Restaurant Doctor