( OT joke )The Spoon

[Suzukidave]

> > The spoon:
> >
> > A lesson on how consultants can make a
> > difference in an organization.
> >
> > Last week, we took some friends to a new
> > restaurant, 'Steve's Place,' 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 observed that he also had
> > a spoon in his shirt pocket.
> >
> > Then I looked around and saw that all the staff
> > had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to
> > serve our soup I inquired, 'Why the spoon?'
> >
> > 'Well, 'he explained, 'the
> > restaurant's owner hired Andersen Consulting to revamp
> > all of 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
> > replaced 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 saw that all of 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 learned that we can save time in the
> > restroom.
> >
> > By tying this string to the tip of our
> > 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 restroom by 76.39%.
> >
> > I asked quietly, '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.'