Here is one for you efficiency experts.
Subject: Restaurant Efficiency>
>
> Last week I took some friends out to a restaurant, and noticed that the
> waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed
> a
> little strange, but I ignored it. However, when the busboy brought out
> water
> and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. I then
> looked around the room and saw that all the waitpersons had a spoon in
> their
> pocket.
>
>
> When the waiter came back to check on our order I asked: "Why the
> spoon?" "Well," he explained, "the restaurant's owners hired Andersen
> Consulting, experts in efficiency, in order to revamp all our processes.
> After several months of statistical analysis, they concluded that
> customers
> drop their spoons 73.84% more often than any other utensil. This
> represents
> a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our
> personnel are prepared to deal with that contingency, we can reduce the
> number of trips back to the kitchen and save 1.5 man-hours per shift."
>
>
> As we finished talking, a metallic sound was heard from behind me.
> Quickly, the waiter replaced the dropped spoon with the one in his pocket
> and said: "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 rather impressed. The waiter continued taking our order and
> while my guests ordered, I continued to look around. I then noticed that
> there was a very thin string hanging out of the waiter's fly. Looking
> around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from
> their fly.
>
>
> My curiosity got the better of me and before he walked off, I asked
> the waiter: "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string
> right
> there?" "Oh, certainly!" he answered, lowering his voice. "Not everyone
> is
> as observant as you. That consulting firm I mentioned, also found out
> that
> we can save time in the restroom." "How so?" "See," he continued, "by
> tying
> this string to the tip of ...you know... we can pull it out over the
> urinal
> without touching it and that way eliminate the need to wash the hands,
> shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent."
>
>
> "Okay, that makes sense, but... if the string helps you get it out,
> how do you put it back in?" "Well," he whispered, lowering his voice even
> further, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."