December 12, 2011

If I’m Cross, Everyone’s Cross

180 Degree Thinking
Slim Down Your Middle
3 Steps to BE EaSY
A happy, friendly and engaging restaurant server in Paris in my experience is a fairly rare occurrence. I’m not saying that great service CAN’T be found here, but I will say that service here has fallen short of my expectations more often than they have been met.

In a recent trip there, however, I discovered a GEM who was DiFFERENT from the Restaurant Serving Herd.

His name is Sam. He is a Parisian. He works in Le Coliseum restaurant on Rue Tripoli, across from Le Louvre.

In a rain downpour my wife and I dashed into Le Coliseum to first, escape the rain and second, to have a light lunch. Sam was unique. I watched him dashing about his tables engaging in warm conversation with all of his customers. He had an amazing energy level and was extremely outgoing and delighted in having fun with his local and out-of-town patrons.

One woman who wasn’t even dining there, but was walking by looking for the subway station, asked Sam for directions. Without missing a beat He quipped “Follow me.” and, with serving tray over his head to protect
himself from the rain, he led her out of the restaurant around the corner to where she had to go. Stunning Care for her needs. Not even a customer!

Finally I had to ask him the question that was on my mind: “Why are you so happy?” His answer was brilliant in it’s honesty, vision and simplicity: “If I’m cross, everyone’s cross.”

He recognized that HIS attitude had an amazing influence on the feelings and attitudes of his customers, and that if he were in a bad mood then everyone would be as well. His disposition made being in Le Coliseum an absolute delight.

His “up” attitude made the torrential downpour we were experiencing a veritable sunny one. What a great lesson for all businesses trying to deliver superlative service.
Recruit Sam. Lots of them. Look for smiles. Look for humor. Look for energy.

Cheers,
Roy


Join me on Twitter

Strategy Creation | Marketing | Serving Customers | Permalink
Posted 12.12.11 at 05:00 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (1) | Leave a Comment