Chain Leader

David Farkas

An Unexpected Pleasure
October 11, 2006

I don’t much like to write about what happens to me, service-wise, in restaurants. That’s because everyone has a story, good or bad, about how they were treated by a server. No, I’ve come to a point in my life where I just think everyone’s entitled to a bad day—and if I’m the focus of minimum-wage anger at some point during 24 misbegotten hours, well, so be it. As my wife would say, “Deal with it.”

That doesn’t mean I’m unconcerned about service. In fact, I’m tuned into it whenever I drop by a restaurant. I like to figure out if the staff is generally happy or upset. Over the years veteran operators have told me they can sense whether dining-room morale is up or down shortly after walking through the doors. The first thing they look for is body language.

The body language at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Euclid, Ohio, last week said the crew members were bored. One was leaning against the counter, the other milling around in back. Who could blame them? It was a nice day and business was slow; they were probably wishing they weren’t so cooped up. Meanwhile, I limited my interaction with one of them to the few words it took to order a flatbread sandwich and a smoothie.

While I was eating it, a very old man walked in. I think he was holding a coupon. I imagined the scenario about to unfold:

Sullen teen-age worker reluctantly shifts his attention to geezer, barely acknowledging him. Geezer orders coffee, pushing discount coupon across counter. Kid purposely ignores the coupon until last second of transaction, frustrating geezer. Disgusted, he shuffles off to his table muttering. Kid returns to daydream.

Only, surprise, it didn’t turn out that way. The young man perked up as the customer approached him. He asked the elderly man how he could help and listened closely. He repeated the order and gave him his discount. The worker, who smiled throughout the transaction, thanked the guy before he shuffled to his table.

I felt a little guilty about being so taken aback by this simple act of kindness.

Posted by David Farkas on October 11, 2006 | Comments (0)