#TOW — Taking things seriously!

What an oxymoron life is? Several Tips of the Week ago I wrote about how we should not take things seriously, and now I’m writing about the opposite. Essentially, that’s probably the wisdom of life and work. To know when and when not to take things (too) seriously.

Two very strange things connected to the service in two quite “famous” Skopje venues happened to me within a short period of time. In the first restaurant the waitress didn’t know what was on the menu. The most interesting thing was that when I (only educationally) pointed out to her that if would be good for her to know this; she told me that her role was to “bring” what we needed. You could feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that with the answer she gave us she is no longer guilty in this situation. In the other case, while we were thinking and agreeing on what to order, the waiter was standing in the background and silently getting agitated. And when we ordered a combination of two dishes, he got confused and conditioned us saying: “Please show the dish in the menu.” We had to point to the dish in the menu so that he would make the order.

All of this is a problem primarily because the waiters, and mainly their bosses, don’t take their role seriously nor do they pay enough attention to the role of a “waiter”. If they were to take their job more seriously, they would have acted differently:

• Education — the owner or the waiters/resses have to undergo some kind of education (training) in order to learn the basics of their businesses and responsibilities. It’s an interesting fact that here in Macedonia the owners of hospitality venues are not trained or educated to run such a business and on top of it they all want to get educated. Concerning the personnel, you can rarely see someone investing in their development. Running a café or restaurant is at the same level as running any other company. The rules of the game are the same.
• Knowing the product — the sales person in any business must know the product and all its advantages, uses and flaws. You can’t NOT know what’s on the menu.
• Responsibilities — I’m certain that the boss didn’t give any written assignments, but I’m also certain that he/she didn’t want for the personnel to simply be product carriers. I’m certain that the waiters are aware that they have to help the customer, they have to point things out if the customer is hesitant and make his/her experience positive.
• Details — when going to a café or restaurant it’s not only about the coffee or food. The entire experience that the customer will take with him/her is what will make them come again. The look of the venue, the service, the products, the way of serving, the quality, innovation, the ambient, the toilet, the lights…that’s all part of the experience.
• Showing initiative — instead of standing in the background and getting angry, the waiter/ess can take matters into his/her own hands and guide us through the process so that we easily make up our mind.
• Tip — in the end we argued about whether to tip them or not. If we don’t they throw poison at us, if we do they won’t learn that this is not the way to earn a tip!

A friend of mine who’s been a successful restaurant owner for years now says:

“When will we stop being satisfied with lentils in hospitality? We all have to make a change so that some positive results can be expected.”

We should take things more seriously and also do our best to raise the level of hospitality in Macedonia.

I wish you success with your changes!