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- danushman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+55This is so very true it isn't even funny ;-]
Treat people like you would like to be treated. - spectre, on 10/12/2007, -4/+49I didn't think you need to be a CEO to point out a prick when you meet one.
- thenativeraver, on 10/12/2007, -2/+44If you treat your server poorly you've probably ingested some of their mucus.
- architectzero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37No, but most CEOs who are pricks only listen to other CEOs. It's nice to see some CEOs that aren't pricks calling out the ones that are.
/ works for a finger-snapping, wait-staff mistreating prick of a CEO - Neelix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+39I think it was in the second Harry Potter book something was said to the effect of
"Judge character not by how someone treats his equals, but how he treats those he is socially superior to."
Reading that over that is nowhere near the exact wording of the line in the book but it still makes sense.
I think the best rule of all is this:
Don't be a dick. - widgets, on 10/12/2007, -2/+36don't forget the golden rule:
Never mistreat anyone who handles your food. - CTSPatrick, on 10/12/2007, -3/+36This is the rest of the 33 rules with the waiter rule in it just in case some people missed it on the left hand side of the article...
SWANSON'S UNWRITTEN RULES
1: Learn to say, "I don't know." If used when appropriate, it will be used often.
2: It is easier to get into something than to get out of it.
3: If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much
4: Look for what is missing. Many know how to improve what's there; few can see what isn't there.
5: Presentation rule: When something appears on a slide presentation, assume the world knows about it and deal with it accordingly.
6. Work for a boss to whom you can tell it like it is. Remember, you can't pick your family, but you can pick your boss.
7: Constantly review developments to make sure that the actual benefits are what they were supposed to be. Avoid Newton's Law.
8: However menial and trivial your early assignments may appear, give them your best effort.
9: Persistence or tenacity is the disposition to persevere in spite of difficulties, discouragement or indifference. Don't be known as a good starter but a poor finisher!
10: In doing your project, don't wait for others; go after them and make sure it gets done.
11: Confirm the instructions you give others, and their commitments, in writing. Don't assume it will get done.
12: Don't be timid: Speak up, express yourself and promote your ideas.
13: Practice shows that those who speak the most knowingly and confidently often end up with the assignment to get the job done.
14: Strive for brevity and clarity in oral and written reports.
15: Be extremely careful in the accuracy of your statements.
16: Don't overlook the fact that you are working for a boss. Keep him or her informed. Whatever the boss wants, within the bounds of integrity, takes top priority.
17: Promises, schedules and estimates are important instruments in a well-run business. You must make promises ----- don't lean on the often-used phrase: "I can't estimate it because it depends on many uncertain factors."
18: Never direct a complaint to the top; a serious offense is to "cc" a person's boss on a copy of a complaint before the person has a chance to respond to the complaint.
19: When interacting with people outside the company, remember that you are always representing the company. Be especially careful of your commitments.
20: Cultivate the habit of boiling matters down to the simplest terms: the proverbial "elevator speech" is the best way.
21: Don't get excited in engineering emergencies: Keep your feet on the ground.
22: Cultivate the habit of making quick, clean-cut decisions.
23: When making decisions, the "pros" are much easier to deal with than the "cons." Your boss wants to see both.
24: Don't ever lose your sense of humor.
25: Have fun at what you do. It will be reflected in you work. No one likes a grump except another grump!
26: Treat the name of you company as if it were your own.
27: Beg for the bad news.
28: You remember 1/3 of what you read, 1/2 of what people tell you, but 100% of what you feel.
29: You can't polish a sneaker.
30: When facing issues or problems that are becoming drawn-out, "short them to the ground."
31: When faced with decisions, try to look at them as if you were one level up in the organization. Your perspective will change quickly.
32: A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person. (This rule never fails).
33: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, an amateur built an ark that survived a flood while a large group of professionals built the Titanic!
Postscript: The qualities of leadership boil down to confidence, dedication, integrity and love. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Supposedly Henry Ford would take prospective employees out to eat, and if they salted their food before they tasted it, he wouldn't hire them.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24I've never understood people who are dicks to service people. There are only rare exceptions where that is ever called for (the kind of exceptions where the person serving you is so unbelievably terrible and rude and awful that you would remember them for the rest of your life).
It takes a lot to piss me off and I can't imagine being upset with someone in the service industry for mistakes or things that are out of their control. The only exception is when it ventures into the realm of *them* just being *****. For themost part, getting upset at a person serving you does nobody any good because they don't run the place. They only have so much leeway. And if it's something where the order is wrong or they charged the wrong amount... well.. so what? Mistakes happen.
I've been to lunches where people I was with were insulting to the person waiting on us or were indirectly pricks. Not really badmouthing the service person or directly complaining to them, but making comments under their breath that are loud enough for the wait person to overhear. I can not comprehend how a human being develops into a person who can be so bitter and spiteful and mean. Especially to someone who has to work 40+ hours on their feet every week and probably still can't even afford a studio apartment much less any other expenses in their life.
Besides, life sucks so bad when you go around with that attitude. When I go out, I make a point of greeting people I deal with. I thank them. I compliment them. I wish them a good day or weekend. And when it comes to a tip - I leave a very good one unless the service really was awful (rarely happens).
You should really go about your day trying to be nice to each person for even a brief moment (and always approach them with the benefit of the doubt even if they're not so nice themselves) rather than trying to find reasons to get huffy and pissy and mean about.
I would hate to work in the service industry. I think it would give me a really low impression of human beings as a whole. Maybe I'm busting my ass to afford college, because I know my mom and dad can't afford to send me and I don't want to disapoint them or make them feel bad for not being able to send me. Maybe I'm busting my ass to make something of myself. And all I'm getting is a ***** $5/hr. Surely you can treat me like a human being while I serve you at the least, right?
Of course, it also goes both ways. There are a lot of service people who are dicks and as long as I am nice to you, you should treat me well. Making a ***** wage and working an agonizing job on your feet all day isn't an excuse for you to ignore me when I come into your place of business or to be short or pissy with me unless I've done something to specifically call for it. - anymir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." - Sirius Black, Goblet of Fire. Yes I am a dork.
- headzoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16Well hell, women have been saying this about men forever. If they guy is a total gentleman towards you, but treats the waiter/waitress like crap, then he is only pretending to be a gentleman, and is really an *****.
Moral? When you're on a date with a girl, she's watching how you treat the wait staff. - Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16...or a liar who thinks people will respect him if he comes across that way.
- brandizzle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Actually most of the waiters/waitresses I met in Paris were really nice. One actually went way out of his way to give me directions somewhere.
I'm usually nicer to strangers in general than I am to people I'm really friendly with, just because I know I'll only get one shot at making an impression to a stranger but my friends will be there for alot longer than that and I can apologize to them (I'm not a bitch to my friends, but if they say something stupid I won't be afraid to make fun of them) - mistercharlie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14I read of a CEO who would instruct the waiter beforehand to purposely foul up the order to see how his business associate would handle it. Clever tactic indeed.
- dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -9/+20Also, if they were Jewish, he wouldn't hire them.
- tony23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I think that becoming impatient with obviously poor service would count as an extraordinary circumstance.
OTOH, I don't usually get an attitude when the service is poor - I just tip appropriately and tell the manager.
Of course, I also make it a point to tell the manager when the service is exemplary, too. - mianos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I married the waitress (for real), does this make me too nice?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12"I didn't think you need to be a CEO to point out a prick when you meet one."
Yeah, but remember that these are the same people who rob your pension and 401k and ride around in limos and have real offices the size of about 20 cubicles, dont' know the price of milk and buy $15,000 shower curtains. - bloodguard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9This is so true. I sat in on a dinner meeting with the CEO of a company I used to work for and a prospective VP of development. To say that she treated our wait person shabbily was a gross understatement. She almost had her in tears at one point. The only thing I could figure was that she was trying to convince the CEO that she could be as much of a type-a a$$hole as any man.
The Waitress got a lavish tip and the prospective VP got the boot. - middleman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1433: Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, an amateur built an ark that survived a flood while a large group of professionals built the Titanic!
That has to be the best line ever. - DapperScoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10How about you tell her that you bragged about how nice you are on the internet, and then show her your comment. Then ask her to guess how nice you are.
- Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9@JohnFlux -
Maybe some people here are actually married/adults and aren't interested in the pubescent fantasies of some idiot kid. Are you really naive enough to think his saying he slept with a waitress make it true? BTW last week I slept with 20 different girls, 18 of them in threesomes and the other 2 in one night. The Internet is the perfect place for anonymous ***** to spew BS. - klischke, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7One of my old bosses used to sit in for the receptionist when she was anticipating the arrival of an interviewee for her department. She actually sent someone home before the interview when they were rude to her, thinking she was a "lowly member of the administrative staff". She was the best boss I ever had.
- alexandreracine, on 10/12/2007, -8/+15Well, he is not talking about waiters in France, because there, they are hell. (And before moding this comment, you must have been there)
- ThePDW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7This is also a great way to tell LOTS about a person you are dating. If they are a jerk to the waiter or finnicky, run!!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Of course, just because I make six figures in tech and you make $6/hr serving drinks doesn't make me socially superior to you. For all I know, you spend your weekends reading to children in Dornbecher's burn ward or cancer ward while I spend them going jet skiing and banging blondes in Vail. Now who's socially superior?
I think it is simply the most basic of human decency to treat anyone who is providing any sort of service to you with respect, patience and grattitude - whether it's your dentist, your doctor, the kid that pumps your gas, the girl at the bar who serves your drinks or the person at the DMV counter. - Mooseknuckle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I tend to treat all servers with their due respect, but when they are obviously failing at their job due to laziness, or lack of attention, then I can't be so jovial with them.
If I have to wait 15 minutes to have my water refilled, my order gets put in wrong, they bring me a dirty fork, and have an "i dont care" attitude about it all, then I'm not going to show them much respect.
Guess that makes me a self-centered person with an inflated ego... well, I AM! - xxTazxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6brilliant article, definitely worth a read...and very very true!
- covaro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This article forgets to mention that this trend can go both ways. I'm 25 and have a wife and two kids, and have been on more than one occasion been treated like a second class customer simply because of my age. Not last month we went to Bertucci's for lunch on a Saturday and the table right next to us with 4 forty-something adults got checked up on 3x as much as we did at our table.
I've always considered myself a very patient and respectful customer, but it is somewhat bothersome when simply because you are younger and have children the waitstaff sees you as a cheapskate. As my regular bartenders at my local hangouts, minimum tip is $10 and that's on a $15 order. People don't understand that you treat the staff well enough things suddenly begin to never show up on the bill or get charged at the happy hour rate even if you are 10 minutes late for Happy Hour. - Daem0nX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I'd link a lot of how I treat a waiter to 1) growing up with good parents that made me say thank you and appeciate a person 2) personal choice to follow good morals and be polite to people in general. I hate going out with people that either could care less about a waiter, or worse is when someone refuses to leave a tip, I can't think of a word to express how much that pisses me off.
- ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6but you can put both on a salad
- wmtrader, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Yes, Yes he is.
Steve Jobs is well known for not being a nice guy to wait on in the Valley.
I also worked as a busy boy and waiter in the Silicon Valley during the 1990's.
Larry Ellison is major A-hole when he goes out as well, but you got to see him at a sales meeting where he calls his sales reps Mother F-ers and threatens to fire them every 10 minutes. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I'm sure life finds ways to get back to you. Those things that you may often call bad luck.
- mightymouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I always treat waiters and other strangers quite nicely. I like to make their day a bit better, seeing as how I'm pretty sure they've gone through a lot of ***** throughout the day already. And I don't do this, "oh, i have to be nice or my karma will be crap" *****, because I find that insulting. "pretending" to be nice because of some pitiful reason is just retarded. Be genuinely nice, feel like you are making a difference.
- briansalo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"don't forget the golden rule:
Never mistreat anyone who handles your food."
If anyone has ever seen the movie "Waited...", you'll definately think twice about it :P - middleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Reading through the article I found that you can receive a free copy of Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management.
http://www.raytheon.com/
I must say that these rules just make so much since, I'm so glad I found something like this. Being in college I definitely have allot to learn when it comes to managing people. - sliderocity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5That's one of the best articles I've read in a while, and definitely spot-on. As a waiter, the fact that anybody can be in a bad mood while dining out continually perplexes me. Personally, dining out is one of the most enjoyable activities in existence, and my mood while doing so will always reflect this. In addition, 90% of the time, mistakes are out of the server's control, and people who are purportedly as "intelligent" as CEOs shouldn't have any trouble coming to this realization.
- johndi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5You know what the problem is, work on it. It can cost you more than it's worth. When I am in that sort of mood I try to say nothing, experience is a bitch.
- sshack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I first saw this idea as a tip for dating. It works there too. I've been out with girls who have utter contempt for the waitstaff. Turns out, they weren't worth my time either.
This rule works. Besides, You get more with honey than with vinager. - kindrobot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"17: Promises, schedules and estimates are important instruments in a well-run business. You must make promises ----- don't lean on the often-used phrase: "I can't estimate it because it depends on many uncertain factors.""
..unless you're making a halo or duke nukem' game. - olliholliday, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"the measure of a man is how he treats one who can not benefit him whatsoever"
(or something like that)
== some reaaaally old quote from centuries ago. can't remember who it was though sorry. - mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I worked in a tv company before that had some pretty good CEO.
The underlings who were vps, editors and secretaries were the ones who treated people like crap. Ever had that experience where instructing someone how to use something and they tell you that its not their job to use it? - dallen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think that is from Proverbs
- TwoSlick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If someone walks up to me, and spits milk in my face, then they're the kind of person I'M trying to avoid.
- Kermee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Only if you had a large dowry!
- zbeast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well interesting story.
Too bad there's not a CEO that I've ever met that has ever acted like that.
Three good examples.
Steve Ballmer
Meg Whitman.
Carly Fiorina
Employees are just tools worse yet there treated like there cheap tools. (AllTrade, Powerbuilt, craftsman) you get the idea.
http://portfolio.cfa.arizona.edu:9006/authoring/asset?aid=6862 - gonz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's probably the most clever tactic, since you don't have to wait for chance to be able to see who you are dealing with.
- ThePDW, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12No, you must be an ***** that uses girls for sex.
- persaltier, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think everybody should be a waiter at some point in their life. Too many people have never been on that side of the fence, and the lack of respect they show (when they show it) is indicative of that lack of acknowledgement of what it's like to be in such a humbling position. I would go out of my way for those customers who simply ended their sentences with 'please' and 'thank you'.
- Quash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If you did what John Lithgow's character did, then THAT would be the mark of an unkind person. As a waiter in a former life, if someone would have taunted me with a tip in that manner, I would have seen it for what it is: rude and controlling. And when they smuggly tipped me at the end with a patronizing "job well done," I would have asked them to keep their tip and have a pleasant night.
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