CEOs say how you treat a waiter can predict a lot about character

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Dark Knight

Dark Knight

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Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver.

The purple sorbet in cut glass he was serving tumbled onto the expensive white gown of an obviously rich and important woman. "I watched in slow motion ruining her dress for the evening," Odland says. "I thought I would be shot on sight."

Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the stain out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction. She was startled, regained composure and, in a reassuring voice, told the teenage Odland, "It's OK. It wasn't your fault." When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060414/bs_usatoday/ceossayhowyoutreatawaitercanpredictalotaboutcharacter&printer=1

 
Dark Knight said:
Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver.

The purple sorbet in cut glass he was serving tumbled onto the expensive white gown of an obviously rich and important woman. "I watched in slow motion ruining her dress for the evening," Odland says. "I thought I would be shot on sight."

Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the stain out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction. She was startled, regained composure and, in a reassuring voice, told the teenage Odland, "It's OK. It wasn't your fault." When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.

.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060414/bs_usatoday/ceossayhowyoutreatawaitercanpredictalotaboutcharacter&printer=1
Click to expand...

Wonderful story and so true.

Goes to show ,rich or poor, how you treat people shows your character.
I'll bet Mr. Odland treats people to this day as he remembers being treated by this kind lady. :)
 
This is SO true.

There was a couple that we USED to go to dinner with. We go to restaurants that are "fine dining" which in Canada means quite expensive.

Well, to make a long story short. Her husband was impossible, nothing could be done right, he "humiliated and berated" the wait staff and embarassed us to no end. I acutally had to go up to the wait staff and hand them some money(very quietly)because I did not want them to think I was like this man.

Well, we never went out with them again, and last I heard she filed for Divorce.

Everyone no matter what their station in life, deserves the same consideration and respect.
 
Hmmm very interesting! I did my fair share of waitress jobs and one thing I noticed is that most of the time it is the women that are pure EVIL ... I don't know what it is I have seen the claws come out so to speak.
 
I've always watched people in restaurants and drawn conclusions about their character from their behavior. I think how any of us treat strangers is a real revelation of our own personalities. I have some friends who are very demanding and regularly disappointed. That's just how they see the world, too.

Years and years ago I did some time as a waitress and found that most people really are pretty nice. But when we got "stinker" customers, we just all passed the word. Those folks never really got good service again! :clap:
 
I truly think that this is true about the way we treat serving people, bellboys, housekeepers. If you treat people like you are better than them and look down on them, you will one day get what you deserve. It bears repeating that you don't see what happens in the kitchen, and if you treat a waiter crappy, you don't know what will happen to your spaghetti while it's out of your sight!!
 
Dark Knight said:
Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver.

The purple sorbet in cut glass he was serving tumbled onto the expensive white gown of an obviously rich and important woman. "I watched in slow motion ruining her dress for the evening," Odland says. "I thought I would be shot on sight."

Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the stain out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction. She was startled, regained composure and, in a reassuring voice, told the teenage Odland, "It's OK. It wasn't your fault." When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060414/bs_usatoday/ceossayhowyoutreatawaitercanpredictalotaboutcharacter&printer=1
Click to expand...
I think this is true no matter the job of the other person..I always remain patient in a line up and treat the store clerk the same way I would treat sharon rocha..I mean I dont think of myself as anything but flawed so I am not going to get high and mighty with the folks who work harder for their money than I do.
 
Accidents are accidents. The only thing that would push me to deciding the service was bad would be cold food or a server thats on the cell phone making plans for herself.
 
I went to luch with a superviser at a place where I worked once who was so condescending, snide & unpleasant to the waitress that it changed my opinion of him then and there. Not long afterward, I found myself being treated the same way, which made it easy to leave when I realized something was hinky re how he was handling business. As it turns out, he was embezzling tons of money from the federal government.
 
There is a website that posts "wait staff" opinions about the "tip" left by celebrities.

Mind you there is no way to verify the information, but I will take it at face value.

For example: One "well known" celebrity left a tip of $2.00 on a bill of over a hundred dollars.

So this site is to "expose" them.

Not surprising though........
 
I totally agree with this! I have seen it in the business world so many times. I had lunch today at a little hometown restaurant and my waitress (Kathy) was wonderful! This article inspired me to call her boss and brag on her. You just don't get great service everyday, but I try to always be respectful and nice to my waiter/waitress. They work harder than most CEO's and have to put up with alot more crap!
 
CyberLaw said:
There is a website that posts "wait staff" opinions about the "tip" left by celebrities.

Mind you there is no way to verify the information, but I will take it at face value.

For example: One "well known" celebrity left a tip of $2.00 on a bill of over a hundred dollars.

So this site is to "expose" them.

Not surprising though........
Click to expand...
Link please:D
 
www.bitterwaitress.com. Now I don't know how to post a link:doh: but that is the site.......and also the other link that the previous poster was kind enough to answer....

I like some of the wait staff comparison to some people thinking that since they are a customer, they are the Master and the wait staff is the slave.
 
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