Posted on 04/17/2006 8:19:37 AM PDT by ConservativeBamaFan
Office Depot CEO Steve Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an upscale French restaurant in Denver. ADVERTISEMENT
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
From the article--- "Sitting in the chair of CEO makes me no better of a person than the forklift operator in our plant," she says. "If you treat the waiter, or a subordinate, like garbage, guess what? Are they going to give it their all? I don't think so."
Good thing to remember when you get taken to lunch by the "made" guys at your company.
Having waited tables before makes one a very respectful restaurant customer.
When I was dating, my dad told me to watch how the men treated clerks and waiters because men who are courting will be on their best behavior with parents, etc., but their true nature can be revealed in how they treat people they consider subordinate. It was good advice then and it's good advice now. My husband treats the men who mow the lawn at the golf course with the same courtesy as he treats the man who owns the golf course.
This is one of the main reasons I voted for President Bush. When I saw him in campaign appearances in 2000, he treated everyone the same, with courtesy and respect, whether they were teenagers, little old ladies, blue collar workers, or political big-wigs. I watched him week after week on the Road to the White House on C-SPAN, and thought that I had never seen a politician act like that. What you see with him is what you get, an admirable trait.
I have the utmost contempt for people who tailor their behavior to the preceived status of the person with whom they are interacting.
I have more respect even for those who are nasty to everyone, no matter who they are!
I worked in HR, and did lots of interviewing for various positions....once I was interviewing a highly qualified fellow for a Technical SERVICE position (hi tech)....he was REALLY rude to me.....but, oh, so nice to the hiring manager.....Did he get hired? Nope.....I explained to the hiring manager that a guy who's rude to the HR person is NOT someone he wanted in "Service".....he agreed.
"When I was dating, my dad told me to watch how the men treated clerks and waiters because men who are courting will be on their best behavior with parents, etc., but their true nature can be revealed in how they treat people they consider subordinate. It was good advice then and it's good advice now. My husband treats the men who mow the lawn at the golf course with the same courtesy as he treats the man who owns the golf course."
Your Father was/is a very wise man, and your husband is the type of guy I like to go out for breakfast, lunch or dinner with.
My wife and I refuse to go out for a meal or shopping with someone who abuses those who wait on us or serve us.
I always used to ask the receptionist and front office staff how they were treated when young people came in for interviews.
One other "lunch test" I've always heard of is to see if someone salts their food before tasting it. It is a sign of jumping to a conclusion out of habit before getting a good assessment of the reality of the situation.
And when you hear how the "Politicians of the People" like Kerry and Hillary--and other slobs like Michael Moore--treat the "little people" you realize how phony and conceited they are.
Yep. And wait staff in L.A. will tell you how notorious most Hollywood celebrities are for treating them like dirt and being lousy tippers.
I datead men who were nasty to waiters, for no good reason. It was their last date with me. That advice has stood me in good stead for all my adult years.
Last year, I did a brief stint in HR.
When interviews were scheduled, they would be greeted by a receptionist before I met with them.
The number of people who didn't realize that the receptionist and I talked frequently was astonishing.
I worked with a guy who seemed to have teh goal of getting a wiatress to cry. I think he would goad them in to doing a bad job so he could justify a poor tip. (and this guy was loaded)
He got mad at a waitress once because he wanted broiled chicken and the restaurant didn't have a broiler. Just plain embarassing, although quite entertaining when the waiter would pay it back to him.
There are two other guidelines. How they treat dogs. And, how they act when they are drunk.
This is excellent advice. How a prospective husband treats waiters, busboys, maids, etc. is even more revealing than how he treats his mother.
It's Noblesse Oblige, and you can see it in occupants of hte Whitehouse. The Reagans and the Bushes were/are all loved by the permanent staff and SS, while the Carters and the Clintons were loathed.
So9
I'm afraid I run afoul of this one ALL of the time - except that it's pepper for me, not salt. The only exception is spicy food - I taste test that.
I just like a LOT of pepper (ever had "blackened salad"? - LOL) ;-P
Spot on. Ralph Nader also, is supposed to be hell to work for.
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