Sunday, March 9, 2008

Enjoy your towel, sir!

i have always been curious to understand the training programs that some industries have.
in some five star restaurants, i wonder why the trainees are made to wear shining brass badges that say 'trainee'. it makes me nervous when trainees bring or take glasses of water or soup, precariously balanced on their hands.
maybe it is to ensure that the guests are more understanding when they see a trainee.

as part of that training, they are also trained to make some small conversation - such as
? how are you today?
? did you have a good day at work?
? enjoy your meal!
i can understand that.
one of the airlines that i regularly travel with, even has a question in their passenger feedback form - whether one was greeted on entry into the aircraft.. making it explict that it is a standard instruction to repeat the welcome greeting for every person boarding.

recently, a trainee steward [the cabin crew normally does not wear the trainee badge ], but i could sense that this person was new to the job - by the enthusiasm displayed to please every passenger.
while serving snacks, he made sure that everyone was wished - enjoy your meal, sir / madam!
while distributing the cold towels to freshen up, he said - enjoy your towel, sir!
to me, that is the limit...

6 comments:

Prarthana Ravishankar said...

First of all, I like your new blog template!!
And yeah, I completely agree with what you say in the post!!
These pepole are made to act sickly sweet... They act as doormats!!
This normally seems to have a negative effect on people.. getting them all irritated!!

Datta Hegde said...

Shiv, i guess you are the same Sivaguru from Integra techsoft /Global automation.. is that right..

This is Datta ( Dattatreya Hegde).. hope you remember me.. send in your email address please..

Datta Hegde
Sales manager, Aricent
Germany

Sivaguru said...

Datta
good to hear from you.
you got my identity right.
i could not get your mail id.
pls share it.

Jyotsna said...

nice template.
and i take it a s acompliment that you got "inspired" by me to put shelfari on your blog.

Datta Hegde said...

Shiv,
very nice to hear from you. I am with the same company ( comany changed its name from Hughes to flextronics softwatr to Aricent now. )

My emaild id is drhegde51@gmail.com

will be glad to be in touch with you.
BTW, my cousin works with HCL. Will write you more in an email rather.

Best regards
Datta

Deepu Vasudevan said...

It feels strange to call you 'uncle' now that I know you are a fellow blogger. :D

But I totally love your blog :)

And it doesn't stop with the towel, its after you wake up from a nap/the temperature of your water/if you want a drink with that pizza and so on...