Waiting for love: Why service staff deserve so much more

I was a waiter for a day, and I doubt anyone remembered me.

But that is the nature of those who serve. It was the single most humbling, yet strangely memorable experience I have had in a long time. I did my utmost to make sure every customer I met had the best time possible, and the odd thing was that if I did my job right, no one would remember my name. That makes anyone in the service industry an unsung hero, in my personal opinion.

I was asked to go incognito in a service setting as part of a media exercise for Singapore Tourism Board's "Go The Extra Mile for Service" or GEMS Up campaign. I consider it karmic retribution for the collective grief I've given service folks over the years. But it was also an interesting opportunity for a glimpse into what goes on behind the kitchen walls and understand what it takes to keep a customer happy.

And what an eye-opening glimpse it was.

I was placed in the good hands of the managers at Brewerkz Riverside Point (the American-style restaurant and microbrewery chain), who clothed me, fed me, gave me a super-condensed crash course on how the whole operation works, then threw me into the kitchen to start as a runner (the person who brings out dishes from the kitchen to the table staff). Brewerkz is a great example of an established F&B business -- the Riverside Point outlet seats 240 diners within and over 300 in the alfresco areas, and typically runs a staff strength of 40-60 people at any one time.

A few caveats though. This particular exercise is obviously a sampler of sorts, and placement was with accredited Singapore Service Star partners, who already have good business practices and sound customer policies in place. I didn't get the full service training experience, since it takes a minimum of two weeks for most people to get up to speed (Reb Koh, my Brewerkz manager, told me it takes about two to three months for anyone to be considered experienced). And despite being told not to hold back on me, word leaked out that I'm from the media, so I had the sneaky feeling they were sheltering me from the more back-breaking tasks. I'm also Singaporean born-and-bred, so there are no language barriers, and I'm older and (hopefully) more mature than most of their younger staffers. 

The invisible sequence of service

Remember the title sequence from Nicholas Cage's quite forgettable "Lord of War" movie, which traces the journey of a single bullet from when it's manufactured in Ukraine to that morbid moment when it's fired by a South African guerilla? If someone could film the first-person perspective of an order when it's being made in a restaurant to the second it's delivered to the waiting mouth of the customer, I guarantee you it'll be no less awe-inspiring and unforgettable.

From the moment any customer walks in, gets seated, orders from the menu, gets served, calls for the bill and leaves after payment, there's a whole process that's set in motion that calls for a level of teamwork and near-military coordination that FEMA should take notes from. It's almost like ballet, the way things are carefully balanced and moves are carried out.

Take for example, an order of a burger and beer. The restaurant greeter sits you down. Your waiter takes your order. The order's sent down the system, where it's automatically tabulated and split into two chits -- one to the kitchen and one to the bar. The kitchen, staffed by a team of ten or more, springs into action to prepare the burger and side order of fries and salad -- all in a matter of minutes so it's hot and fresh. The bar section draws the beer from the keg, tapping just the right amount of head. The server picks up the order, speeds it along to the waiter or delivers it right to the table ands checks that everything's in order. 

Now, throw in a menu of over a hundred items, different types of beverages, and factor in all the permutations it entails. Repeat the process a few hundred, if not a thousand times and add in the complexities of juggling table allocations, reservations, marketing promotions, payment modes, condiments, laying and clearing tables, and a multitude of other not-so-little details. One single hiccup along the way and voila, instant customer complaint. Now you're getting a glimpse of the big picture. 

The waiter's best friend

So, why should we care about what goes on? It's to throw some light on how hard it is to be a waiter, or any service staff for that matter. But there are hordes of people who do it with a smile, five or six days a week, for months, sometimes years. In working shoulder-to-shoulder with the folks at Brewerkz, they showed me all the tricks of the trade -- how to hoist up and balance a full platter of food on your shoulder, carry three pints of beer in one hand, pour a beer with the perfect head, and a hundred other need-to-know tasks. 

Ultimately, the desire to please is paramount. Everyone I talked to genuinely wanted to keep customers as comfortable as possible. As Anthony Lee, operations director of Brewerkz, told me, "Guests and customers are actually not that hard to satisfy. Warm food on time -- that's what most people want. Everything we do is just to make that happen every time."

And a smile can make a world of difference I found out. I'd go back repeatedly to a nice restaurant, café, store or shop just because I feel welcomed there, whereas one bad experience with a surly staff member and I'd probably never return again. 

I know the next time I finish a good meal or drink, and have been served by a friendly face, I'll be leaving a nice big tip.

And I'll try to remember their names too.