LETTER TO THE EDITOR / Outsourcing
It is worth noting that in the absence of stoic leadership and an established chain of command, a distributive form of allocation of responsibility has come to life.
Some call it outsourcing but it is still nothing more than the proverbial passing of the buck. A good example of this new phenomenon is evident in most restaurants. It used to be that the owner or his deputy or maître d’ would greet customers and assign them to a table. Instead, we now have pretty young faces playing the hostess role. They have no authority over the kitchen or the service staff other than to seat people.
The chef was top dog in the chicken and nothing happened there without his approval and constant supervision. He was responsible for preparing the basic sauces and his sous-chefs would do the rest under his command. Increasingly, the chef is seen as the food choreographer, leaving the tedium of preparation to whoever shows up any given day. Obviously, the consistency of taste, quality and appeal vary greatly and customers cannot expect the same thing twice.
Whereas waiters/waitress staff were earlier responsible for their stations and not only established rapport with her customers, took your order but delivered it and ensured that everybody was satisfied, the new approach is having ‘food runners’ deliver your food in an impersonal, matter of factly manner. The customer is still expected to pay a tip that is not commensurate to the personal service received but rather because a certain percentage is still deemed appropriate. The ‘push 1 for English’ approach has taken a life of its own in mostcorporate settings as well as businesses who prefer the impersonal approach to farm out responsibilities to cheaper overseas telephone operators. After a litany of directory options and an inordinate wasted time and frustration of not understanding the person on the other end, the customer is left in the lurch.
Does anybody care any longer or are we simply going through the paces pretending that we do so as to extract a better margin of profit?
Paul Sofranac
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To TIP or not to TIP is not the question, the recourse of under tipping is the best method to remark on food and services. Best is non-participation of these Chow Halls so they degrade to serving EU tourists and toothless locals and eventually fade away!
Everything has changed…off the top musings about dining…but the observations may serve to explain why and how we got here…
A population in some parts of the country that looks forward to eating from “food carts” which older people remember as “roach coaches”
A population that can’t go to a supermarket to buy ingredients to make a meal but rather has the prepared ingredients for the meal brought to your door.
A dining experience with unruly kids, no table manners, weird attire, people using Iphones or ear buds, a population that can’t sit still, and “comfort animals” are acceptable.
Restaurants that have streamlined service (consolidated responsibilities) in order to survive due to competition, minimum wage increases (see Seattle’s issues), rising prices and a population of minimum wage jobs
Restaurants that won’t serve you because of your politics (Red Hen).
Restaurants that have a set recipe and use prepackaged food to provide the same flavor and taste every time you eat there. So you know what to expect as opposed to “surprise me” (Restaurant chains).
So I’m not sure if we want the “personal touch” in today’s world. How to greet people at the door when they can take offense being identified as cisgender or LGBTQQIP2SAA. How dare anyone say,. Good evening ma’am or sir anymore! Even “greetings” may be misconstrued.
Further, people are losing the personal touch…the lack of personal interaction is diminishing…in grocery stores, you check out now including bagging the items. The store cashier appears lonely 3 stations away!