Home | Humor
I owned Shapwick House the period hotel and restaurant in Somerset, for four years and one night, I was helping out waiting at tables for dinner and received a complaint from a woman that the trout she had ordered was not cooked properly. She said that it was still raw in the middle. I apologised and removed the offending trout to the kitchen where we saw that the salmon trout was perfectly cooked; what the woman thought was ‘raw’, was the natural colour of the fish. What does one do in such circumstances? Take it back and tell her that there’s nothing wrong with it? Say, ‘you stupid woman; have you never had salmon trout before?’ Of course not. The customer has to be allowed to save face. I returned to the dining room, told the customer that chef would cook her another one and would she accept a complimentary half bottle of dry white wine to keep her company while she was waiting. As I poured the wine, I asked her if she wanted salmon trout or would she prefer rainbow trout. She said that she didn’t mind which. Another trout was served shortly afterwards, and the incident was closed. The value of dealing with a complaint in this way is the subsequent publicity it is bound to create. The incident of the trout and the half bottle of wine she will recount to her friends, colleagues and acquaintances and, sooner or later, the woman will learn that salmon trout stays pink after cooking. It wasn’t raw, it was as it should have been. One of her more knowledgeable friends is bound to tell her in due course. The value of the advertising was many times the cost of the trout. Copyright © 2005 L A Rogers
Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com
Dr Len Rogers is Professor of international business at International School of Management (Paris, New York, Tokyo, Barcelona) and director of Computer Resources International SA Luxembourg. His address is len.rogers@pandora.be and his website www.lenrogers.com/ (currently being reconstructed and updated).
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
Search This Site
Top Authors Most Popular Articles Submission Guidelines Ezine Notifications Article RSS Feeds About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Powered by Article Dashboard
