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Time and motion study
A group of friends went out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the waiter carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. It seemed a little strange. When the busboy brought the water and utensils, they noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. They looked around saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve their soup one of them asked, "Why the spoon?"
"Well," he explained, "the restaurant's owner hired Time & Motion Consulting to revamp all our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift." As luck would have it, one of the group dropped his spoon and the waiter was able to replace it with his spare. "I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now."
They were impressed. Then they also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's pants. Looking around, they noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their pants. So before he walked off, they asked the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?" "Oh, certainly!" Then he lowered his voice. "Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of our knobs, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 66.39 percent."
"After you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."
"Well," he explained, "the restaurant's owner hired Time & Motion Consulting to revamp all our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift." As luck would have it, one of the group dropped his spoon and the waiter was able to replace it with his spare. "I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now."
They were impressed. Then they also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's pants. Looking around, they noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their pants. So before he walked off, they asked the waiter, "Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?" "Oh, certainly!" Then he lowered his voice. "Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we can save time in the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of our knobs, we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 66.39 percent."
"After you get it out, how do you put it back?"
"Well," he whispered, "I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon."
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