I have often talked to waiters and waitresses in idle conversation at coffee shops. I also have friends who are wait-people. The question I ask that often gets a great response is “What do you do when a customer asks your advice on the best menu choice and after you give a careful and honest answer, they choose something else?”
The answer that I often get: “Before I bring them the dish, I spit on their plate.”
I know that this is...
I know that this is a common, taunting, answer to an intrusive
questioner. I also know that the best question to ask of a waitperson is:
“Is there anything on the menu that you would steer me away from,
today?” That is more often likely to get a reliable answer since
wait-people see what goes back on plates uneaten.
As a business consultant I am often asked for advice in circumstances where I am not expected to charge for the advice (parties, coffee shops). My response, for several decades, has been: “I wouldn’t take my ad lib advice if I were you…it is based on spur of the moment social graces, being polite, like shooing away a fly. When I give paid advice I care about the client, I bring the concerted resources of thousands of hours of work and observation, I care about the consequences of following my advice and I keep in touch with my clients.”
That also comes from watching how “free business advice” seldom gets followed.