Everyone knows that, apart from the quality of the food served in a restaurant, it’s the service you receive from that restaurant that determines whether you will return or not!
Not so in South Africa..!
It’s obvious from the moment you sit down that the waiters have been schooled in the art of waitering however, it’s also very obvious that eons of african culture are not removed over night. The two ethics seem to sit at opposite ends of the spectrum but only one can prevail…
The fundamental ethic of waitering is to be of service to the customer. The core of African culture requires you to be polite to all. Both these two would seem to sit in harmony in the waitering world except in Africa.
Being polite to all means being polite to the customer, your colleague, the man on the street and anyone else who may be in the vicinity. These means the customer DOES NOT receive the undivided attention of the waiter but rather has to compete with the others for it.
Add to this the African ethic of speaking loudly so everyone can hear (speaking quietly is rude as it suggests you are talking about others in earshot) requires that the customer must also speak loudly to get and retain the waiters attention.
So in the ‘African’ end, the customer must shout and gesture to get the waiters attention and then wait as the waiter finishes any conversation he or she may be having with colleagues before being attended too.
I’ll let you decide whether this is a recipe for repeat business or not…
Tags: poor service, waiters
Wow those were very angry citizens…………..