Who wouldn’t like to dine in a restaurant without being asked what they’d like to drink by three different people or have the chef personally congratulate them on a birthday or anniversary. As an employee wouldn’t it be wonderful to know before you get to the table whether the guest wants still or sparkling water thereby saving steps which saves time which I can give back to the guest.
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| Still water - hand held horizontally |
We don’t know when restaurants starting using this silent communication, but we know it was in use in 1944 when a photo spread in Life magazine revealed how Sherman Billingsley, the owner of the legendary Stork Club in New York, let his staff know, without saying a word, that he wanted to pick up someone’s check by playing with the knot in his tie or get away from a customer by tugging on his ear.
While written communication and wordless communication are the most reliable forms of communication in a noisy restaurant, wordless communication is by far the easiest and fastest for the staff. For the guest, use of wordless communication provides them with a seamless dining experience, things seem to happen almost magically.
“Most communication is non-verbal,” says William Washington, general manager of Le Diplomate in Logan Circle, where a forward palm from a supervisor triggers a server to refresh an empty bread basket. “Everybody does it to a certain extent” in the restaurant trade.
And signals can work both ways; diners around the world know that scribbling in the air is likely to get them their check and swirling an empty water glass typically results in a refill. Missed signals are an occasional occupational hazard. One restaurant manager, who doesn’t wear a tie clip, is frequently adjusting the neckwear on his chest causing his teammates to ask, “What do you need?”
Because non-verbal communication was the first form of communication, the first form of language, I thought it might be fun to take a look at non-verbal communicate used in an innovative way. According to Merriam-Webster.com, language is “a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings.” I think it’s interesting to note that non-verbal gestures in different cultures have different meaning, just a different languages use different words to mean the same thing. Did you know that using your forefinger and thumb to make the “ok” sign is considered vulgar in Brazil and Russia? Or a thumbs up to signal “good job” is offensive in West Africa? But that’s the subject of another blog!
I found this article to be very interesting. I agree with the article. I feel that by having the staff silently communicate with one another makes the dining experience feel almost magical. It seems like an appropriate and smart way to effectively communicate in a busy environment. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video, I found it easy to understand the article better when I read it. Both video and article were extremely interesting. I never really thought about how waiters/servers used discrete communication or what each signal they made meant. I learn quite a lot about the signals used by restaurant workers. Using body language or non-verbal communication in restaurants or other type of service is creative. People must really enjoy the service and not realize that the waiters communicated with each other to get an order.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the article, when they mention people communicate non-verbally the majority of the time. I wonder if there are more signals that is universal (archetypal)and understood in all countries, such as the hand writing in the air signal. I was thinking of maybe writing about body language and this article gave me several ideas on topic for my paper.
wow, this is interesting and true, definitely non-verbal communication is the first and one with a huge importance in our communications.
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