0.6 Taking customers' orders  (Page 2/3)

3. Work with a partner. Use the menu provided by your teacher and take turns to be A (a customer who wants some advice) and B (a waiter/waitress).

2. Vocabulary

Courses in a restaurant

Below are the courses on two kinds of menu, but they are in wrong order. Put the courses in a better order, and discuss what dishes etc. one might serve for some of them. For example: 1. Hors d’oeuvres: eggs mayonnaise. . . .

A la carte menu in a four-star restaurant: Cheese board – Entrees – Coffee and mints – Cold platters – Sweets – Hors d’oeuvre – Fish – Soups – Vegetables

Coffee-shop menu in an international hotel: Wine list – Main dishes – Soups – Desserts – Sandwiches – Appetizers – Beverages – Pasta dishes – Cold plate

Section 2: reading

1. Pre-reading

Discuss the questions with your friends.

• What do customers often expect of good food service?
• What are some bad habits that can lead to poor service?
• What is "passing the buck"?
• Reading

We know that service is anything other than physical goods that is valuable to customers. There are some laws that lead to good service. The most critical one is about customers' satisfaction. The following article presents some golden rules that restaurant staff members need to be aware of in order to provide good service.

Law of service

We know that service is anything other than physical goods that is valuable to customers. This customer perspective leads to the Law of Service - the most critical relation­ship in all service work.

1. Accessibility. Customers expect prompt and efficient service. This means that they must be able to get to someone in the organization who can help them. Whether it is waiting for initial processing or talking to someone about fixing a problem, they do not expect to go through a maze of paperwork and red tape. They want their questions answered and their needs met as soon as possible.

2. Courtesy. Customers expect to be treated in a professional manner. They react poorly to rudeness. Customers expect their property to be treated with respect as well. Employees should treat customers' luggage, cars, and so on as if it were their own. They also expect a neat and clean appearance.

3. Personal attention.Customers want to be treated as unique individuals. They want to know that the company they are dealing with cares about them as individuals. They expect to be told what services will be provided, and they expect someone to care about their problems (and do something about them).

4. Empathy. Empathy is a person's ability to see and feel things from someone else's point of view. Customers expect that service employees will understand what they care about. Customers do not expect to be treated as though their presence is an imposition on the employee or an interruption to an otherwise pleasant day.

5. Job knowledge. Customers expect that employees will know the facts about their job and their company. They expect honest answers. On some special requests, they may accept an employee going to a supervisor for an answer, provided that the answer comes quickly.