Restaurants are an interesting place where more than just taste buds are put to the test. How others treat a CEO says nothing, but how others treat a waiter is like a magical window into the soul. Beware of anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, “I could buy this place,” or “I know the owner.” Those who say such things have revealed more about their character than about their wealth and power. The CEO who came up with the waiter observation, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a booklet of 33 short leadership observations called Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management. Among those 33 rules is one that Swanson says never fails, “A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.” Swanson says he first noticed this in the 1970s when he was eating with a man who became “absolutely obnoxious” to a waiter because the restaurant did not stock a particular wine. While there is no excuse for poor guest behavior, there is also no excuse for poor restaurant service. One way to increase the likelihood that your guests have a positive experience and avoid revealing the dark side of their soul is to utilize a system such as JTECH’s ServAlert®. With ServAlert, servers are utilized more effectively thereby optimizing performance.

Nevertheless, Swanson encourages people to “be especially wary of those who are rude to people perceived to be in subordinate roles.” Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes, a former waitress and postal clerk, says, “Sitting in the chair of CEO makes me no better of a person than the forklift operator in our plant.” Empowering your servers with wireless pagers gives them the confidence to rise above “subordinate” and to think like a CEO.