Shoppers

Flashback some twenty or so years ago (early 80's)...I used to work at a fine seafood restaurant in San Diego. It is located on Habor Island near the airport. I believe that it is still there and is still called The Boathouse. I learned a lot during my stint there. The restaurant was part of a chain of eating establihments such as Carlos Murphy's, Jack in the Box, and many others. Oddly enough it was a subsidary of the Ralston Purina Corporation (now, isn't that a weird concept?). Anyway, the training one received before waiting on tables was very structured and everyone was trained using the same format. There's wisdom to that structure. Once trained, we were always given feedback on how well we were doing (usually by our floor manager). The coporation hired another company to come and evaluate us. We never knew who or when. The people who came to our establishment to dine anonymously were called "shoppers". One could only hope that if you did wait on these 'shoppers' that you had your best foot forward and that your service was above average. Within a week of the visit, your evaluation would be posted in the employee station for all to see how they fared by these surprise visitors. One would live for a positive review or face humiliation with a negative review. Consequently, the tendency was for all of us to be on our best behavior 'just in case' we had a table with a 'shopper'. I can't help but feel like this is a life-long lesson. We should always try to put our best foot forward, for you never know when that person is a 'shopper'. So, for some reason, while driving home from work this afternoon, I found myself reflecting on this trival memory. The image posted is from my sister's yard when she lived in Haiku, Maui. If I could've found a Budda head like that to take home, I certainly would. I'm still on the hunt for one like that! And, yes, I took it into Photoshop for some tweaking! Today's car tunes: Carole King's "Tapestry" album (remember that album?). A classic, for sure!