Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
There’s a breakfast joint near me that serves a solid meal, quickly and with good cheer. Randy’s in Scottsdale is nothing fancy, but it has the full range of items – eggs, hash browns, pancakes, etc, – and what it does it does very well.
Last time I was there, last Saturday in fact, Randy’s was jammed, not only with regulars but a pack of weekend motorcycle riders. Our party of four got the very last table in the joint. Yet, we had water and coffee within 60 seconds of sitting down. After ordering, it took precisely 5 minutes and four seconds for our food to arrive. I know this because I used the stopwatch on my iPhone to time it. (I frequently time Randy’s service because the efficiency never ceases to amaze me.)
We all know such places, whether we live in a big city or a rural town. A really good breakfast joint is not a one-off. So, the know-how exists. Why can't government offices run more like a good breakfast joint?
The principles are the same. You open at a certain time. When customers arrive you greet them, seat them, provide a service and send them away, hopefully satisfied.
Been to the DMV lately?
I’ve been to several in multiple states. They always feel like a maze of lines directing you here and there, usually with a wait, then sometimes redirecting you to another line and a wait. The staff seem to have burr in their underwear, treating you more as an irritant than a customer.
DVM isn’t alone in this. A lot of government services and some big private-sector institutions (think hospitals) suffer from the same “don’t bother me” vibe. Whatever the management in government is doing, why can’t it be more like a good breakfast place? Perhaps, in addition to making government workers take classes on the proper use of pronouns, they could also invite the owner of the nearest good breakfast joint in to talk about what it is they do to provide efficient service.
How do they prepare? What do they do with a grumpy waitress who doesn’t want to be there?
If Randy’s can do it, so can our government. Is that suggesting too much?
ONE MORE THING
