Cup o' Joe

Erich has been training new summer staff members at his cafe "Cup o' Joe". It's been interesting to see the difference in service depending on the customer.

Foreigners vs. Locals

+ Foreigners like plates to be cleared when you finish them to create space for other dishes
- Locals believe that clearing plates while the people are still seated is a sign the you want them to leave, considered very rude.
+ When foreigners order to go, they want to be informed when the order is ready they can take it and go!
- When locals order to go, the order is set on a table for them to pick it up at their leisure. If you inform locals that their order is ready to go, they consider it very rude and a sign that you want them to leave the restaurant (of course I don't see a problem with that, if you order to go usually you want to leave anyways!)
+ Foreigners stand in front of the register when they want to order. Sometimes the Chinese staff doesn't recognize this gesture as wanting service.
- Locals yell their order out until someone takes it down.
+ Foreigners *typically* know it's rude to be on your phone while ordering, and especially rude to be on your phone when taking someone's order.
- Phones for locals take priority. If the phone is ringing they drop everything and answer it. They are sometimes offended when we let our phones ring and instead finish what we're doing before we check to see what we missed.

Still ... we have a lot of fun at Cup 'o Joe. So many barbeque's, potlucks, pig roasts, and just general gatherings, often with a guitar by the camp fire :)