Week 12.

After week 11 we decided that we needed to do more research on customer and waiter interaction. So we produced a case study for the port office hotel. The case study is as follows:

To generate a better understanding of our user group  a study of their environment and interaction previously was an important part in creating assumptions and design resolutions. Group members chose to experience a restaurant scenario instead of a cafe in order to get a better understanding of service from waiters and the customer. The Port Office Hotel was the subject of choice and included a proper sit down lunch, incorporating drinks, entree and main meal. The research into the process began at being seated to paying the bill.

Within the dining experience group members went to all extremes to explore all areas that may encounter the restaurant scenario. This was broken up into meal segments 

where potential service may have been needed from certain actions and interaction at the table. Group members began by observing how the waiter interacted to certain gestures by the customer and how they would react. This included closing menus to signify the action of being ready to order. Other areas of interest also included how complimentary water was assessed by the waiter and when glasses needed refilling. During the study the assigned waiter to the teams table was very attentive however this also demonstrated an annoyance to the customer. From this the team established that there is a point where you can be addressed and served too much that it becomes an uncomfortable and annoying problem.

From the waiter’s point of view, service and looking after the customer was their main priority. However not being completely aware of the customer’s needs without addressing the table, waiters seemed to intrude and indulge frequently in order to have an understanding of their customer’s stage and needs within the dining experience. For example when a glass of water was any less than full, a waiter would come over and refill the glass straight away. One of the biggest problems faced with constant service from waiters was privacy. Awkwardly conversations had the potential of stopping and waiting until the waiter finished his or her duties. This showed that constant interruptions affected the flow of the dining experience. 

Within our Restraunt experience we perfomed actions such as

•  Finsihing our water quickly to see if  the waiter would top up 
• knocking over cuttlery 
• leaving knife and fork on the plate in diffrent positions
• closing menus to see if waiter would come over for our order

These actions gave us excellent feedback. We quickly identified the key issue with the water customer interaction. The customer becomes annoyed when the waiter performs services such as filling up water when the customer does not desire it. If the waiter new when they were needed then this would save time for the waiter and create a better dining experience for all customers involved.

We began to start thinking what are all the services and customer needs at a restraunt and write them down. Once down we established the most important ones and how they related to both the customer and waiter.

The main services included.

• ORDERING
• REFILL DRINKS
• GENERAL ATTENTION
• BILL/CHEQUE

We then broke this up into different colours.

ORDERING - GREEN
REFILL - BLUE
ATTENTION - RED
BILL/ CHEQUE - WHITE/IDLE