By Nancy Friedman, Keynote Customer Service Speaker; President, Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training

It was in a Las Vegas NON-STRIP hotel restaurant. My husband Dick and I were seated quickly enough, but the wait for silverware, water, menu and a waiter seemed forever.

Dick has a lot of patience (he’s never used any). Thankfully, this time he held it in for a while. After a few minutes of no service, no water, no menu, no waiter, he waved the closest person to him and said, “We’ve been here a while and we have no water, no menu, no silverware and no waiter.”

Without missing a beat and with giving us a big smile, the busboy who he had waved over said with a lovely Hispanic accent, “I’m the busboy, but I will get it all for you.” And within 45 seconds we had everything. Water, menu, silverware and soon, a waiter.

There was no:

* I’m not a waiter.

* It’s not my job.

* I’ll get your waiter.

* Someone will be with you soon.

* I’ll check for you.

No excuses. He stepped up to the plate, handled and saved the situation.

“I’ll get it for you.” He took ownership.

The number one trait all business owners want – OWNERSHIP!

That’s the way it should be!

Don’t pass the buck. Handle the situation.

We normally don’t tip busboys; however, this time we made an exception. A big-time exception. It was very impressive. His English wasn’t great, but his service sure was.