In American restaurants, gratuity is not included in menu prices. It is left up to the patrons to leave what they think was deserved – 18-20% is standard these days. So, I experience a vague irritation whenever I see “gratuity included for parties of X or more” on an American restaurant menu. It smacks of a lack of trust in me to treat the server with the respect they deserve. I assume that policies like this spur from being wronged in the past. I understand that thinking and know that it happens everywhere, though its not always as obvious.
If you’ve been reading the “Taming the Chaos for Managers” series thus far, you’ve read about the key concepts of visualizing work, making policies explicit and limiting your work-in-progress. You’ve also learned about helpful ideas such as scheduling focus time and identifying different classes of work. What have you done with that information so far? Take a moment to reflect what you’ve learned from trying to implement these concepts. If you haven’t been able to, ask yourself “why not?”
As I noted 