In 1985 a server solely supporting a family of four stopped her boss, the store manager, at one of a large chain of restaurants to ask several questions about a series of five reports she was studying on a bulletin board.  She was asking who completed the reports and what the questions and the answers meant to her and everyone at the store.  The manager took a few minutes to explain that he invited some of their different customers this week to let them know “How are we doing?” by filling out the brief ten question form including comments and mailing it back to them after their next visit.  This effort would not only provide the opportunity to recognize their customers and thank them for their patronage but also let them know if they were meeting their measures on the ten items they felt like they had to do well to serve their market and stay in business.

Being curious to know what the marks were and seeing some recognizable names the server was also surprised that their customers would take the time to give them feedback.  The manager pointed out that whether they accepted their invitation or not they at least understood that it was the intention of everyone in the store, even those they couldn’t see, to be better for them.

Always being in a hurry with lots of outside duties and problems to occupy her mind and viewing programs and procedures in general as necessary evils to keep the supervisors’ happy the server was never the less impressed and still curious about the sequence of events.  Pretending to fully understand she left the brief discussion with the manager feeling eerily part of something larger and a part of a group or team trying to be successful.