ABSTRACT
A common cause of service failure relates to timing issues. Most timing problems can be categorized as either too slow (delays or wait times) or too fast (inappropriate timing). For instance, in a study of restaurant patrons, 38 percent of respondents indicated failures as attributable to time delays (Sparks, 1998). Timing failures also include waiting in line to check in or out of a hotel. As mentioned, not only do delays contribute to failures, but poor timing in general is also an important problem. For instance, a timing failure occurs in a restaurant when waiters bring out the main course before the customers have finished their appetizer.
