ABSTRACT
The ability to provide service depends on having a high staff/customer ratio, a low turnover of, production, relatively large units of profit, and slow returns on outlay and low staff turnover rates, especially among its skilled labour. The more people actually pay for service, the more exacting will be their demands for better and more individual service. The concepts of service at each end of the spectrum can be broadly termed ‘individual’ and ‘masses. High expectations tend not to be fulfilled, basically because low staffing and poor quality food militate against the service ideal. The station head waiter may, for example, enact a charade of publicly dressing down his staff for the benefit of a complaining customer. A surprisingly high proportion of all the arguments and fights that take place between staff are connected with the struggle to get enough china and cutlery to lay their tables.
