Spiders get a bad rap.
It’s true that they are generally creepy. Also true that some could even kill you…BUT!…forgetting the fact that the usual visiter to a spider’s web is usually not there FOR dinner but AS dinner, there is still something we can learn from spiders when it comes to hospitality.
In The coffee shop, when guest enters our cafes they are often not noticed. This lack of recognition continues throughout their time in the shop and then through to leaving.
A spider is in tune with what is happening because it is connected to its web and can discern and recognizes every movement and disturbance. Not so with a spider. You see a spider relies on every “guest” for its survival and places a high value on each opportunity. If a flY lands even at the furthest point in the web, the spider is on it.
We need to be a bit more like this in the shop. Instead of being disconnected to everything on the other side of the bar, we need to work to be in tune with and connected to the what is happening in all corners of the cafe space. When a guest enters, when their child spills a hot chocolate, when they seem confused as to where the trash can or bathroom is, and as they depart. We need to be so connected to the space that we can sense their movements and needs and then respond accordingly or even preemptively.
Now we don’t rely on the customer in quite the same way as a spider does a fly, but in reality our survival depends on how vigilantly we attend to their experience with us.
-Chris
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