For Tirtha, customers come first

“In my job, practice makes perfect”

Tirtha Bhandari is from Nepal, a foreign worker in Johor Baru.  He speaks in heavily accented English but is articulate and scores top marks for his customer service.  He gives customers a few minutes to study the menu and responds immediately when summoned to take their orders.

The menu offers set lunches in Set A and Set B choices and after the customers pick their meals, Tirtha turns the menu pages to suggest some ala carte dishes, pointing out the most popular items, to go with the meal.  Even though the set meal already comes with a scoop of ice-cream for dessert, he still turns to the page for drinks and desserts and suggests some sweet items that the customer may consider ordering.

This is done without being pushy or blasé but with a natural courtesy and persuasion that encourages the customers to trust him, look closer at the menu and think about ordering or coming back again to try out his suggestions.  Before he leaves the table, he repeats the order to ascertain that it was taken accurately.

Tirtha worked in India before coming to work with this restaurant in Malaysia for the last 17 months.  His motto, Practice Makes Perfect, may sound like a cliché but it appears that he is applying the restaurant’s training in the Five Golden Points and getting better at it by practicing it with every customer.  He remains alert and offers to serve the ordered dessert when he sees the customers finishing their main course.

While many restaurants here are having problems with their serving staff, it’s both bittersweet and inspiring to see a foreign worker performing with such good work attitude.  Maybe Tirtha is a natural when it comes to customer service but he’s also determined to do well in his job for his 17-month old child who was born just as he left home to work here.  www.johnnyrestaurant.com