THERE are people do not respect those in the service industry and, many times, those in the service industry do not have pride in their jobs.
But Shermane Rivers, manager of Food and Beverage Services at the Office of the Parliament and etiquette consultant, says it is important to realise that hospitality is a major sector and can be a career.
And she would know, as she is also the founder of the Etiquette School of the Caribbean, the owner of The House of Tea café in Malabar, Arima, and the author of The Joy of Service: A Guide to the Professional Food Server which was launched at the Rotunda Gallery, Red House, Port of Spain on April 12.
Rivers, 51, has been working in the service industry for over 30 years and loves what she does. But she said the customer service in TT is lacking as unskilled people are being hired and employers are not taking the time to train them.
She said the lack of respect, courtesy and kindness it is not only a problem in the food and beverage sector but at the doctor’s office, law firms, dealerships, NGOs and other service organisations.
“From the time they make that phone call to book a reservation guests expect a certain experience, and I want us to start exceeding customers’ expectations. We can do things better, with a level of pride and passion.
[caption id="attachment_1151720" align="alignnone" width="662"] Author Shermane Rivers[/caption]
“People look at it as a filler job, because they can’t get anything else.
“But they don’t understand this is a road that could change somebody’s entire day. No matter how small the task is, these things matter.”
Rivers told Newsday last year the Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute asked her to facilitate their Accelerate Your Ambition programme, which trained workers in the hotel industry, but there were no textbooks on the topics.
From her years of experience and with the help of her staff, she documented the different steps and created a syllabus. She recognised the need for such information and felt she could make a difference, so she expanded the process into a book.
The Joy of Service is a step-by-step guide giving practical advice and insights to help refine skills, raise standards and create memorable experiences for customers, from how to take a reservation to when the guest leaves.
Topics include greeting and interacting with guests, teamwork and personal appearance, telephone etiquette, how to set a table, clearing during service, preparing and presenting the bill, receiving tips and the importance of a proper goodbye.
“We’ve all done it. The food could be really good but if the service is bad you’re not going to go back.
“If the service is good but the food is bad, we make excuses like, ‘It was a bad day for the kitchen,’ but we’re going to give them another chance and go back.”
She would like every person doing hospitality to read the book, and hopes schools adopt it as a text.
[caption id="attachment_1151722" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Author Shermane Rivers presents her book The Joy of S
