Dutch restaurants - very nice, very efficient, very ineffective

I have just came from from Amsterdam where I ran half a marathon.

What a beautiful city - canals, boats, old buildings, good food, very nice and friendly people, clean. What more can a person want?

However, being there made me aware once again on the on the difference between effective and efficient.

So much has been written on this point and I wish not to repeat it. I do wish to share with you some experiences I had, mainly in restaurants to demonstrate some of the funny points.

At a typical dining place such as small cafes the waiter also prepares the food, handles the register, arranges the inventory, etc. The waiters are very diligent. They are very hard working, so they also try to keep a small staff.

This comes at a great cost that no one seems to care or even notice: customers are waiting for a long time for their food. It is funny to see that when there is a chore, the waiter will do it first. They will clean the next table or place bottles on the bar, but won't bring a menu.

This means that

• Less customers are dining
• Frustrated customers (such as myself) are leaving. I left a very nice pancakes place after I sat for 15 minutes without even getting a menu

These are very efficient people and very in-effective ones

I did find effectiveness though. This was at the market. You should see the guy that serves herring in a bun or the guy who is making fresh Waffles (the best ones I had). They are super fast and customer oriented

In short, I enjoyed my time and came with nice anecdotes

Best,
Amir