Service Included

A head server at a renowned NYC restaurant dishes out stories and trade secrets from the world of fine dining in this behind-the-scenes memoir. While recent college grad Phoebe Damrosch was figuring out what to do with her life, she supported herself by working as a waiter. Before long she was a captain at the legendary four-star restaurant Per Se, the culinary creation of master chef Thomas Keller. Service Included is the story of her experiences there: her obsession with food, her love affair with a sommelier, and her observations of the highly competitive and frenetic world of fine dining. Along the way, she provides insider dining tips, such as: Never ask your waiter what else he or she does. Never send something back after eating most of it. Never make gagging noises when hearing the specials—someone else at the table might like to order one.

The last two decades have seen the rise and rise of the service economy, where image - and customer perceptions - are crucially important in building a successful business. Rarely do we buy a hard, tangible object called a 'product'. Financial services sell peace of mind; car manufacturers sell a self-image and an aspirational lifestyle; computer and software companies offer 'solutions' - even food is fashion. Nigel Barlow draws on two decades of experience in 20 countries to argue that the age of service has failed to deliver on its promises. He goes far beyond the standard business-speak cliches of customer service to show why merely satisfying customers is not enough. He explores with original examples and first-hand experinces why service so often falls short of customer expectations, and shows how to think and act to create legendary service in the reader's own organization.

Special edition of the Federal Register, containing a codification of documents of general applicability and future effect ... with ancillaries.

This book provides one of the first interdisciplinary reviews of the relationship between services, globalisation and trade liberalisation as we enter the twenty-first century. Written by academics and policymakers, it contains a detailed analysis of the characteristics of service trade and of recent and current service trade negotiations.