Things I've seen in town that were 'almost there' and what I would do differently

When I'm out in town, there are times I think, 'If they just put a little more thought into this, it would be easier to understand.'

Things like, 'I understand what they were trying to do, but this doesn't get the message across,' or 'This is actually counterproductive.'
I find myself thinking, 'If it were me, I would do it this way,' or 'If they did it like this, it wouldn't be dangerous.'

Today, I'd like to share a few things I remember from recent experiences.

<At a certain beef bowl chain restaurant>

This happened at a beef bowl chain restaurant.

After buying a meal ticket at the entrance, entering the shop, sitting down, and handing the ticket to the staff, I was waiting for my food to arrive. I thought, 'Maybe I'll look at the menu while I wait,' but when I looked around, there was no menu.

There wasn't one at the next seat, and nothing was posted on the walls either.

They probably think, 'Since they already looked at the menu at the entrance to buy the ticket, they don't need it anymore,' 'Let's not leave unnecessary things out,' or 'It looks cleaner and tidier that way.'

I understand the intention, but they completely fail to understand the customer's psychology.

Customers have nothing to do while waiting, so they want to look at the menu for various reasons: 'I couldn't look at it properly because I was in front of the vending machine earlier,' 'If this is good, what should I order next time?', or 'Are there any side dishes I can add?'

Instead of removing the menu based on the shop's own arbitrary judgment, if they want to increase orders and boost sales even a little, they need to think more about what to do.
It doesn't matter if it's small. A single laminated sheet is fine. It doesn't have to be a fancy menu.
They should definitely keep it on the table.
They should ask the customer before taking it away.

<At a certain family restaurant>

This happened at a family restaurant.

Recently, more restaurants have adopted a style where you order using a tablet yourself. This shop was the same.
After finishing entering my order into the tablet, the screen switched and started playing promotional ads for the current campaign.
Delicious-looking seasonal dishes appeared one after another.
'This looks good,' or 'Should we order it?' I thought, but the price wasn't displayed anywhere.
Even if it was displayed, it wasn't noticeable.

'How much is it?', 'It must be expensive'—while saying things like that, the screen changes.
Even if you scramble to look for it when it's displayed again in the rotation, you can't find it.
By the time it's displayed again, you've already lost the energy to look for it.

It ends up being, 'Maybe we don't need it,' or 'It's a hassle to call a staff member just to ask.'
Did they forget to display the price, did they realize it but it was too late, or did they intentionally omit the price to make people curious?
This is nothing but arrogance on the part of the shop.
Trying to force customers to go through extra trouble is ultimately counterproductive.
To increase orders, the shop must think about how to guide customers to order easily without placing any burden on them.
They should make it so that customers end up thinking, 'I just couldn't help but order it.'
Even if there are special circumstances like prices varying by region, that is just the shop's own convenience.
I don't think they should push that onto the customers.

<At a certain conveyor belt sushi restaurant>

Next is about a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. There are a lot of restaurants, aren't there?

Lately, when I think of sushi, I think of conveyor belt sushi.
I haven't been to a traditional sushi restaurant in a long time either.
This is a disappointing experience I had at a local conveyor belt sushi restaurant.
The restaurant is quite popular, and there are always customers waiting.
There are two types of conveyor belts: one where you pick sushi that is slowly moving past you, and another where your order is delivered directly to your seat on a shinkansen-style express lane.
Recently, transparent acrylic doors were installed here.
Customers have to open the door in front of them themselves to take their sushi plates.
It was immediately obvious that this was to prevent dust, coughing, or children from touching the food.

I thought the idea was good, but when I looked around, all the other customers were leaving the doors wide open.
They leave them open because it's a hassle to close them every single time.
In other words, despite the effort of installing the doors, they are effectively useless.
The desire to maintain cleanliness is clear, but they don't understand customer psychology.
People think, 'I'm not coughing and my hands are clean, so I don't need to close it every time,' or 'I'm leaving soon, so it's fine to leave it open.'
Despite spending the money to install them, they aren't functioning well.
It's a waste.
If it were me, I would put up a sign that says something like, 'Please close the door after taking your sushi.'
I think that would increase the number of people who close the door after taking a plate.
A single sign costs nothing.

<At a certain hotel>

This happened when I stayed at a newly opened hotel for a change of pace on our 42nd wedding anniversary.

It was still new, the facilities were well-equipped, the breakfast was delicious, it had a hot spring (though it was transported water), and the price was reasonable. It exceeded my expectations, which was great, but there was one thing that made me think, 'This is absolutely not okay.'

The floor with the large public bath also had a gym attached, which could be used by non-guests if they became members.
There was a restroom and a large public bath across the hallway, and that restroom was designed to be used by both gym users and bath users.
It was likely a desperate measure due to space limitations.
The designer must have been pleased, thinking this would work.
However, the reality was outrageous.
People who had stripped down to go into the bath would run into gym users who had entered the restroom from the hallway.
Well, they were the same gender, so I could concede that this was unavoidable, but someone who came to the restroom while naked saw another door and, wondering what it was, opened it—only to find it led to the hallway.
They almost walked out into the hallway naked.

Fortunately, no one was there, but if someone had been in the hallway, it would have been incredibly embarrassing.
It is common for designers to not understand the actual site.
However, there is no way the hotel staff or manager wouldn't have noticed.
I can only assume they are just leaving it as is, thinking, 'It can't be helped.'

If it were me, I would put up a prominent sign before the exit saying, 'This leads to the hallway' or 'Please do not exit while naked.'
It will be too late once an accident happens.
It doesn't cost any money, so I would like them to deal with it immediately.

<Summary>

I have written down what I can remember, and in every case, these are things that administrators thought were good ideas in their heads, but they don't seem to have the customer in mind.
They are out of sync with the customer's way of thinking.

This might be a symbolic occurrence of the characteristics of modern society: 'not understanding the other person's feelings,' 'being unable to think from the other person's perspective,' and 'being unable to think about how the other person will act or feel if you do something.'
Everything comes down to this.

Thank you for reading this far. I would be happy if you could like or follow. I look forward to your continued support.

#Let'sTalkAboutWork