The essbama principle



Parisian waiters are a separate breed. I have stepped into a Parisian restaurant and wondered when will anyone show up to seat me. I'm not sure if it shortage in human resources, lack of training or plain indifference. Anyways, I was at a restaurant in Montmartre yesterday with two of my Parisian friends. The topic of discussion gradually veered into waiters primarily because of the boyish antics of the waiter serving our table. That is when the essbama principle was revealed to me.

The essbama principle is all purpose benchmark for waiters. It is written SBMA and pronounced essbama. If you are wondering why, the letter b is not pronounced bee but ba. SBMA is an abbreviation and stands for Sourire, Bon Jour, Merci and Au revoir respectively.

  • Sourire means smile.
  • Bon Jour translates to good day and a salutation equivalent to hello.
  • Merci is thank you.
  • Au revoir is goodbye.

As you may have realized by now, the first two letters guide how you greet and last two how you part.

One of the friends, who was with me, works in the hospitality second and this little gem of information comes from this friend. This is a good way of benchmarking waiters all around the world. Next time you are in a restaurant, use this principle to decide on the tip. If you are in Paris, you always have the option of not tipping no matter the quality of service.

Tags: French Lessons,Waiter,Tip

Comments

  1. RachitSeptember 2, 2011 at 5:50 PM

    ah han.. good insight :)

    Weakest LINK

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  2. Harish P ISeptember 2, 2011 at 6:06 PM

    That was a good 'tip'. :)

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  3. Sahana RaoSeptember 2, 2011 at 6:07 PM

    Le quenise :)
    I have learnt French Nona. I have completed 2 levels. It was a very good experience to read your post. :)

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  4. NonaSeptember 2, 2011 at 6:19 PM

    @Rachit - Thank you.

    @Harish - Good word play. :)

    @SpicySweet - Thank you! But I have not even completed even 1 level to decipher your statement. :)

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  5. Kavita SahariaSeptember 3, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    Great information.We repeatedly choose this particular restaurant for dining out not only because of great food and ambiance but also for their staff who always make sure that we have a good time there.

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  6. NonaSeptember 3, 2011 at 5:19 PM

    @Kavita - Thanks

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  7. Sahana RaoSeptember 3, 2011 at 9:36 PM

    It just means very impressive dear.. :)

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  8. NonaSeptember 4, 2011 at 3:01 AM

    @SpicySweet - Merci beaucoup :)

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  9. R. RameshSeptember 4, 2011 at 7:17 PM

    hey good post yar..merci..gr8 to learn more such words from other languages..merci again..danke:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Aakash KokzSeptember 5, 2011 at 3:49 AM

    Nice post ... Good experience :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. NonaSeptember 5, 2011 at 9:31 AM

    @Ramesh - :)

    @Aakash Kokz - Thanks for dropping by. :)

    ReplyDelete

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