When you sit down for a meal at a restaurant, the waiter might know more about you than you think writes Susanne Craig:

• In an effort to provide personalized service, more and more restaurants are creating a database of information about your preferences.
• These include:
  • Where you like to sit
  • Special dates (anniversaries, birthdays etc.)
  • Hard or soft butter
  • Pepsi or Coke
  • Sparkling or Still water
• This information isn’t always used to help the customer. If you were a camper the last time and stayed at your table for a long time after you finished your meal, your waiter might seat you in an uncomfortable area to encourage you to leave.
• Restaurants have to be careful with the information. It’s no good to know the name of the wife of the guest. He might, after all, be dining with his mistress.
• But computers aren’t everything. To provide top service a human touch is required. One manager reads and watches the news to know if potential guests might have had a bad announcement or quarter. He knows then how to approach the customer.

To read more about the different codes used to describe you and why you had better hope you’re a PX and not a HWC click here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Marginal Revolution