For reasons too complicated to go into here, I found myself in darkest rural Suffolk recently, in desperate need of food and drink. Luckily I stumbled upon The Sorrel Horse in Shottisham near Woodbridge http://www.thesorrelhorse-shottisham.co.uk/ - interestingly a community owned pub. The barman could teach us all a thing or two about good customer service. Afterwards, happily full of good food and slightly tiddly on white wine, I wondered why he/it was so good...  I decided that it was because he was a nice bloke who clearly enjoyed his job and liked meeting people. But what was the MASSIVE difference between what he did and what the bloke at the tiny cook did the week before ? Yes the food, the surroundings and the resident cat were clearly superior at the Sorrel Horse, but the tiny cook could also have been great with a few tweaks. So...the winner is - big welcoming smile on arrival, eye contact, genuine "how are you" type conversation like he really was bothered, two way conversation but not weirdly pushy or obsessive, quietly efficient service noticing when you might need something and popping over to ask, keeping us informed "I'll just go and get your...", and most of all just being confident enough to let his personality shine through rather than putting on that odd false nasal sing song "now I'm talking to a customer" voice that so many staff seem to think is endearing or appropriate or somehow remotely the way in which any person older than 3 might want to be spoken to. Now you're going tell me all this is easy. And I'm going to ask you if its so goddamn easy why do so few people do it ?????