14 ms·

'The Restaurant of Order Mistakes' Employs Waiters With Dementia (2017)

99 points by khc 7y ago

dang 7y ago
Url changed from https://mymodernmet.com/waiters-dementia-restaurant-tokyo/ https://mymodernmet.com/waiters-dementia-restaurant-tokyo/, which points to this.
- Semaphor 7y ago
  The original URL has way more information than the new source. More pictures and more text.
- joombaga 7y ago
  It looks like more of the info was taken from the Yahoo! Japan source. The original URL may be the better choice.
mnajiri 7y ago
طريقة سهلة جدا لحل مشكلة رد على تعليقات في بعض قوالب بلوجر التي لا تشتغل فيها خاصية الرد كل ما عليك هو إضافة هدا سكربت لحل المشكلة https://mdwab.blogspot.com/2019/07/problem-reply-Comments-blogger.html https://mdwab.blogspot.com/2019/07/problem-reply-Comments-bl... #ماتريال_ويب #بلوجر #مدونات #mdwab #blogger #js
vmlinuz 7y ago
Essentially the same idea was covered in a recent UK tv show: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-restaurant-that-makes-mistakes https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-restaurant-that-make...
DanBC 7y ago
In the UK we also have the National Star College (an educational establishment for people with disabilities and ABI) which runs two bistros in and near Cheltenham. These have a good reputation, mostly because the quality of the food is really important to them. https://www.nationalstar.org/ https://www.nationalstar.org/ https://www.nationalstar.org/products-services-facilities/star-bistro-ullenwood/ https://www.nationalstar.org/products-services-facilities/st... There's also Wriggly Worm, which has links to Star Bistro. https://www.thewigglyworm.org.uk/ https://www.thewigglyworm.org.uk/
- chantelles 7y ago
  In the Netherlands there is a chain called Brownies and Downies staffed by folks with Down Syndrome. The Dutch are v pragmatic. I went and was humbled - the staff spoke way more English than I spoke Dutch after living there (I'm Canadian) for months. https://www.browniesanddownies.nl https://www.browniesanddownies.nl
corin_ 7y ago
Somewhat related though very different, there are restaurants called Dans Le Noir ("in the dark") - founded in Paris but now in several countries, though so far I've only been to the one in London. You choose one of a few set menus without knowing what's in it (IIRC, roughly "meat eater", "fish eater", "vegetarian") and give any specific allergies or really hated food types. You are then led into a pitch black room with absolutely no light leakage (no phones/etc. allowed) where you'll be served and eat your food without being able to see a single thing. I believe the kitchen staff are hired purely on their cooking, but the waiters are visually impaired people who can lead you to your table and serve your food flawlessly without sight. Their sales pitch is more about the uniqueness of the experience than about supporting blind people, but the fact that it does create this unique job that they're better qualified to do than people with normal vision is nice. And it's a really great experience, although not particularly cheap. https://london.danslenoir.com/en/home/ https://london.danslenoir.com/en/home/
- crottypeter 7y ago
  Off-topic: but that website needs an epilepsy warning! Horrible jerky scrolling experience (in both Firefox and Chrome)
  - blue4 7y ago
    Off-topic reply: vestibular disorder was referenced a while back by a Val Head who talks a lot of animation on the web. https://alistapart.com/article/designing-safer-web-animation-for-motion-sensitivity/ https://alistapart.com/article/designing-safer-web-animation...
- Semaphor 7y ago
  Dans Le Noir is just one chain, the concept is older: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_dining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_dining
- jspash 7y ago
  They also have (had?) a "surprise me" menu. An incredible experience to be sure. Highly recommended to anyone. I couldn't guess the main dish in the end. (spoiler) It was shark!
jnty 7y ago
It seems like a well-meant idea but how do you prevent it becoming exploitative? Exposing dementia patients to random members of the public in a service role with no understanding of the state of their condition seems like a pretty good way of frequently upsetting them. And how does employment by consent work when you can't actually quite remember why you're in a situation and how you got there? It sounds like - probably to address these concerns - this is a short-lived 'activity' rather than a going concern, potentially with hand-selected and well-briefed guests rather than arbitrary customers off the street.
- gvhst 7y ago
  I wasn’t surprised to find that this happened in Japan, where there are strong societal norms not to make trouble / break the rules. When you combine this with a respect for the elderly I think you have a situation where it will go much better than if this happened in, say, New York City.
- Angostura 7y ago
  It was put together by Maggie's a dementia charity which in the UK has a very good reputation.
  - jnty 7y ago
    I was a bit surprised by this too because Maggie's is actually a cancer charity in the UK. [1] As I say I imagine it's being handled fairly sensitively in reality. I'm more objecting to the whimsical feel-good description in the article which sort of denies agency to the dementia patients and treats them as funny props. [1] https://www.maggiescentres.org/about-maggies/ https://www.maggiescentres.org/about-maggies/
- orblivion 7y ago
  This seems funny (as a concept) in a really dark way, to the point where it feels inappropriate to implement with real people. It's hard to imagine laughing at mistakes made by people with dementia as being "in good fun". At least for the general public. (Friends and family, I understand it happens and can be appropriate.)
mpol 7y ago
For reference, it still seems to popup every now and then, not just in 2017: http://www.mistakenorders.com/en/home.html http://www.mistakenorders.com/en/home.html
GuB-42 7y ago
The article focuses on the mistake of not getting the dish you ordered. Which can indeed be fun if you are open when it comes to food. But other kinds of mistakes can be a lot less fun. For example not getting any service at all, or having to pay more than expected. I wonder how that restaurant deals with that.
- BrentOzar 7y ago
  > The article focuses on the mistake of not getting the dish you ordered. Which can indeed be fun if you are open when it comes to food. As long as you don't have allergies...
  - phalangion 7y ago
    If you have allergies I can imagine you'd just avoid this restaurant.
- cheesymuffin 7y ago
  Or having the waiter ask to fuck your daughter. My dad does shit like that sometimes. It's not cute.
acomjean 7y ago
In the US there is a trend to not write orders down (the reason is unclear to me:it’s saves paper and makes it mor personal?), short term memorize them and run to the computer and type them in. This tends to lead to a fair number of mistakes, and makes those with allergies ver nervous.
- qntty 7y ago
  I don't think this is a trend. Experienced waiters have never needed to write things down.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    Is that so? Human memory is notoriously fallible, but I could swear that 20 years ago waiters almost always wrote down orders and it was noteworthy when one didn't.
- gowld 7y ago
  It's a midguided attempted at showing off how smart and talented and sociable the staff are.
  - Loughla 7y ago
    I don't know why you're being down-voted - this is the answer. It's a ploy, in most cases outside of long-time career waiters/waitresses, by many chains to make their staff seem more professional. It's a literal marketing tool that is taught to staff in many chain restaurants which employ younger, non-'career' staff.
- toast0 7y ago
  Avoiding writing the orders down may reduce the literacy needs of the wait staff.
  - stronglikedan 7y ago
    They don't have to be literate. They only need to understand it for themselves, long enough to enter it into the computer. The only time I get annoyed when my order is wrong is when they didn't attempt to take notes of some sort. They can make food doodles on the back of a napkin for all I care.
tsusr 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirchi_and_Mime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirchi_and_Mime ,along similar lines in Mumbai (IN)
ape4 7y ago
Ask for your bill, they forget. So you need to ask again, they forget.
mikorym 7y ago
Sounds fantastically Japanese.
datpuz 7y ago
I love this. I wonder: would something wonderful like this actually be illegal the US due to the fact that you'd technically be discriminating by hiring only those with dementia?
- dahfizz 7y ago
  I'm not sure why you're being downvoted - it's an interesting question. My understanding is that this is would not be illegal because of how discrimination laws work in the US. We have protected classes that can't be descriminated against, but we don't have a generic "no discrimination" employment law. For example, it's illegal to discriminate against old people, colored people, gay people, disabled people, etc when hiring. It would not necessarily be illegal to discriminate against neurotypical people because they are not a protected class.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- astura 7y ago
  Its perfectly legal to discriminate if there is a bona fide occupational qualification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_occupational_qualification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_occupational_qualifi...
chrischen 7y ago
I remember they also tried something like this where fully paralyzed people controlled robot waiters with their eyes from a bed.

99 points by khc 7y ago

dang 7y ago

Url changed from https://mymodernmet.com/waiters-dementia-restaurant-tokyo/ https://mymodernmet.com/waiters-dementia-restaurant-tokyo/, which points to this.

Semaphor 7y ago
The original URL has way more information than the new source. More pictures and more text.
joombaga 7y ago
It looks like more of the info was taken from the Yahoo! Japan source. The original URL may be the better choice.

mnajiri 7y ago

طريقة سهلة جدا لحل مشكلة رد على تعليقات في بعض قوالب بلوجر التي لا تشتغل فيها خاصية الرد كل ما عليك هو إضافة هدا سكربت لحل المشكلة https://mdwab.blogspot.com/2019/07/problem-reply-Comments-blogger.html https://mdwab.blogspot.com/2019/07/problem-reply-Comments-bl... #ماتريال_ويب #بلوجر #مدونات #mdwab #blogger #js

vmlinuz 7y ago

Essentially the same idea was covered in a recent UK tv show: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-restaurant-that-makes-mistakes https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-restaurant-that-make...

DanBC 7y ago

In the UK we also have the National Star College (an educational establishment for people with disabilities and ABI) which runs two bistros in and near Cheltenham. These have a good reputation, mostly because the quality of the food is really important to them. https://www.nationalstar.org/ https://www.nationalstar.org/ https://www.nationalstar.org/products-services-facilities/star-bistro-ullenwood/ https://www.nationalstar.org/products-services-facilities/st... There's also Wriggly Worm, which has links to Star Bistro. https://www.thewigglyworm.org.uk/ https://www.thewigglyworm.org.uk/

chantelles 7y ago
In the Netherlands there is a chain called Brownies and Downies staffed by folks with Down Syndrome. The Dutch are v pragmatic. I went and was humbled - the staff spoke way more English than I spoke Dutch after living there (I'm Canadian) for months. https://www.browniesanddownies.nl https://www.browniesanddownies.nl

corin_ 7y ago

Somewhat related though very different, there are restaurants called Dans Le Noir ("in the dark") - founded in Paris but now in several countries, though so far I've only been to the one in London. You choose one of a few set menus without knowing what's in it (IIRC, roughly "meat eater", "fish eater", "vegetarian") and give any specific allergies or really hated food types. You are then led into a pitch black room with absolutely no light leakage (no phones/etc. allowed) where you'll be served and eat your food without being able to see a single thing. I believe the kitchen staff are hired purely on their cooking, but the waiters are visually impaired people who can lead you to your table and serve your food flawlessly without sight. Their sales pitch is more about the uniqueness of the experience than about supporting blind people, but the fact that it does create this unique job that they're better qualified to do than people with normal vision is nice. And it's a really great experience, although not particularly cheap. https://london.danslenoir.com/en/home/ https://london.danslenoir.com/en/home/

crottypeter 7y ago
Off-topic: but that website needs an epilepsy warning! Horrible jerky scrolling experience (in both Firefox and Chrome)
- blue4 7y ago
  Off-topic reply: vestibular disorder was referenced a while back by a Val Head who talks a lot of animation on the web. https://alistapart.com/article/designing-safer-web-animation-for-motion-sensitivity/ https://alistapart.com/article/designing-safer-web-animation...
Semaphor 7y ago
Dans Le Noir is just one chain, the concept is older: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_dining https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_dining
jspash 7y ago
They also have (had?) a "surprise me" menu. An incredible experience to be sure. Highly recommended to anyone. I couldn't guess the main dish in the end. (spoiler) It was shark!

jnty 7y ago

It seems like a well-meant idea but how do you prevent it becoming exploitative? Exposing dementia patients to random members of the public in a service role with no understanding of the state of their condition seems like a pretty good way of frequently upsetting them. And how does employment by consent work when you can't actually quite remember why you're in a situation and how you got there? It sounds like - probably to address these concerns - this is a short-lived 'activity' rather than a going concern, potentially with hand-selected and well-briefed guests rather than arbitrary customers off the street.

gvhst 7y ago
I wasn’t surprised to find that this happened in Japan, where there are strong societal norms not to make trouble / break the rules. When you combine this with a respect for the elderly I think you have a situation where it will go much better than if this happened in, say, New York City.
Angostura 7y ago
It was put together by Maggie's a dementia charity which in the UK has a very good reputation.
- jnty 7y ago
  I was a bit surprised by this too because Maggie's is actually a cancer charity in the UK. [1] As I say I imagine it's being handled fairly sensitively in reality. I'm more objecting to the whimsical feel-good description in the article which sort of denies agency to the dementia patients and treats them as funny props. [1] https://www.maggiescentres.org/about-maggies/ https://www.maggiescentres.org/about-maggies/
orblivion 7y ago
This seems funny (as a concept) in a really dark way, to the point where it feels inappropriate to implement with real people. It's hard to imagine laughing at mistakes made by people with dementia as being "in good fun". At least for the general public. (Friends and family, I understand it happens and can be appropriate.)

mpol 7y ago

For reference, it still seems to popup every now and then, not just in 2017: http://www.mistakenorders.com/en/home.html http://www.mistakenorders.com/en/home.html

GuB-42 7y ago

The article focuses on the mistake of not getting the dish you ordered. Which can indeed be fun if you are open when it comes to food. But other kinds of mistakes can be a lot less fun. For example not getting any service at all, or having to pay more than expected. I wonder how that restaurant deals with that.

BrentOzar 7y ago
> The article focuses on the mistake of not getting the dish you ordered. Which can indeed be fun if you are open when it comes to food. As long as you don't have allergies...
- phalangion 7y ago
  If you have allergies I can imagine you'd just avoid this restaurant.
cheesymuffin 7y ago
Or having the waiter ask to fuck your daughter. My dad does shit like that sometimes. It's not cute.

acomjean 7y ago

In the US there is a trend to not write orders down (the reason is unclear to me:it’s saves paper and makes it mor personal?), short term memorize them and run to the computer and type them in. This tends to lead to a fair number of mistakes, and makes those with allergies ver nervous.

qntty 7y ago
I don't think this is a trend. Experienced waiters have never needed to write things down.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  Is that so? Human memory is notoriously fallible, but I could swear that 20 years ago waiters almost always wrote down orders and it was noteworthy when one didn't.
gowld 7y ago
It's a midguided attempted at showing off how smart and talented and sociable the staff are.
- Loughla 7y ago
  I don't know why you're being down-voted - this is the answer. It's a ploy, in most cases outside of long-time career waiters/waitresses, by many chains to make their staff seem more professional. It's a literal marketing tool that is taught to staff in many chain restaurants which employ younger, non-'career' staff.
toast0 7y ago
Avoiding writing the orders down may reduce the literacy needs of the wait staff.
- stronglikedan 7y ago
  They don't have to be literate. They only need to understand it for themselves, long enough to enter it into the computer. The only time I get annoyed when my order is wrong is when they didn't attempt to take notes of some sort. They can make food doodles on the back of a napkin for all I care.

tsusr 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirchi_and_Mime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirchi_and_Mime ,along similar lines in Mumbai (IN)

ape4 7y ago

Ask for your bill, they forget. So you need to ask again, they forget.

mikorym 7y ago

Sounds fantastically Japanese.

datpuz 7y ago

I love this. I wonder: would something wonderful like this actually be illegal the US due to the fact that you'd technically be discriminating by hiring only those with dementia?

dahfizz 7y ago
I'm not sure why you're being downvoted - it's an interesting question. My understanding is that this is would not be illegal because of how discrimination laws work in the US. We have protected classes that can't be descriminated against, but we don't have a generic "no discrimination" employment law. For example, it's illegal to discriminate against old people, colored people, gay people, disabled people, etc when hiring. It would not necessarily be illegal to discriminate against neurotypical people because they are not a protected class.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
astura 7y ago
Its perfectly legal to discriminate if there is a bona fide occupational qualification. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_occupational_qualification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_occupational_qualifi...

chrischen 7y ago

I remember they also tried something like this where fully paralyzed people controlled robot waiters with their eyes from a bed.