Creepy Guy - Not Buzz Marketing

OK, it is true that I often tell people that they should spend a little extra effort trying to make an interaction with a customer special, and yes, having conversations. However, this does not mean everybody all the time. I was out with my daughter on KidsRoar business today and we stopped to get something to eat. I am not going to name the place because we do like it, but the experience was not as good today. We were tired from three meetings and driving all over, and we were having some of that rare father daughter time, when a busser decided to try to become our best friend. I noticed he talked to people at another table for about twenty minutes. I thought it must be his family. Then those people left and he wheeled his cart down to our table and struck up a one sided conversation. I am not stuck up. I worked in restaurants and such, but we just wanted to have lunch. He tried way too hard to talk to us, and there were several uncomfortably long pauses that were clear signals to go work and stop trying to talk to us. He was not rude, but the impression I got was he just wanted to talk to customers so he did not have to work. He finally left, but it took a 30 second awkward pause before he moved on.

Be sure your employees know the difference between friendly and creepy.