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A recent evening out with the family highlighted how over-eager service can actually be a hindrance rather than a help.

We decided to go to a restaurant which offers a "Brazilian barbeque". For those unfamiliar with this particular cuisine, staff come to the table with spitroasted lamb, beef, pork, sausages or chicken on a skewer, from which they cut and serve a portion to those diners who are interested in that particular offering. We were given a wooden batten, with one end painted red and the other green. To indicate we wanted to be offered whatever food was being served, we turned the green end up, while the red end up meant we wouldn't be offered anything.

I will say we thoroughly enjoyed our evening, but it got off to a somewhat inauspicious start. While we were reading the menu and sorting out what each of our offspring wanted to drink, we were asked by so many staff so many times if we were ready to order, it was quite a task to simply find out who wanted what to drink.

Having finally ordered something to quench our thirst, several staff decended on the table. Our lovely platter of starters arrived - but then so too did the veges to go with our mains! Waitresses bustled around to take extra glasses away, and came back for cutlery, and back again for something else. No sooner had we put down something than it was whisked away or refilled.

Thankfully once all the bustling had died down, we managed to have a conversation and enjoy each others' company - something which until well after the empty starter platter was whisked away had proved impossilbe.

No doubt the staff were under strict orders to offer prompt and friendly service - and from that point of view they could not be faulted. Sometimes, though, the best service is to be alert and attentive, in the background until required but immediately available, and knowledgeable, when summoned. I'm quite sure anyone who owns a business can take away some learnings from an experience like this.