Flush With Success, Bathroom Attendants Stage a Comeback
Keith Rutledge, a 25-year-old librarian's assistant in Houston, was out for a laid-back night on the town. He had some Tex-Mex burritos and a few drinks, and then headed for the men's room at Sherlock's Pub.
Suddenly, his relaxed night took an awkward turn. "Hello, sir," said a smartly dressed bathroom attendant, as Mr. Rutledge ducked into the stall. When he emerged, the man squirted Dial soap into his hand and turned on the water for him. Mr. Rutledge knew he had to cough up a tip. "You could be filthy and a buck richer," Mr. Rutledge says, "but if you want to wash your hands you have to go through him."
Until recently, bathroom attendants -- whose job is to linger in the bathroom and hand out everything from hand towels to breath mints -- seemed to be going the way of the chimney sweep. But a growing number of bars, restaurants and nightclubs are now hiring them for both men's and women's restrooms -- often to the chagrin of their customers. Mr. Rutledge says even his favorite sports bar, Tavern on Gray, has stationed attendants in its bathrooms.
Bathroom attendants are showing up all over -- from Milwaukee and Cincinnati to San Francisco. They're in national chains such as the House of Blues and Jillian's, a 35-unit chain of restaurant and game centers. And demand for bathroom attendants is creating an industry devoted to staffing restrooms. Royal Flush, a New York company that specializes in bathroom-attendant staffing, says it has put attendants in 10 establishments in the past year and a half and now has 40 such clients. Chazz Ward, a bathroom staff entrepreneur in Florence, Ky., has placed what he calls "lounge hosts" in 16 establishments and is now attempting to franchise the business. Many bars and restaurants are trying to update the tradition by hiring attractive young bathroom attendants and keeping their stations minimalist in style, not cluttered with toiletries.
Terrance Ward, who began as a bathroom attendant at nightclubs in Ybor City, Fla., now has attendants working in eight nightclubs and two restaurants in Milwaukee. On a good night, Mr. Ward himself can pull in up to $150 in tips, he says. The rest of his time he devotes to managing his bathroom staffing company, A Touch of Class, a task he says has gotten tougher in recent months because of increasing competition.
The uptick in hand-towel help can partially be explained as a low-cost method of adding panache to an establishment. "It elevates the perception of the club. It's a prestige issue," says David Van Kalsbeek, a marketing executive for the MGM Grand hotel and casino in Las Vegas, which has bathroom attendants in both its Studio 54 nightclub and Tabu lounge. Attendants keep bathrooms clean throughout the night by picking up paper towels and wiping down wash basins; they make sure the toilets aren't clogged and keep toilet-paper rolls replenished. Mopping and scrubbing are usually done at the end of the night by a separate cleaning service.
Adam Jed, general manager of Matrix Fillmore, a nightclub in San Francisco, installed an attendant as part of his "broken window" theory. "If you let the bathroom get shoddy, people will continue to treat your place like that," he says. The extra set of eyes, he says, "prevents illegal activities," such as taking drugs. At Have a Nice Day Cafe, a '70s and '80s retro nightclub in Milwaukee, the bathroom attendant stands vigil against the least little thing, such as stealing toilet paper, a manager says.
Accustomed to privacy in the restroom, some patrons don't appreciate the extra help, citing feelings of pity for those working there and discomfort with being watched. "The best comparison is waving off those guys who try to clean your windshield in traffic," says Brooks Hamaker, a telemarketing manager in New Orleans. He says he tries to avoid eye contact whenever possible.
Some restaurateurs are aware that patrons dislike bathroom attendants but say they are taking a new approach that eliminates the downside. Mr. Van Kalsbeek of MGM Grand says, "there are the ones who turn on the water for you and try to dry your hands -- we don't do that." Rainer Zach, director of operations for new Chicago nightclubs Y and Sound-Bar, says the bathroom attendants at both properties are good-looking, friendly people in their twenties. Their stations are not cluttered. "The only thing they do," Mr. Zach says, "is make sure the place is clean and hand you a towel."
Chris Heilgeist, a 25-year-old filmmaking student and attendant three nights a week at Y, says he makes $200 to $250 a night, including the minimum wage and tips. "It's only a bad job because people think that," he says. His boss Mr. Zach says that men's rooms attendants tend to make slightly more than the staff in the ladies, because men tend to be bigger tippers.
That's not to say that attendants are always easy to keep. Crobar, another nightclub in Chicago, also tried staffing its bathroom with hip, young people when it reopened in October after a remodeling. "They walked out," the director of operations says. Management turned to a longtime bathroom attendant at another property to staff the place.
Part of the reason proprietors are willing to provide a service that isn't a surefire winner with customers may be that it is cheap. Staffing agencies say every deal differs, but that in some cases establishments pay as little as $20 a night to staff a restroom. Some attendants get a small hourly wage. Others work for tips alone. The most common tip is a dollar.
Chazz Ward, the Kentucky entrepreneur, was working the door at a Jillian's near Cincinnati five years ago when he got the idea to provide the company with bathroom-attendant services. Today, his company, Black Tie Services, staffs bathrooms at 16 restaurants, clubs and entertainment centers in northern Kentucky, Cincinnati and Indiana. His newest effort: franchising the business. He says he is in negotiations with four potential franchisees around the country to buy into the formula he has created. Part of it is the curriculum for Black Tie University, a three-hour training program in which employees learn "a host mentality" as well as to always call patrons "sir" or "ma'am."
Mr. Ward has a theory, developed after logging "thousands of hours" in bathrooms, about why people feel so awkward about bathroom attendants.
"There's not enough respect going on in people's regular lives," says Mr. Ward. Then suddenly, they go into the bathroom and a lounge host pulls out the hand towels, the mints, the top of the line colognes. "It's like if someone were never told they were loved, and they go into a relationship and they are told they're loved," he says.
美国洗手间服务业重现生机
25岁的休斯顿图书馆管理员基思?拉特利奇(Keith Rutledge)晚上来到市中心放松心情。他在Sherlock's Pub酒吧吃了一些墨西哥玉米饼，喝了几瓶饮料，然后向洗手间走去。
但是突然间，轻松休闲的气氛被搅和了。"你好，先生！"一个穿著得体的洗手间服务生在拉特利奇走进小隔间时和他打招呼。当他从小隔间出来时，服务生马上把洗手液喷到他手上，给他打开水龙头。拉特利奇知道他不得不给点小费。"你可以脏著手并且省一美元，"拉特利奇说，"但如果你想洗手，就不得不经过服务生这个环节。"
近来，洗手间服务员似乎在走著跟烟囱清洁工相似的发展道路。洗手间服务员的工作是在洗手间内走动，给客人递各种东西──从擦手毛巾到薄荷糖，应有尽有。越来越多的酒吧、餐厅和夜总会聘请这些服务员，男女洗手间都有──但这种服务常常让尴尬的客人十分恼火。拉特利奇说，甚至连他最喜欢的体育酒吧Tavern on Gray也在洗手间安排服务员。
眼下，洗手间服务到处流行──从密尔沃基、辛辛那提到三藩市。服务员在全国连锁的服务企业工作，如House of Blues and Jillian's就是一个有35个连锁单位的酒店和游乐中心。与此同时，对洗手间服务员的需求正在造就一个洗手间服务行业。Royal Flush是纽约一家提供洗手间服务人员的专业公司，该公司声称在过去的一年半里已经向10家公司提供了服务人员，现在客户总数目达到40个。肯塔基州佛罗伦萨市的一家洗手间服务员公司的老板蔡兹?沃德(Chazz Ward)已经为16个企业输送了他称为"休息室主人"的服务人员，他现在想用特许经营的方式扩大生意。许多酒吧和饭馆正在试图革新传统－－聘请年轻、有魅力的洗手间服务员，并使工作环境遵循简单风格，而不是零乱摆放各种洗手间用品。
特伦斯?沃德(Terrance Ward)原先在佛罗里达州Ybor市的夜总会任洗手间服务员，而现在他手下的服务员在密尔沃基的八家夜总会和两家饭店工作。运气好的晚上，沃德说自己甚至可以拿到150美元的小费。他把其余时间花在管理自己的服务员公司A Touch of Class上。他说最近几个月经营越来越难，因为竞争越来越激烈。
这种递手帕服务存在的部分原因是这是使企业面上有光的一个低成本方法。"它能提升俱乐部的形象，这是个荣耀问题，"拉斯维加斯MGM Grand酒店和娱乐场的营销总监大卫?凡?卡尔斯比克(David Van Kalsbeek)说 。MGM的夜总会Studio 54和Tabu休闲室的洗手间里都有服务员。整个晚上，这些服务员要把地上的纸巾捡起来，刷洗干净手盆，保持洗手间的卫生；他们要保证马桶不被堵住，手纸用完了及时换上新的。晚上快打烊时还有一次拖地板和刷洗工作。
三藩市夜总会Matrix Fillmore的总经理亚当?杰德(Adam Jed)雇佣了洗手间服务员，并把此视作其"破碎的窗户"理论的一部份。他说："如果你让洗手间脏著，那么人们会随便的使用，使得洗手间继续脏下去。"他还说，多一双眼睛在旁边可以"防止非法活动发生"，如吸毒。在Have a Nice Day Cafe──密尔沃基一家七八十年代风格的怀旧夜总会，其经理说，洗手间服务员时刻保持高度警惕，甚至连偷手纸这样的小事也不放过。
一些把洗手间看作隐私之所的客户并不欣赏这种额外的服务，他们一方面同情在那儿工作的人，另一方面被人盯著感觉很不舒服。新奥尔良电话销售经理布鲁克斯?哈梅克(Brooks Hamaker)说："这种情况就像在交通繁忙的时候还要打发那些想给你擦挡风玻璃的家伙。"他说他总是尽量避免目光接触。
一些饭店经营者意识到客人不喜欢洗手间服务员，他们表示正在采取新办法降低负面影响。MGM Grand的凡?卡尔斯比克说："有些地方的服务员给客人开水龙头并帮客人把手弄干，我们不这样做。"芝加哥新夜总会Y和 Sound-Bar的经营总监雷纳?扎克(Rainer Zach)说，他的两家夜总会里的洗手间服务员都是二十多岁、俊俏和善的年轻人。扎克说，他们的任务并不多，"只是保证卫生间乾净，给客人递毛巾。"
25岁的电影制作学生克里斯?海尔杰斯特(Chris Heilgeist)每周有三个晚上在Y夜总会担当洗手间服务员，他说每天晚上能挣200到250美元，包括最低工资和小费。他说："这是份不好的工作，人们都这样认为。"他的老板扎克说男洗手间的服务员往往比女洗手间的服务员多挣一点，因为男士一般出手大方。
这并不是说能很容易就能留住这些服务员。芝加哥另一家夜总会Crobar经过重新装修在10月份开张后也想找些时髦的年轻人当洗手间服务员。"他们不愿意干，"运营总监说。最后管理层在另一家夜总会找了一个工作了很长时间的服务员。
经营者们之所以愿意提供这项不一定能讨好客人的服务，部份原因是劳务价格低。劳务公司说每个人的情况都不一样，有些企业每晚给一个服务员的薪水甚至低到20美元。有些服务员有一点小时工资，有些则完全靠小费。小费一般为1美元。
肯塔基州企业家蔡兹?沃德5年前在辛辛那提附近的Jillian's当服务员，那时他就萌发了开一家给企业提供洗手间服务的公司的想法。现在，他的公司Black Tie Services给北肯塔基州、辛辛那提和印第安那州的16家饭店、俱乐部和娱乐中心提供洗手间服务人员。他目前的努力方向是通过特许经营扩大生意。他说，他正在跟来自全美的四个可能的经销商洽谈，这些经销商想购买他发明的经营方法。这个经营方法的一部份是Black Tie大学的课程，即一个三小时的训练项目，雇员们从中学习"招待精神"，还有就是总要称呼客人为"先生"或"女士"。
沃德先生总结了其在洗手间工作"数千个小时"的经验，得出了一套关于洗手间服务员为什么让人们觉得尴尬的理论。
沃德说："人们在日常生活中没有得到足够的尊重。"当他们走进洗手间时，突然有服务员递给他们手巾、薄荷糖，给他们喷科隆香水。沃德说："这就好比以前从来没有人对他们说过爱他们，而现在突然听到有人说他们是别人爱恋的对象。"
(back)Google May Alter E-Mail Service Amid Concerns About Privacy
Google Inc. President and Co-Founder Sergey Brin today said the search company is discussing potential changes to its new Gmail e-mail service amid vocal public criticism about how it handles users' privacy.
Mr. Brin said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Google won't make any "rash changes" to the product, which is still limited to a group of thousands of test users. But he said it won't rule out one major change that could make Gmail more palatable to privacy advocates.
Privacy groups have criticized a number of aspects of Gmail, including a feature that selects advertising to display alongside incoming e-mails based on key words contained in the e-mails' contents. A number of U.S. and European groups have said Google should suspend Gmail's broader launch until their privacy complaints are resolved. Liz Figueroa, a Democratic California state senator, said yesterday she was preparing legislation to block Gmail because of how it handles advertisements.
Asked whether Google would consider requiring users to opt-in to the Gmail targeted advertising service or allowing them to opt-out, Mr. Brin said, "That idea is being batted about. We certainly wouldn't rule it out."
He said that Gmail will be altered, including in many ways imperceptible to users, in response to feedback during the testing period, which he estimates will last for three to six months.
Mr. Brin said misinformation about how the Gmail advertising works has been a problem and said the company "should do a better job communicating." Google has discussed the service with several privacy advocacy groups. On the whole, Mr. Brin said he believed "it's a service that really enhances your privacy," such as by using technology that helps stymie hidden attacks on users embedded in images e-mailed to them.
Mr. Brin said Google hadn't anticipated the response Gmail has received. "I didn't realize it would be of such high interest to the world, because we're just making it available to a small group of people," he said.
Google可能对即将推出的Gmail作出改动
搜索引擎公司Google Inc. (GGL.XX)的总裁兼共同创始人瑟奇?布林(Sergey Brin)周二表示，面对公众对其如何保障邮件用户隐私的批评，公司正在讨论可能会对新的Gmail电子邮件服务作出改动。
布林在接受《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)的采访时表示，公司不会对该产品作出任何草率变动（目前该服务仍只对数千名测试用户开放），但不排除为解决保护隐私问题而对Gmail做一项重大调整的可能性。
主张个人隐私权的团体对Gmail提出了一系列批评，包括基于来信内容的关键字在邮件旁附列相关广告的功能。美国和欧洲许多团体声称，在保护隐私问题得到解决之前，Google应该暂缓Gmail的推出。
布林表示，公司会根据测试期的反馈作出相应改变，包括诸多用户尚未察觉的问题。他预计这需要3-6个月的时间。
