Sometimes, most valuable opinions don't come from experts

Smart people can do some stupid things. A few years ago my oldest daughter worked for a restaurant chain that decided to remodel her store. Amy and her co-workers were transferred to another outlet and the renovation was conducted with a good deal of secrecy and suspense.

After the delays common to such projects, the work was completed and the staff was scheduled for four days of intense "pre-opening" retraining. This particular company is known for its cheerleader approach to training and motivating its employees, and takes some appropriate pride in the superior quality of its customer service, its employees' enthusiasm and loyalty, etc. All in all, it really is a good place to work.

So when the corporate trainers unveiled to staff the latest "state of the art" facility, they did it with all the fanfare and excitement they could generate.

And fell flat on their faces.

Sure, the place looked great. The dining room was bright and attractive, the kitchen gleamed with new stainless steel and appliances, the counter area was organized with a place for everything and everything in its place, the menu was filled with interesting and taste-tempting offerings.

But it didn't work. After the first two days of training, it became painfully obvious that the process of actually getting the food from the kitchen to the dining room was a mess.

For example, nine wait staffers had to queue up at one drink station where you couldn't fill one glass with ice and another with a soft drink at the same time. There was so little counter space that staff had to balance a tray on one hand while loading it with the other, all the while stretching to get things from shelves placed too high or too low. Cash registers were squeezed in with not enough work space. And on and on.

You can imagine how frustrated everybody - staff, trainers, managers, designers - wound up. As my daughter related her own feelings to me, I asked the obvious question: "Did they ever ask anybody who actually works up front for their ideas?"

Well, as you probably guessed, no one thought to include the people who used this space in the planning for how to redesign it.

I'll bet they conducted all kinds of customer surveys in developing their new menu. And I'm sure a chef or two advised them on kitchen layout, appliances, recipes and so on. And an interior decorator certainly had a hand in creating the new dining space. They just forgot to ask the experts - the real experts, the people who worked there - when it came to how to manage that rather important job of getting all that good food from that incredible kitchen to that beautiful dining room.

A year or two down the road somebody will realize that long lines, slow service, angry customers and reduced profits might mean something isn't right. Let's hope when they do they also realize that sometimes the experts aren't.

• Dr. Ken Potts is on the staff of Samaritan Counseling Center in Naperville and Downers Grove. He is the author of "Mix Don't Blend, A Guide to Dating, Engagement and Remarriage With Children."