There was once a very wise man from Bailey's Bay and he knew everything. He could tell you why crabs crossed the road at a certain time of the year, and why hurricanes came and left. He even knew why loquats were yellow and cherries were red. He was... a very wise man.

One day, a group of inquisitive travel agents, service providers and civil servants gathered on his verandah and sat at his feet.

"Tell us, sir, why do we have so few tourists coming here now and those who do come complain about service?"

The old man thought and thought. The travel agents, service providers and civil servants thought he was stumped. Finally he stood up, cleared his throat and wiped his freckles and said two words and sat down.

The villagers looked in amazement. "What on earth could he be talking about?"

"You see," he said. "Bermuda was a small village when our homes instilled pride and interest. That pride and interest developed the first word. We did not have TV or radio, in fact we did not have a clue what was going on in the rest of the world so we asked. I guess you could say we were: "Pokey".

The villagers looked at each other and nodded. Then one little boy, with freckles asked: "And what is the second word?"

"I am coming to that," said the old man. "Respect your elders and remember that a synonym for pokey is inquisitive. Listed below are some of the things that Pokey People used to do in the hospitality industry:

Ask questions, about the guests, their country, their children and what they did and did not like to eat; Pay attention to detail; Have superior memories; Stay at one job all their lives because of their commitment and the fact that each year they wanted to add to the "story".

In fact the word spread around the world that Bermuda provided such exceptional service that we even wanted to know about their family and could remind a guest what they ate the year before. I guess we could do that because we stayed in one job most of our life.

"But once we got TV and the video, started to go to the USA and come back with an American accent in seven days, join the exempted company world, make more money in other areas, and broaden our careers, many people left the hospitality industry and those who entered were polite.

"Polite servers don't ask many questions. They are often highly skilled and professional but they don't ask questions so they can get to know the guest. Other than taking the order, they don't ask about the children, your job or country. It might be a cultural thing but for us Pokey people, it came naturally.

"What do you mean?" asked a little boy with freckles.

"Well that's a good question." replied the old man. "Let me give you an example:

A polite provider says little more than, "Good morning".

Let's face it, we cannot outdo Cuba where a musician is paid $10 a month. So in the areas where we are fair we have to get fairly good; in the areas where we are fairly good we have to get good and in the areas were we are good we should aim to be very good, in fact exceptional."

You see, a pokey person is going to ask questions to the tenth degree, not because they are pokey but because they're interested! Bermudians in the industry had an innate interest in people and questions were a good way of establishing a connection. Now you know why we had a high repeat factor because our customers were amazed at our level of interest and more importantly our ability to recall facts year after year. This cannot happen if our current service providers stay for only two or three years.

"Are you saying that we need more pokey people in the industry who are not polite?" asked the boy.

"Of course not," said the man. "What I am saying is that we need more polite, pokey people who get to know the guests and who can answer their questions. That is what we had in the past; keen people who showed an interest in the guests and were delighted to provide exceptional service. They liked people and showed it on a regular basis.

The travel agents, hospitality providers and civil servants left and never forgot the message, that we need POKEY POLITE SERVICE PROVIDERS.

Dale Butler represents Warwick East for the Progressive Labour Party and is training manager for MEF Ltd.