Journal
Briefing the shift before a notebook arrives
If the shift learns about us from a customer (“there is a person writing near the coats”), the afternoon is wasted. People perform or they freeze. The coats get folded twice. I would rather be slightly in the way as a named visitor than invisible as a rumour.
On the Monday before we come, we ask the owner to say, out loud, something close to this: a person from Cloud Layerpoint will sit in the corner with a notebook; they are here for the owner; they will not clock anyone’s speed; if a guest asks, say we are counting how the rooms are used. That last clause matters. Staff should not have to invent a story.
We also ask that nobody “save” difficult guests for us or hide a messy back table. The messy table is often the finding. A cleaned shop for the watcher is a different shop.
If a colleague is anxious about being judged, invite them to the scoping walk. Seeing the stool and the page of ticks is calmer than imagining a report with their name on it. Our sheets do not name staff unless the owner has asked for a note on a specific doorway that only one person covers — and even then we talk about the doorway.
Observation days are listed with dates on purpose. Book them only when you can tell the rota the truth.