finding great food, service and spectacle.

The place isn’t for everyone. It’s loud. It’s chaotic. It’s a bit confusing. But if you drop all pre-conceived notions of staid, orderly eateries, the Guu Japanese restaurant in Vancouver’s West End may be one of the most entertaining meals you’ll ever enjoy.

Fig. A: A traveler enjoys his meal and the never-ending show.

The moment you enter, the hostess shouts hello, which is repeated by the uber-busy chefs in the very visible kitchen and the busy-as-bees wait staff. Every order and course delivery is shouted from one worker to another to another with the repetition taking on a comical rhythm. Side dishes of witty banter — albeit hard to understand unless you speak Japanese — break out among co-workers in the course of their job, and it’s very apparent they’re having fun.

Get beyond the seeming disorder and you’ll see the frenetic movements of the staff are more like a well-choreographed ballet. Three chefs work the long narrow kitchen dashing back and forth but with little wasted motion as the delicious dishes come together. The servers dart in, around and under people quickly delivering the various courses of meals. Service proves quick and exceedingly friendly. Visiting on a rainy Wednesday night, Guu projects a buzz of energetic activity where no table is open for more than a minute.

And practical business lessons are apparent if you pay attention. It’s a user-driven experience where you can order whatever you want whenever you want, with the attentive wait staff allowing (encouraging) you to re-order, add to an order or share plates all the time. The food is creative, delicious and well-priced. Staff members clearly have defined duties, but hustle to help in any area whenever needed. Whoever developed Guu’s restaurants — four dot the Greater Vancouver area — understood what Tom Peters calls spectacle: businesses with a performance component providing great customer service. Beyond the enthusiastic greeting, the staff always smiles and provides an infectious exuberance. It’s hard to imagine the atmosphere not putting you in a good mood.

Chances are you’ll leave a Guu restaurant energized, full and talking about it. Moreover, you’ll want to return … and wouldn’t you like that to be true of any place you go?

: )

Dale Carnegie provided, albeit unknowingly, an important lesson for Web writing long before we were born. In his classic 1936 book How To Win Friends and Influence People, he titled one chapter A Simple Way To Make A Good First Impression. His advice, put simply: Smile. Actions speak louder than words and a smile says: “I like you. You make me happy. I am glad to see you,” Carnegie wrote.

Think about it. Let’s say you’re one of the first people to arrive at a cocktail party. Two people who are otherwise fairly similar look up as you enter. One smiles at you; the other offers a blank expression. Who are you more likely to talk to? And when you’re talking with someone on the phone, you can sometimes tell if they’re smiling on the other end. Doesn’t that make you feel better than if they sound frustrated or unenthusiastic?

I always preach the importance of writing Web pages in conversational, not institutional, style. For the most part, pages should read like a friendly chat, not a stern lecture. Consider the differences:

Institutional:

At Random University, students pursue rigorous curricula that construct relevant components of knowledge. The college’s mission statement is to use time-honored pedagogy, best practices and benchmarks to provide intellectual growth and authentic learning.

Conversational:

All of our 8,000 students could tell you interesting stories. Read their blogs, watch their videos or follow their Twitter streams to learn about just some of our bright community members. … You can make friends and enjoy the activities available in our more than 150 student organizations and 24 sports. But seeing is believing. Schedule a visit to start building your success story today!

OK, perhaps extreme examples, but note how the latter uses compact sentences, lively verbs and positive words to read as if the Web page itself is smiling and enthusiastic. It’s also about the reader (you) NOT the institution. When we visit pages that make us feel welcome, engaged and excited, we’re more likely to stay for a while. If that’s what you want, why not write with a smile?