What a response to our recent story about "the employee who was too good"! (Go here to see original story.) Some readers called for a boycott, some lashed out at management, and one lashed out at HR.

Although most readers heaped lavish praise on Mr. Foster, one reader wasn't convinced that he was such a good employee after all.

'Mr. Foster personifies the ultimate customer service!'

One group of readers focused on what a good employee Mr. Foster was:

"Mr. Foster should be director of training. Where is this man now? Maybe I can hire him as a consultant!"

"Mr. Foster sounds like an exceptional employee. He should have been rewarded and given a pay raise."

"Shame on that company. This is a person who should be rewarded and held up as an example to his co-workers."

"Exceptional customer service … is becoming so rare that when some one does encounter it they write a book or a story about it."

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Boycott Foster's Employer

Two readers called for a boycott of the restaurant where Foster worked:

"We should vow that when we go to Atlanta we will not use the services of [the restaurant]. But we should stop and tell the manager what we think! I know I will take the extra step to do so."

"Stories like this one make me angry and I retaliate by refusing to spend further money in their establishments."

'Going the Extra Mile Doesn't Put You Ahead Any More'

Three readers felt the tale was symptomatic of what is wrong with America:

"From our school systems to our social systems to our work places, going the extra mile doesn't put you ahead any more, but it alienates you from the group. Those who excel are punished while those who only put forth minimal are rewarded."

"It was easier to ask people to be 'status quo' so the managers did not have to encourage other employees to meet a higher standard."

"I suspect poor Foster was the victim of a metrics push, and since the core function of the job was to clean tables, perhaps Mr. Foster didn't react as quickly or clean as many tables as his do-nothing counterparts. In today's workplace, it's not about how well you do your job or please your clients, it's about the number on the metrics chart."

'From top to bottom this story is about a management issue'

A number of readers blamed management for failing to appreciate Mr. Foster:

"Good waiters, busboys, etc. are trained, not born. If the ownership trained laziness, they got laziness … do-nothing employees are created by slacker ownership, management, and trainers."

"This seems to have happened because of a lazy or unaware manager. It was easier to tell Mr. Foster to work less hard than to get the other workers to perform to his level."

"I think we have all seen this attitude, 'slow down, you're making the rest of us look bad.' The question is, do you care about your customers enough to care about your employees?"

"If employees have no way to differentiate themselves from the herd of mediocre workers, everything and everybody achieves a lower, flatter, blander mediocrity because the real stars move to a better universe."

"This is a situation where HR could and should have stepped in … or maybe HR is the problem."

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Maybe Mr. Foster Wasn't that Great

One reader saw another angle:

"On the face it appears that the employer is the bad guy, but what do you do when an employee expands his job description under the guise of enhanced customer service at the expense of other job functions? What if customers were uncomfortable with his attentiveness and the undercurrent that perhaps a tip (How much is enough? You tipped $20) was required?

"Perhaps the employee was not being effectively recognized for doing the expected job functions. But you come along and tip him $20. What behavior will he continue to exhibit?"

Finally, one reader added, "This was an excellent, thought-provoking story that I will use to underscore the need for timely, reasonable and relevant reprimands and rewards."

Amen to that. Have more comments? Use the Share your comments link below.

Andy Andrews, who contributed the original story, may be reached at www.Andyandrews.com.