Monkey Waiters

The Japanese tavern Kayabukiya, located just outside Tokyo, has enlisted the services of two monkeys, macaques to be precise, as waiters. The monkeys, named Yat-chan and Fuku-chan, accept soybeans as tips. Tavern owner Kaoru Otsuka says the monkeys learned to wait tables simply by watching him do it.

Otsuka plans to continue training monkeys to wait tables, hoping to kickstart a nationwide trend. (He claims to have 3 young monkeys ready to get started already). The customers seem to enjoy the monkey waitstaff, including one patron who notes that they are, in some ways, superior to lazy human waiters.The Consumerist: Japan Introduces Monkey Waiters (October 8, 2008)