i am happy. finally my full weekend is here! Yippee! my organisation has f.i.n.a.l.l.y start the 5 day work week. yippee yippeee yey!
Btw, I read with profound interest on Philip Lee's Commentary today in Streats: Make
Service Charge Optional. I have always been an ardent fan of his commentaries.
What strikes me the most in his commentary was on his opinion of service rendered in Singapore that pales to that of the States. I seconded him on this. The services rendered in States, be it cashier, waiters/waitresses or any frontline staff for that matter, were good, if not exceptional, during my recent trip there. I was very impressed. They engaged in friendly and sincere chats with customers, which make you feel so very at ease. Our requests were attended to promptly and they were always very polite. For such exceptional services rendered, we gladly tipped them, for they earned it! Kudos to them!
and yeah, i do not agree to all the mandatory service charge, cess what-have-yous here. Make these service charges OPTIONAL - i say! you say too?
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I have been in the service industry before, while temping as a frontline sales staff at Robinsons and Bossini after my Os and As respectively, and at my first ever job after graduation in a call centre environment, in a telecommunications company. Dealing with people is in fact, the most challenging and daunting task. We have to deal with different kinds of people day in and day out, whether face-to-face or over the phone.
We learn to deal with different situations, in terms of body language, conversational style, tones used. And it’s very stressful, nonetheless. Anyone who has been in the service industry before would have admitted that they have cried at least once, before they emerge stronger. Or maybe, is it only me? hehe..I have never been a nasty customer before and during my short stint (2 years in call centre, is that short?) in this line, I have been exposed to many faces of customers that I never knew existed. This experience has definitely taught me a lot. While I enjoyed the experience, and especially the colleagues that I missed oh-so-much, I decided to move on to a different industry altogether. But the customer service experiences never ceased. We never stop being a customer to someone and so, it goes on and on. We are in fact internal customers to our colleagues and we actually provide service to one another don’t we? For now, my customers are the students, the academic staff and my colleagues around.
-- tea's thoughts --
1:14 PM
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