Editorial
Is Good Service So Hard toFind?
You stand in line at a bank for 40 minutesor more, coming to a slow boil as you watch the lethargic movementsof some of the staff as they seem to drag themselves through thetask of serving the public.
You call major companies ora government department. You are greeted by a recorded messagethat directs you to dial the extension of the person to whom youwish to speak. You dutifully obey, only to be met with voice mail.You leave a message, and you call back several times; leave moremessages, even a plea for a returned call. You get none.
You walk into a store and are set upon by suspicious shop attendants,who follow you around as if you were about to lift the place upand set it down in your backyard. Or the sales assistant looksup from whatever she is doing, gives you a brief once over andpromptly ignores you.
In some business places, the concept of customer service seemsto be undergoing a slow erosion; more and more the customer istreated as an interruption to the businesses they seek to patronise,instead of being seen as the core reason for the business beingopen.
Whereas advances in technology should be making life easier forthe consumer and more cost-effective for businesses, it doesn'talways translate that way. One has to wonder if innovations likevoice mail are not oftentimes welcomed by unresponsive businessexecutives as a way of not dealing directly with people. When"the computer is down" forget about getting anywhere.
Poor customer service calls into question the emphasis that isplaced on training in many organisations. In many cases, the lackof proper business telephone etiquette and a professional demeanorwhen serving customers point to evidence of lack of training ofthe persons required to deal with the public.
Customers are too often taken for granted and their time devalued.Why should a simple transaction in a bank or government departmenttake up the better part of one hour?
It should not be too much to expect that, in exchange for theirpatronage customers are treated with a a level of respect thattells them that their business is appreciated.
Afterall, where people have alternatives, they will be inclinedto take their business where they will be satisfied, with theproduct and the service.
Perhaps, part of the re-invention of doing business today in Caymanshould include necessary training in customer service.