Latest TODAY column: Don't study, you'll end up in service industry
Excerpt:
I was at the bank during lunch hour, queueing up to cancel my credit line because the yearly subscription was up; I didn't need any credit; and the bank had no free gift for me for renewing.
The nice lady at the counter told me it would take about four to eight weeks to terminate the credit line.
Have you ever noticed that if you sign up for a credit line (complete with free gift and the first year free), it will be activated even before the ink of your signature dries and even before the courier the bank sent to your house to get your signature has returned to the office?
But when you want to terminate the line, you have to go down to the bank in person with your identity card, or you have to write a pain-in-the-backside letter (yes, that is on paper, email does not qualify). And oh — it takes six to eight weeks for it to happen.
Update 1: Also commented on by The Singapore Commentator.
Update 2: In the Monday Sept 27 edition of TODAY, a letter from a TODAY reader.
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Full column:
Don’t study, and you will end up in the service industry
I was at the bank during lunch hour, queueing up to cancel my credit line because the yearly subscription was up; I didn't need any credit; and the bank had no free gift for me for renewing.
The nice lady at the counter told me it would take about four to eight weeks to terminate the credit line.
Have you ever noticed that if you sign up for a credit line (complete with free gift and the first year free), it will be activated even before the ink of your signature dries and even before the courier the bank sent to your house to get your signature has returned to the office?
But when you want to terminate the line, you have to go down to the bank in person with your identity card, or you have to write a pain-in-the-backside letter (yes, that is on paper, email does not qualify). And oh — it takes six to eight weeks for it to happen.
I am sure the bank will say “but we need to get a formal termination from you to ensure no one impersonates you”. Sure. When you want to give me your dinky free gift and first year free, anything goes.
Incidentally, when I was there, some dude in sunglasses (yes, you heard right — sunglasses in the bank) complained very loudly to the lady who served him, and her manager, that the teller was very rude to him. For telling him to take his sunglasses off.
Now anyone who has gone to a bank should know by now that they don’t allow you to come in wearing a motorbike helmet, or sunglasses, or a ski mask.
And while the Mr Dark Glasses may have had medical reasons for wearing them, or not, he really should not be surprised that the teller would tell him his shades are not allowed.
I wonder if he would have been this assertive if a Cisco policeman had told him to take his shades off. Perhaps a pretty teller sitting behind the counter was fair game for obnoxious behaviour.
Needless to say, the rest of us in the queue were not about to provide any moral support to his shouting match. We all suddenly found the ceiling very interesting. And were probably pondering the beauty of the interior design of the branch, along the lines of “can this guy just shut up and move along so we can get our banking done during our short and precious lunch hour?”
I think Singaporeans get the customer service we deserve. We complain about the salesgirl who did not smile at us when we entered the store pulling a long face. We mess up the display bin and then complain why everything is so hard to find. We sit along the aisles of a bookstore and complain when we are told not to sit there because it is a fire safety violation.
That is not to say that salespeople are above reproach (if I hear another “whatever we have is already on displayed on the rack,” you will hear some new swear words). But you get what you give. I have seen Westerners chat and laugh with salespeople and get good treatment in return.
Of course, when that happens, we locals immediately say, “you see, you see? The salesgirl is discriminating between locals and foreigners. I want to see the manager right now!”
Dunno leh, when I chatted with the same salesgirl that Ang Moh spoke to, she was also nice to me, what. Maybe if you stop calling her “Oei” and don’t pretend that your grandfather owns the place (unless he really does), she will be nice to you too. I don’t know, just my theory.
It is little wonder that mothers and fathers do not want their children to go into the service industry. It is considered a lowly job, and serving people and doing sales are like being a lowly servant, and a loss of face. But we still want to be served by well-motivated, well-trained salespeople who are proud of their profession. As long as they are not our own kids.
Study hard, or you will end up in the service industry, child. Like it is some kind of curse.
Ironically, as products and services get more and more similar (how many suburban malls are you going to visit before you realize they are all the same?) the one thing that will set you apart is service.
Even price may not do it for you. I mean, you offer $1 airfare, and there will be someone offering 49 cents airfare. You offer 49 cents airfare and someone else will pay the customer to fly with them.
So what will set you apart then? Well, your website not crashing from the increased load on the day you announce your low fares will be nice for a start.
No use offering low airfares if your potential customers have fun visiting your crashing website trying to book some tickets. Or offering low airfares but omitting to tell customers that they have to pay another $200 for airport tax, fuel tax and war tax. So that’s what they mean when they say “From” $100, riiiiight.
I think we should not just send service staff for training. I think Singaporean customers need to go for training. Like how to smile when the salesperson smiles at you. Or to use those magic words “Please” and “Thank you”.
And to take off your sunglasses or ski mask when you enter a bank so you won’t get body tackled by the bank guard.
mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He is always nice to people in the service industry because he does not want to drink his soup and wonder if there were any extra “ingredients” added.