today is a gift

Monday, December 18, 2006

today was my first day working. i'm a salesgirl, selling madrasah books at masjid an-nur. the papers have been portraying about how bad the service in singapore. people write in the forum, praising how good and excellent the services in the western countries and saying that the service providers should set those western people as their role models. yes, i do admit that they do provide good service. but i'm not going to agree about the bad service in singapore. i used to think like those typical singaporeans who simply love to complain about the bad singapore service. only after i began my job did i realise that this providing service job is not as easy as i've been assuming. customers are always right. that's the stupid freaking motto which i'd been carrying. now i know why some people provide bad service to the customers. maybe they are just too fed-up with those freaking customers with such low-class attitudes. i admit that the service providers should not do that or people will point at them for not being professional. somehow, i understand their feelings. i still cannot get over this freaking attitude of one of the customers just now. she's so freaking irritating with her stupid english slang. since we're malays, i don't see any freaking reason why must she reply in a broken english when my colleague,ais, and i asked her in malay. ais has unlimited patience but not me. the woman's so freaking indecisive. one moment she wanted to buy those books but the next moment, she would like those books back. but after that, she called home to ask her kids if they had those books. i mean, come on. do plan and prepare before doing any purchase. you're provided with two book lists for goodness sake. uncle wahab apparently tried to be friendly i guess. he asked her what had happened as there was a very big scar on her forehead. i know it's not his businees. but that woman answered him in such a rude manner. she seemed to shout at him. and yes, she spoke in that english of hers. i didn't know why but i just didn't like that impression of hers. hence, i gave her the cold shoulder. i didn't even talk to her. ais was the one who attended to her. we put the books in separate plastic bags according to different levels. in our opinions, it's for the customers' convenience sake so that they can check the books easier as they are arranged accordingly. the level and the cost of the books purchased would be written on the plastic bag. but that woman snapped at us, claiming that we're telling people that she's 5 kids as we gave her 5 plastic bags. she lectured us for wasting plastic bags. ais tried to explain but i think she's too soft on that woman. my heart was boiling and i knew i must cool down. so i said in a firm-i-am-the-boss voice, "For your information, we've been doing that, mam. It's for your own convenience sake and to make your checking of the books easier. If you would like to have lesser plastic bags, you could've just tell us nicely and we'd do as you'd said obediently. We'll appreciate you so much if you could have just done so." maybe she's trying to save the earth or whatever but i'd be so glad if she could have said it nicely. not only that, she also had the freaking nerves to ask for a discount since she has 5 kids. hello, she is not even under financial assistance. if she wants a discount that much she could have just applied and trust me, she'll receive free books. but for goodness sake, she has a eight-seater car. ain't she so poor. not. there're other not that good encounters but well, no one is perfect. those were minor ones. i forgive them. singaporeans have been complaining that some customer service people do not even smile. but what about the customers? there's a column in the today paper boasting the good service in the western countries. the service providers always have a smile on their faces and they will start a minor conversation with them. unfortunately, some singaporeans just hate that. they'll say that we're just being nosy. actually you can't always blame on the service providers. it takes two hands to clap. however, i hate to admit that service providers mst be professional and accept different attitudes of the customers. again, customers are always right.

rabiah♥8:14 PM