Customer service crisis.

What happen to our customer service? Is it one of the effects global warming? a reverse effect of too much heat that produces cold behavior towards our fellowmen. Well, we'll just go ahead and blame the government for this, they're used to it anyway.

But I've seen this from time to time, in malls, restaurants, bars, you name it. The substandard customer service is all over the country and the sad part is, we are getting used to it. Consider some of my encounters while out and about browsing at the mall:

Me and my friend decided to go to a bar-resto in Muntinlupa, just beside Festival mall. A waiter lead us to a comfy little corner, and as he handed us the menu, he asked " tatlong beer sir?" My friend, whom by the way, a half artist half annoying philosopher looked around and quipped, "may nakita ka bang kasama pa namin?" I thought for awhile that he must have seen one of my imaginary friends, but that's not possible, there wasn't any x-ray machine at the entrance. Besides, I killed them after I graduated highschool(I know, they're with me that long). But sure enough, as we open the menu, there it is! in bold letters: 3 beers for P100. The comedy could've been avoided if the nice gentleman mentioned the promo. beforehand.

Another instance, me and wife(she's not imaginary, we already have two kids, but i think imaginary is much cheaper) went to a digital photo shop inside the mall. Three sales reps were giggling while watching something on the internet, another one is sitting behind the counter staring at the cash register. We stood for about a minute just to see if they can sense our body heat. Then after a minute or two, I decided to proclaim our presence because the sensor wasn't working. Then one by one, they slowly assumed their customer service position. One of the sales reps extended his hand without saying a word. So I shook his hand. He looked at me with a homophobic frown as his eyebrows collided, he says, "do you have it on a CD or USB?"

A couple of years ago, I was in Makati browsing around looking for a wrist watch. I went to a store in Greenbelt, I think. It was empty and only a sales lady standing at the door. So, I said "hi", but she didn't respond and she turned her face away. So, I wiped my face assuming there was something unpleasant on my face. As I looked around I noticed that she was watching me closely and giving me a hostile look. I slightly bend my knees ready to be tackled. To break the hostility, I asked her how much the wrist watch I was pointing at. Then suddenly, she walked pass by me without throwing a glance, and left some words that sounded like this, " mahal yan". To translate that to a market lingo, "get the hell outta here if you're not buying!"
I said, "good, neither one of us can afford it". I have some smart words to say to her but I decided to leave and drag my wounded ego out.

I'm not going to tell you my plight of buying a car, it was very painful, I ended up asking them for a pain reliever because dealing with them gave me a throbbing headache. My wife broke her water and she's not even pregnant.

I know that these people are just trying to make ends meet, just like you and me, but it's not a reason to do your job poorly. If you're a supervisor, please educate your people about your product and about customer relations.

Maybe our customer service reflects our country's dilemma. People are getting poor services from the people who sworn to serve them. They've been treated badly for a long time now that's why we are getting crap back when we deal with them - trash in trash out. This is going to get worst unless we dig deeper and realize that we can do something.