The way I see it, the issue of proper customer service is not going to go away anytime soon.
On Thursday 22nd September, I was privileged to be invited to the 10th annual consultation of the economy, hosted by the Nevis island Administration.
I listened intently to a sterling presentation made by key note speaker, Mr. Dennis Michael Morton, who elaborated on certain proposals which he predicts will help to positively propel the local economy.
During the question and answer period, the issue of the lack of proper customer service, especially on the part of some government employees, was raised.
In responding to the question, Mr. Morton in his usual amiable style related a story which to some was quite hilarious but which I found to be so unbelievable.
He stated that a friend of his came over to Nevis one day and had occasion to conduct some business at one of our government run offices.
The young lady who provided the service, was very abrupt and plain out rude and discourteous.
He naturally left that office far from impressed with the young lady’s behaviour.
He stayed for the night at the prestigious Four Seasons Resort and oh what a contrast, in terms of the service provided to him.
However, there was one young lady who stood out. She was overly polite and extremely courteous and just plain out NICE.
After a while, the gentleman engaged her in a conversation and asked her how long she had been working at the Resort and she told him but went on to say that she only worked there part time, at nights. ‘So where do you work in the day time?’ he queried.
She stated that she worked at a government office and indicated the government office in question. The same one he had visited earlier in the day.
Suddenly, a loud bell went off in his head and he asked her: ‘Do you remember me?’ The young lady hesitantly admitted to remembering him.
He asked her why she had acted so nastily to him earlier in the day and yet now was acting so nicely.
She responded: ‘Well that was when I was working for government!’
Well I newa!
A true case of Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde, if you ask me!
I want to reiterate a point I made some time ago: Persons working for the government, once they are established workers, are commonly referred to as CIVIL SERVANTS.
Let’s look at the first word: CIVIL. The word CIVIL connotes some level of politeness and courtesy; reaching out positively to the customers and so on and so forth.
SERVANT goes without saying. You are nothing more than a SERVANT—of the people. Your job is to serve the general public with dignity and efficiency.
Combine the two and you would realize that all that dignified term boils down to is that you are really employed as an intelligent, highly qualified SERVANT of the people, who should be kind and polite to them.
Poor customer service in the private sector is certainly not tolerated and maybe it is time that government puts more stringent measures in place for persons who are constantly stepping out of line in their service of the people.
If they are given adequate training opportunities and they are unwilling to change, maybe you can place them in the storeroom in the back somewhere. Anywhere where they won’t have to HAG OFF anybody else.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?