Everything Also Complain

From ‘Robots at work’ 29 May 2010, Voices, Today online

MY WIFE and I recently went to a popular chocolate shop with our friends from overseas who had read about the place on the Internet.

We were greeted by a girl at the entrance, whose way of striking a conversation was: “Hi, you remind me of a dark, dark teacher I have in my school”.

As a Singaporean, I was shocked by the girl’s comment. It took me a while to recollect my thoughts but I ticked her off by saying that this was no way to address a customer even though she was just trying to be friendly. My friends did not bother staying in the shop.

…He (The manager) was kind enough to send a basket of chocolates and talked to me about how the “new generation” is ill-informed, arrogant and spoilt by their parents.

…Hospitality cannot be learnt only from books. … by tweaking everything, we are producing ill-informed “robots” who do not have a clue about other cultures, races, or for that matter, what basic manners are.

An awkward way to greet any customer no doubt, but whether it’s a nervous slip of the tongue, a case of sheltered innocence or a matter of being lost in translation, is there really a need to blow a big fuss, Mr Bhupinder? Whilst in a New York restaurant, an overfriendly waiter greeted us by mutilating the Mandarin greeting and thought Singapore was somewhere in the vicinity of Macau, and we didn’t see the need to flare up, knowing it was just their effusive way of delivering quality service. We complain about lack of smiles in the industry and when they try to personalise the experience we lambast them for being racist ‘robots’, without the slightest bit of appreciation. And a boss making excuses for the blooper by blaming not just the staff in question but an entire generation of spoilt brats deserves to lose every friendly staff he’s got. More racist attacks here.

Filed under: 2010, Customer service, Kids, Parenting, Racism Tagged: | customer service, discrimination, indian, Kids, Racism, racist, Teachers