The Service Sector in Singapore
-
Originally posted by Rock^Star:
esp if female? haha shouldn't it be male lol. But that can be averted by turning my body slightly sideways. Come to think of it, another auntie held on to my ass as the crowded bus moved along. I was standing on the bus deck while she was just behind me on the steps hehehe.
Aaah harharharhar!
Yeah... turning your body slightly sideways is the proper thing to do. -
Originally posted by gasband:
Singapore has improved but of course has still a long way to go. There are many factors that has been put forward as contributors to the not-as-good service in Singapore, things like the low salary, unreasonable customers, long hours, pride (especially chinese and asian pride of being a servant) etc.
You know the endless argument about the "customer is always right" and then later on to the retail experts bringing on "the customer is always right.....sometimes" antagonises the 2 parties. In Singapore, I feel that there are too many service staff who take the job very lightly. Who could blame them? Afterall, most service staff salaries cannot be considered "livelihood" since it is so low. But they fail to appreciate that having a job in Singapore is most times a privilege and not an entitlement as most believed. My sister was working in a retail environment and after 5 years there, she was taking home $2200 being promoted to a supervisor. Low? I dun think so. Cos her knew she had very low qualifications and she worked hard and make sure the thing she is measured by, which is SERVICE STANDARDS, she did well. If you choose to be in the service sector, there is nothing lowly about those jobs! If you choose to be in the service sector, then you bloody should have a high level of service standard! Or else just leave! No one is forcing you to SERVE!
As for customers, I think a very highly urbanised society like ours make us a bunch of big headed people. I see this in Hong Kong, I see this in Shanghai. I see this in Paris. And I definitely see this in Singapore. Of cos not saying that we are babarians. But what we did not realise is that, because of our better spending power, we demand more. And in the process of demanding more, we sometimes make the service staff or other people feel like shit. Have you realised how impatient we have become? I hate all the customer service calls they put me on call. Alot of them made me wait. But I realised that I started getting irritated just seconds into the call waiting. You know why? Because in Singapore, we want everything and we want them NOW! And so when we see the service staff not giving what we want, we become impatient, we want things now, we want things our way. we give a black face, thinking without our business, they will die.
I would like to think that the customer and service staff relationship is like a husband and wife relationship. You antagonise each other so much but it takes both parties to show understanding and take the initiative to do something FIRST. You do not have to wait for the service staff to be courteous first before you show a smile. You do it first and hope that people reciprocate. That is how life should be isnt it. Whatever it is, there is no escaping this relationship and so it is up to how both parties decide to work this relationship out.
yeh i agree...it's not just the fault of the service sector, it's the fault of the consumers as well. On a whole, it's the fault with singaporeans obsession for $$ and efficiency.
Singapore will never progress culturally unless we put a national effort into culture rehabiliation. But of course, that will never happen in Singapore Inc.
-
Originally posted by Rock^Star:
esp if female? haha shouldn't it be male lol. But that can be averted by turning my body slightly sideways. Come to think of it, another auntie held on to my ass as the crowded bus moved along. I was standing on the bus deck while she was just behind me on the steps hehehe.
it can get so packed you can't even turn. believe me, it happens.
-
in china and pakistan, where i queued up for flights, the locals queue behind u like they wanna bang ur ass, men or women alike. Can't understand this mentality.
-
Originally posted by Rock^Star:
in china and pakistan, where i queued up for flights, the locals queue behind u like they wanna bang ur ass, men or women alike. Can't understand this mentality.
Reminds me that at the check-in section in Melbourne's airport, I had to tell a PRC to stop standing so close and poking at me with her bag.
WTH?! I felt like she was cattle-prodding me. I wanted to do the donkey thing and kick my legs backward and attack! -
they don't have a sense of personal space where one's behind is concerned lol
-
Originally posted by Rhonda:
Reminds me that at the check-in section in Melbourne's airport, I had to tell a PRC to stop standing so close and poking at me with her bag.
WTH?! I felt like she was cattle-prodding me. I wanted to do the donkey thing and kick my legs backward and attack!
Oh in situations like that, I just move a step back and step on the toes -
maybe they dun care
-
Originally posted by Rhonda:
You calling me babe is ... very very strange and awkward.
when i was in melbourne, everyone was calling me love!!!! now tat was really strange lor -_-"
-
Originally posted by tare:
when i was in melbourne, everyone was calling me love!!!! now tat was really strange lor -_-"
It's either 'luv' or 'darl' or 'doll' or 'honey' or 'sugar' or 'sweet'.
They give their 'love' so freely that it ain't worth a cent! Don't know but even though I know patients LOVE it when you call them any one of the above, I just can't bring myself to say it and when I do address them that way, I sound more condescending and sarcastic than anything!
I'm still pretty conservative - I won't call you my 'hun' or 'luv' if you are a stranger. -
surprisingly the NTUC i frequent gives pretty good service. doesn't matter if the cashier's a singaporean, myanmese lady, pinoy, PRC guys or girls, they're all quite ok haha. the workforce is quite the UN. the dip in standards occur during the peak periods, that's when nerves get a little frazzled. else they'd greet you and they'd reply your greeting. of course they're still not that chatty - this is still S'pore! and probably because of the language barrier, if you meet a foreign cashier.