Customer service

I am really tied up with work commitments plus cooking 'obligation' for buka puasa, but I just have to blog first. What can I say, I’m hook on blogging. Some people are shopaholic, workaholic, alcoholic and whatever ****lic but I guess I’m a BLOGGAHOLIC!

Actually, I have a confession to make, one that may potentially damage my reputation for life *gulp*. Yesterday I made my way to Giant Shah Alam with the main intention of sending baju kurung material via courier service back to Alor Setar to be tailored for my 2 daughters. Upon arrival at the Pos Malaysia counter (that was packed with people like a sardine can) I was expecting a huge signboard that says something like “For courier services, please queue here” or something to that effect. To my dismay, there was no signage whatsoever. There was a counter that looked like a courier service counter but it was closed. There was no enquiry counter and no signboard to direct me on what to do (I think by now you have figured out that I've never done this before *shy*). For the first time in my life, I felt so LOST.

Not knowing what to do, I did what any clever wife would do – call the husband pronto! So I called my darling hubby and made the confession. I said plainly “Yang, I am at Pos Malaysia now and I just don’t know what to do.” His first reaction was, as you’d expect it, he laughed. After a quick ‘consultation’ with him I came away with the impression that I should use courier services other than Pos Malaysia. There I was trying to support the government but I was turned off by the lack of customer service.

When I was young and studying in a foreign land, I didn’t have any problems whatsoever in finding my ways to do things and to get from point A to point B. I certainly knew how to courier souvenirs back to my mom & family. I travelled around the country (and even crossed the borders) by car with just a map in hand and never got lost, well almost. Only once when I was driving my 2 girlfriends in LA and we almost got lost (well it wasn’t so bad actually, I just missed a turn and kept going round and round in a circle for a few minutes). Fortunately for us a police patrol car stopped us and offered to help. Somehow he knew that we were lost. It was like MAGIC! That got me thinking, when will Malaysia ever be at par with them?

I say customer service is the underlying force that drives a company or a country. It defines you as a company/ country or even as a person. When I was working in a retail industry many years back (and it was fun working in retail environment except for the over-demanding boss!) I was doing PR and Customer Services. Of the two, I actually like Customer Service more. *Trying not to over-rate myself and sound boastful* I handled the complaints like it was my own problems and over the years I have unsatisfied and sometime angry customers so satisfied with the way I handled their cases that they sent me gifts and even wrote letters of compliment to the management.

The rule of thumb is, you must acknowledge your customers first (this shows that you care) and bring yourself down to their level. If need to, lower their expectation because the higher their expectations are the more frustrated they get. And when they get more then what they had expected, they’ll be ecstatic. Then you can turn a disgruntled customer to a one very happy customer.

Speaking about happy customers, I have 5 customers to please today. Hence, it’s time for me to get to the kitchen and prepare food for berbuka, although I wish to expound more on this subject. Next time perhaps eh? Today I’m cooking kari kepala ikan, kerabu perut&taugeh, fried chicken with cili padi, and kuih sago. I hope I will have 5 very satisfied customers today.

I wish you selamat berbuka puasa & may our ibadah mendapat barakah, insyaAllah.