'Timur' manners

This piece of entry was actually done last friday. But for some unknown reason, I forgot to publish it! But better late than never right?

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Yesterday was a busy day for me. Was in Kajang first thing in the morning to officially file in the papers, then to DBKL, telecom and citibank to pay bills but managed to stop by at coffeebean to fulfill my chocolate cake cravings.

Of all the places that I've been to yesterday, I can honestly say that only at coffeebean that I really get a first-class customer service. When I say first-class, I didn't mean red carpet treatment but the basic customer care where the staff actually smile and greet you warmly when you enter the premises, serve you with confidence and friendliness and later thank you before you leave.

The girl at the Syariah Court counter didn't even smile, let alone greet you with salam or whatsoever. The staff at telecom's information counter were as 'blur' as I was but did smiled eventually. I went there to terminate my old landline but didn't know the procedures or which form to fill. The guys at the counter took a while to understand me as if i was talking in a foreign language and when they finally understood me, they took a while just to find the appropriate form for me. DBKL and citibank...well, nothing to complain but nothing to shout about either.

It was such a coincidence that when I got home I saw a newspaper article saying that the Ministry of art, culture and heritage is going to launch a 5-year campaign to promote good manners particularly in the public sectors. It is beyond my comprehension why on earth do we need to have another campaign by the government for this. Aren't these good values supposedly have been taught and emphasised at schools? If not, what are our teachers doing? And if manners and customer services are such a big problem in the public sectors (which I have to admit, is a problem in some settings), shouldn't the responsibilities of correcting this be taken by the employers themselves? Otherwise, what's the point of having ISO and those standards on 'Piagam Pelanggan','Kualiti'etc? What's the point of making the staff to seat for Induction Course and PTK exams when the standards are only on papers and yet not being practised in the real working environment? Where have we gone wrong?

Something to think about eh?