Volume 3 Issue 12: Two-Cent Economics

First-World Service (again)

Here is another story demonstrating first-world service:

Hats off to Food Republic

I CALLED Mr Daniel Tay of Food Republic at 313@Somerset to inquire about the possibility of ordering a large amount of satay from the foodcourt's satay stall for my daughter's birthday party. He told me it was his understanding that pre-ordering was not possible but would help to check anyway.

He called back to apologise and confirm that it was not possible to pre-order. He also provided me with the stall operator's contact details so that I could liaise with them to see if they could fulfil my request.

When Mr Tay found out I was a fan of Food Republic, he took the initiative to offer me four of the foodcourt's privilege cards. He arranged for me to use them when I visited Food Republic, saving me the trouble of making a special trip to collect them.

Mr Tay's professionalism defines exemplary customer service. He could have declined to entertain my query as he knew that pre-ordering was not possible.

He also did not have to offer me the privilege cards, and give himself that extra work of reserving them for me, as I had not even known about them. This is unlike most service staff who would wait for customers to inquire about the cards.

Sherley Servos (Mrs)

I guess the comic above depicts the Malaysian entitlement attitude pretty well. Before we even provide any service, we already believe we deserve to be rewarded.

How often do we come across such a level of service as described by Mrs Servos in the quote above in Malaysia? Such civic-mindedness would be really great. But in Malaysia, we have drivers who refuse to let you change lanes AFTER you signalled. They would naturally speed up so that you are unable to change lanes. This then leads to the next worse thing. Drivers now change lanes WITHOUT signalling, precisely because of douchebags who speed up when they see a car signalling up front. Now when that happens, accidents happen.

How are these two stories related? Well, both are about being considerate. It is not a surprise that with a third-world mentality that we would never be able to become a first-world nation.