It's month-end. Two adjoining ATMs belonging to one of our banks are out of order. The horrific lockdown - induced queues are worse than ever. The remaining ATM in another part of the mall grinds to a sudden halt at customer number twenty-five. And this is one of our top banks.
I don't know where South African businesses heard the rumour that we just love to queue for hours on end. We are losing productivity. Who knows how much your average councillor turned food parcel retailer could have made in the time wasted in queues? I amused myself with silly questions. Did the bank know that the ATMs were down? When? Do they know how to fix them? And ....?
The customer is clearly not king in South Africa. Not even a distant relative at the court.
In the same mall, I went to spend a penny at a public toilet whose entrance was designed by the architects who did Alcatraz. Two rands actually. Had I known beforehand, I wouldn't have gone in for free. Do our business people attend the same business schools as the government people?
I suspect that we're not that far behind the best when it comes to customer service. Maybe just a quarter of a century. Shouldn't be too much of a stretch. I'm sure those inspired visions and values are in place already - on the walls.
Yours in the arduous quest for the South African equivalent of Nordstrom.
Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment