Customer service, please!

Competition is intense. The economy is in its worst state. The least a business establishment can do to stay afloat is to give the best service possible to their clients. Customer service is what it is all about. However, not all companies realize this.

A warehouse-type outlet off Sucat is about the least customer-oriented chain we have ever encountered. We were getting a safe which we found without a key. The sales person said, "Talagang ganyan ho, kahapon hindi ho binili kasi walang susi." No effort at all to look for the key. Two days later, we returned a defective flourescent lamp, but they had no stock available!

At the outlet of our favorite Hong Kong chain in The Podium, the sales ladies did not even know the difference between the variants of a hand cream, which we wanted to get for use after our palengke chores. In the nearby book store, the woman handling the ballpens dismissed us because the particular brand we were looking for "was not available". But when we went to the inner part of the store, we found the very ones we were looking for!

In the most recently opened gourmet shop on its lower ground floor, the shopkeepers did not know anything about the free range, ready-to-cook chicken. We might add that the lifts in the building take so long to go up or down.

Those who live in Pasig and Quezon City should be happy to know that Terry Selection has opened a store cum restaurant in the lower ground level of The Podium. Be sure to come with deep pockets, because you’ll feel sorry if you can’t bring home the many food items that it carries. The inventory is massive. Canned Fabada with Pancetta de Cerdo (beans with unsmoked bacon from pork belly) at P520 a can of 430 gms; Valette goose lard, P445 for 750 gms; Iberico pate for P240 a tin of 100 gms; Truffles (Trupa Extra) at P190 per; fat free turkey breast, Cebollas Rellenos de Bonito (tuna-stuffed onions) at P470. It has a concession for locally produced items like spicy tawilis sardines at P105 a bottle, Pamora brand chicken gizzard adobo, free-range chicken, Dagupan bangus (marinated or seasoned with pesto).

The Deli is well stocked with sausages, fresh French foie gras, turkey ham, Chorizo Pamplona and Salamanca. They’ve got foccacia bread and the pleasant surprise is the collection of pots and pans from Spain, including different sizes of paelleras.

In the same level is a store called Ritz that specializes in apple strudel. They are good. One has a choice of the traditional apple or the innovative kiwi, peach and mango in two sizes: long for P420 with half of that costing P225. You can sit down, have a slice with coffee for P99.00. We were rather pleased to find this, because a niece gifted us with strudel and we have since been searching for the source.

Rustan’s (Makati) cooked food has greatly improved. Roast Beef, Texas style or barbecue, is at P550 a kilo, very reasonable, we reckon. Pakbet at P35 per order is like the real thing thus goes very fast. A new brand of pasta sauce, Continental produced in New Zealand, has two types: Savory Tomatoes and Onions and Mushrooms and Wine. For dieters, Carbo Option sauces are at P212 a pack, including Alfredo and Double Cheddar. Rustan’s is ready with Christmas baskets to suit everyone’s budget.

This is rather unbelievable but true: Municipalities are reportedly exporting beggars! The last time we visited the public market of Muntinlupa we were besieged by a horde of beggars. A vendor heard us wondering where they came from and without batting an eyelash she said they were sent by a another municipality whose officials want their place "free and clean". How about that?

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