Good/bad customer relations

We can’t really keep up with the number of restaurants and chains that are fast emerging in the city and even in some other places in the country. We have visited a lot of them and the one thing that surfaces is the apparent lack of staff training. Given that there are so many young men and women who are very eager to get jobs, there still has to be some standards on hiring. Needless to say, it behooves the establishments to provide proper training and orientation, considering a lot of the applicants may not even know what is the difference between a dinner plate and a charger.

But let’s start with the good things. We had two hours free before a sibling took a flight to Cebu two weeks ago. Resorts World was the nearest place to have a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. We chose The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on the 3rd floor. We wanted to have the chilled mocha and coffee blend, but they did not have the cream to top it, so we teasingly asked if we would have a discount. No, but we could wait a bit. We did and ordered Toblerone sans rival and a lemon square.

The young man behind the counter, Andro, quickly whipped up a creamless blend and offered it to us, free. We were impressed. A few minutes later, Andro came again with the full blended drink. Their supply had arrived and “here is one for you, with our compliments.” That, indeed is good customer service.   

A few years ago, a young man asking for a dip of olive oil and parmesan cheese was given a bottle of Balayan bagoong. Recently, about a month ago, at a dinner in two up-market eateries in Cebu, the waiters blurted out the total bills as they handed them to our host, practically telling every other diner in the restaurant the amount of the meal we had. A few days ago, at the chicken rice restaurant at the Ayala Triangle in Makati, our waiter who was either hard of hearing or trying to be nice replied “‘di ho expensive” to our query as to what were their other specialties. Little things mean a lot, but being proper speaks of the training one gets, either at home, in the office or in a restaurant. Have the establishments tapped the benefits of the different job seminars being offered? They should.

Then there are companies wanting quick returns, in other words, cash payment for food and services. We have encountered two incidents, unfortunately, again in that Ayala Triangle restaurant and in another Chinese resto, where credit cards were refused because “it would not swipe.” The card holder, in the latter place, went to the cashier and watched her swipe the card. It worked! In the other, the customer urged them to call the bank. Why, then, are they trying to put one over their customers?

Giving exact change is another thing. By mid-day it was strange that a restaurant would not have a change of P350 for a P1,000 bill. In times past, we would see the cashiers being given small bills, coins even, to start their operation efficiently to the pleasure of the customer. Today, some supermarkets and drug stores would not even bother to tell you that what they are giving you is short by P0.25 or more. Or they ask you, “May 25 cents ba kayo?” Whose lookout is it to have loose change? 

On the brighter side of shopping, SM has opened their (in the words of our friend Millie) “gourmet supermarket” to serve a high-end clientele and to encourage all housewives to use premium products within their budgets. This is located on the ground floor of Building A. We will have more on this in our next column. Meantime, have a blessed Sunday!

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