Enlightening encounters with service angels
A special feature on service Lynette Koh Good service should never come at a cost. In the course of checking out service standards at various retail outlets for this series (as well as my own extensive non-investigative shopping trips), I have found that a store's price tags are seldom commensurate to its level of service. Some of the most polite and helpful sales people can be found in clothing stores where prices rarely go above a hundred dollars; and some of the most clueless and curt sales assistants are found in stores where prices rarely dip below it. The most exceptional examples of service, in fact, can be free, as one of my colleagues, who we shall call Jane, discovered on a ravenous evening several months ago. Having seized a window of opportunity to grab dinner at a nearby fast food outlet after 8pm — and hours of nonstop work — she had ordered an upsized meal costing about $8, and was about to pay for it when she realised that she had left her wallet at her desk. Crestfallen and hungrier than ever, Jane prepared to make the ten-minute trek back to the office to get her wallet. Sensing her distress, however, the server manning the counter unhesitatingly told her she could return the next day to pay for her meal. Torn between not wanting to take advantage of his kind gesture, and the allure of the food which lay before her, Jane recalled how she had made several half-hearted protests. Eventually succumbing to the hunger pangs, however, Jane thanked him and promised to return at the earliest opportunity to pay for her meal. Unfortunately, however, she never saw him at the outlet again, and subsequently, our office moved away from the area. Even as she got over her feelings of guilt towards the free meal, Jane remained profoundly moved by the server's unreserved gesture of kindness. My own experience with similarly exceptional service, while not free, was certainly discounted. I have long nursed a tendency to take more taxis than is fiscally advisable, as well as a chronic inability to make the trip to an automated teller machine even when I am down to my last dollar (or less). And the increasing number of taxis outfitted with Nets and credit card processing facilities has only served to increase my disregard towards having sufficient amounts of cash in my wallet — which led to my recent cab-related panic. After work, I had hopped into a cab, unthinkingly as usual, distracted by thoughts of dinner options. It only hit me halfway through my journey that I was in a taxi that had no credit card or Nets facilities. I had a little over $7 and the journey from the office to town would typically cost about $10. After rummaging through my bag for five minutes — and losing any hope of finding a forgotten, not-empty ang bao deep in its recesses – I confessed to the taxi driver, asking sheepishly to alight only as far as the seven dollars would take me. Instead of making sneering noises and throwing me out of his cab at the next traffic junction, as I half-expected, the cabby simply asked me how much money I had. Amazingly, his jolly demeanour remained unchanged even after I confessed, as he drove on towards town. "It's okay, lah," he said, adding that it was difficult to get a cab at that time of the day. Waving off my promises to pay him the balance at a later date, the driver told me about other passengers' similar cash-short situations, which occurred from time to time. Said the driver good-naturedly: "I just tell them, if you can, donate the money to charity." My embarrassment faded as he continued making friendly chatter for the last 10 minutes of the journey. As I neared my destination, I asked the cabby: "When a passenger says that she doesn't have enough money, how do you know if it's true?" With a smile, he replied: "I don't – but well, all that happens is that I make a little less money, right?" From TODAY, Voices – Tuesday, 22-Sep-2009
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