an interesting evening

Saw Thorndon on film at the Film Archive tonight.  I don’t know why I don’t go there more often. It was a collection of clips from 1906 to 1972 and they were fascinating.  The non-speaking clips had a live piano accompaniament which was really well done. There wasa little bit of unnecessary commentary – all she did was read out the titles of the clips which were already on the films themselves. 

My journey home was amusing.  Clearly the students are back in town and celebrating the beginning of their year. I heard one young man complain her kept getting ID’ed everywhere just because he was carrying a skateboard.

Waiting for the bus I had two guys sit beside me and promptly unzip a padded cloth case.  From it they retrieved some religious work.  One promptly started to read out loud, very loud, to his friend. At this crowded busstop they went on to discuss the meaning of what they were reading.

The bus trip itself was more entertaining. The woman ahead of me spent ages quizzing the driver before she finally got on.  It was quite annoying as it took a long time till she finally asked the question she actually wanted answered.
Passenger: Does this bus go up Bowen St?
Driver: No
Passenger: Where does it go?
Driver: Molesworth St
Passenger: How far up Molesworth St?
Driver: The whole way, then through Thorndon.
Driver: Lady, where do you want to go?
Passenger: Railway station but I don’t know where to get off.
Driver: Hop on and I’ll tell you.
Passenger: (Holding a snapper card) Will it just be a dollar?
Driver: (looking a bit confused) Yes, are you paying by snapper or cash?
Passenger: Snapper
Driver: Then just hold it up to the reader, it works it out for you.
Passenger: But how does it know how far I’m going

Meanwhile there’s about 10 people behind her waiting to get on the bus. She sits right up the front and everyone files on. Then the questions start. So many questions about the bus routes and timetables and fares and anything else about the busses you could imagine.

After about 5 stops the driver completely flipped out. He got up and collected one of every different timetable from the little plastic holders. Over and over he kept saying to the woman, “Take the timetables, they’re free, they’re full of all the information you’ll need, take the timetables.”  He did it in a way which was half creepy, half helpful. It was really odd but more bullying then anything. The passenger really didn’t want the timetables, she said she didn’t use the bus often.  She had a snapper but I don’t think she was a local yet the snapper made her look like she should know how things worked.  I thought it was kind of sad, she just wanted reassurance she was heading in the right direction.  I’ve caught enough buses in foreign cities where I know my destination but I don’t know the streets or suburbs along the way.  You rely on drivers or fellow passengers for help getting to where you want to go.  The driver, he didn’t help her, he made her feel stupid for asking for help.

passengers are an optional extra

Have you tried catching a bus lately? I’ve lost count of the number of buses which have just simply not bothered to slow down and stop to pick me and other passengers up from my stop.

It used to be that if a driver approaching a stop saw someone looking at the timetable they’d slow enough to check that the passenger wasn’t looking for that bus.  At the weekend while on a bus I watched a person signal a bus then turn to pick up their grocieries. The bus started to slow when signalled but then sped up and drove off while the person was picking up their groceries – that’s just mean.

I heard one bus driver complaining about the super gold cards - he thought more elderly folk are catching the bus and it is slowing the bus runs down – the super gold card users take longer to get on and off the bus and apparently expect the drivers to wait till they’ve found a seat. It seems therefore the best answer is to rush past potentially fare paying passengers in order to make up some of that time.  I guess they’ve run out of things to complain about with snapper so the free rides for the elderly is the next target. Where’s their christmas spirit?

apostrophe crime

I just can’t help myself – if I see an apostrophe out of place on a sign or printed material, I have to let someone know. I’d like to think they take this information and do something about it, correcting the offending apostrophe in the next print run. I rather suspect they quietly roll their eyes and moan in the staff room about how picky some people are.

On Friday I pointed out an error to a bartender. The cocktail menu included fejoa’s [sic] in a list of  ingredients. I didn’t expect his reponse “I didn’t write it”. That doesn’t make it okay. There is no defence to a mis-placed or mis-used apostrophe.  And besides, that was poor customer service on top.  All I wanted was some kind of acknowledgement that he’d pass the information on to management but I suspect he doesn’t care.

it depends

Dale Hartle’s presentation left me with a quote I’d love to put up on the wall – there’s no room for it depends in business processes.  Porirua City Council are in the process of moving to a one stop shop for customer enquiries and putting in place the tool their staff need to deliver a consistent service.  Processes have been mapped and are served up in a template form then arranged so everyone can find them.  Dale got involved with the project right from the start so was able to develop a template from the beginning rather than have  someone else come up with something which wouldn’t translate so easily to the web.

Dales’ performance also highlighted the importance of being passionate about the topic you’re presenting on. Her PPT wasn’t the flashest but she had the personal energy and content so it made for an engaging presentation.  He had one other key ingredient – the ability to tell a story. Her use of photos and quotes from people brought her topic to life.

a go wellington bus ate my arm

I got a bus from Lambton Quay just after 6.30. As usual on my run the bus was late and crammed full of passengers.  The driver didn’t seem to care how full the bus was and lurched from bus stop to bus stop. Maybe it is just a hard bus to control but there was no need to accelerate with such vigour with the bus so full. I spent the whole trip standing up as I usually do and finally got to my stop shortly before seven. I tagged my snapper and it didn’t work so I had to do it again. The driver decided not to bother waiting and started to shut the door and drive off.  Only problem was my arm was in the door. I can still see the abrasion and it is a little sore. I phoned go wellington when I got home – “Paula” was on the phone and asked that I leave a message so I did.  Do you think I’ve heard back yet? No of course not.

angry shouty man

I work in a team responsible for a service and this week we’ve had a few technical issues.  We’ve been working like lunatics to get things back to normal and we know we’ve inadvertantly made things tricky for some people this week.  We really really have been trying to fix this.  People have emailed and phoned to complain and we’ve done what we can.  We apologise and offer the same service through another channel.  We know it isn’t ideal but mostly people are understanding. Mostly they realise when they talk to me on the phone that I’m not personally setting out to make their lives a misery.  All except Bob. (That’s not his real name.) Bob works for a government department.  Bob is angry.  Today Bob decided to vent his spleen at me. He’s bloody lucky I didn’t hang up on him, I came very close.

I had dinner with friends tonight and we talked about how we deal with angry people.  We all came to the conclusion that we wait too long before we hang up. It is hard to challenge bad behaviour in complete strangers and harder when they’re not there in front of you. If Bob had been in the same room I think it would have been quite threatening, I would have walked away – so why didn’t I hang up today?

i’m a real person too

I have to respond to emails which are sent to a website.  Sometimes it is nice to help people.  Sometimes I have to email some really obnoxious individuals.  It is as if they forget there’s a human at the end of the email.  You can tell me you don’t like the website without telling me I’m incompetent useless or overpaid. Don’t tell me my organisation’s website is dreadful and I should fix it, – that doesn’t help me.  You need to be specific. Was something hard to read, hard to understand, did it not work right in your browser.  Send me a screenshot. I can’t see what you see unless you show me.

I like to get feedback good and bad but it is frustrating when I can see that someone is really angry about some part of the site but doesn’t give me enough info to help. Insulting me or my organisation is no help either.  I’m not your tech support either.  I can’t spend ages helping you with your browser settings or give you advice on whether you should use Firefox or IE. 

Being on the receiving end of so many unfortunate emails makes me think more carefully about the feedback I give others. I don’t think an angry customer ever gets the most sparkling service – they get the ‘difficult customer’ protocol.  Be polite, be courteous, be specific and try and leave your anger and disappointment out of it. If you shout your issue at me all I hear is the shouting.

an empty restaurant on Friday is bad

Let’s start at the end – don’t go to the Curry Club on the corner of Dixon and Victoria streets, Wellington. Just don’t do it, you’ll regret it.

So you’re sitting with a group of 20 friends who all of a sudden decide a curry would be a good idea. It is 7.30 on a Friday night and you ponder where to go. Someone shouts out, what about the Curry Club, it always has tables. Common sense should tell you this is not the golden opportunity it seems but no, instead you think thank goodness, somewhere to eat and we won’t have to wait.

About the only positive thing I can say about the meal was that we could all sit together and didn’t have to wait long for the food. Honestly, I swear the staff have NO concept of customer service.
A few tips for the staff:
* try remembering who ordered what, don’t just stand at one end of a long table and shout.
* if you deliver the wrong food to the wrong person and they start eating it before the mistake is realised, replace the dish. Don’t make the intended recipient make do with a pre-loved half gnawed meal.
*deliver the bread to those who order it, don’t dump a basket at the other end of the table.
*if someone claims they didn’t get their bread, they didn’t get it. OK! Don’t suggest they could order another one “since all those ordered have been delivered.”

So what about the food I hear you ask? What about it! If those are dinner portions I can’t imagine how little you get for lunch. Mind you, my lamb korma was so completely tasteless I wouldn’t have wanted more.

I know big groups can be annoying but we stayed sitting where we’d ordered from, we weren’t drunk and besides, we’re the customer.

I think the most amusing thing is the folder of thank you notes at the till – are they real? It just made me wonder how much they’d paid those people for their recommendations, and where the room filled with complaint letters was.

Don’t go to the Curry Club – anywhere else would be better.

hey, keep your breakfast to yourself

This morning as I walked into my local Wishbone I was greeted by the sight of one of the employees chewing on her nails. Eewww was what I thought. She looked up, saw me, removed her fingers from her mouth but only so she could present me with the biggest yawn I’ve ever seen. I swear I could see her breakfast. So I went to make my purchases and she undercharged me. I’d given her the right money, I pay the same every morning for my coffee and scone. She was quite rude in the way she decided to tell me I was wrong – actually, I wasn’t. Besides, what was annoying me more at this point was that on top of the nail chewing and yawning, now she was fiddling with her hair.

I thought it is too early for all this, just give me the damn coffee and I’ll go. Run your bosses out of business with your undercharging and poor hygiene, see if I care. She was starting to get the heated lunches ready, one thing was for sure it would be prepackaged sandwiches for me.

At lunch I went back to buy sandwiches – I’m addicted to the chicken and almond ones – but again she was standing there yawning. I just had to walk out and go to Concorde next door.

I got back to my desk and pondered whether to complain or not. In the end I did. I don’t want her to lose her job, I just want her to be reminded about hygiene. I also want her to understand how much she damages the company brand with her actions. So I emailed. I have to say I’m quite impressed. I got an emaikl back pretty quickly acknowledging my email, explaining their process and letting me know they’d update me on the outcome. Now that’s customer service.

customer service – a thing of the past?

As much as I hate the expression “a customer is always right” it surprises me the number of times shop assistants seem to forget it. To be fair, the customer often isn’t right.  In fact the ones you will remember are often the rude and obnoxious with a little self-righteous to go with it. This is the customer who thinks though that you will abide by the ‘customer is always right’ mantra and behaves as though you owe them something.  You do owe them something – unfailing niceness, make them feel as though they are right (even when they aren’t).  As soon as you meet their rudeness with rudeness of your own no-one is going to win. 

What I don’t understand though is why when you enter some stores you are met with complete disdain. Do they not want my money?  I spent my varsity years in Dunedin and as much as I hate to admit it shop keepers during my varisty years treated students as potential shoplifters and time wasters with no money. Go shopping dressed as a student with a backpack and you could expect no service. Dress for a job interview and carry a handbag and you got all the service you could possibly want. Twenty years later and in Wellington  see similar behavious in some stores. If you don’t enter the store dressed as they’d like their customers to be they pretty much ignore you. Have they not watched Pretty Woman? Big mistake.

Funny thing is – it is always the overpriced stores which have the most overrated opinion of themselves. Really, is a friendly hello too much to ask?  Do I really have to dress up before you’ll speak to me?  I was going to relate an experience in a store which had really annoyed me – Wadehouse – but they’ve gone out of business! I don’t know the reasons why but they certainly have lost sales from me in the past.  I did take great delight in picking up a few bargains at ridiculous prices as they closed their doors.