Customer Service

Customer service has reached an all time low in this country. There must be few places in the world you can go where the cashiers don't even acknowledge your presence, but blindly scan your items and then wait until you check the computer for the total. That kind of service is the norm here. When we first arrived I was astounded at the amount of people that take personal calls on their cell phones while at work. Once that shock wore off I was surprised at how many service providers would ignore their customers while they were on the phone The all time worst experience I had was when I went in to our cell phone company's office so I could figure out why my voicemail didn't work. I waited in line for about ten minutes while the guy behind the counter texted his friends. At first I had assumed he was actually working on someone's phone, but when I got to the counter and he asked me to "hold on" as he texted something on his own phone and then shoved it into his pocket, I became very aware of how the service industry has degenerated. As part of a health initiative with a local insurance company, I go out with a team of fitness + health professionals to many local banks, firms and hotels to do what we call a "health check." I weigh, measure and take Fat percentages and Body Mass Indexes of the workers. At one particular job last week there was a young nurse who sat beside me. Her job was to take blood pressure and cholesterol readings. She claimed she wasn't feeling well and would put her head down on the table. When a patient arrived she would slowly lift her head, grab a needle and poke them, not even explaining to them what was going on! Then while she waited for the results to scan through her computer she would put her head down on the table and text. I was mortified! Especially since she was supposed to be part of our professional team. In one particular case, a patient sat down next to her and she didn't even raise her head off the table. The patient coughed, to let her know he was there, and still nothing. Finally he said "hello???" and she raised her head, glared at him and grabbed a needle. If I had to guess I would say that she perhaps spoke to a tenth of the people she put through that day. Contrary to popular belief, it is not just the young ones that are so rude either. At the health check this week, there was a nurse in her forties with us (thankfully the nurse from the week previous didn't return) and I nearly laughed because at one point when I looked up, both she and her patient were chatting in to their cell phones while the blood sample was being processed. It looked like something one would poke fun of in a comedy sketch. This summer I am running a summer camp, and the other camp counselor spends the majority of her time on her cell phone as well. I will be returning from lunch or a bathroom break and find the kids spread over the entire property, climbing high in the trees, beating each other with Lego and practicing wrestling moves on the trampoline while my co-worker is huddled over in a corner, screaming into her cell phone to be heard above the chaos, recounting her latest failed attempt to seduce the newest bachelor in town. Ridiculous! I feel ashamed that parents think their children are in good hands, when a 43 year old single mother can't even take the time to supervise child's play!
In the rare cases when cell phones aren't the culprit, it is fellow employees and friends. Countless times I have had to wait for help while a worker is chatting about the weekend, her family or what is for supper with her colleagues. I have gotten so used to this behaviour that I actually have to step back and remind myself that I can't and don't want to conduct myself in this manner. Perhaps this rant on poor service is just an ethnocentric viewpoint. Perhaps Canadians just have a different level of service, and this is normal in other countries???