Services

The service at Dome Café at Alliance Francaise is impressive.

Example 1:

I arrived earlier than usual to revise for my first French test. The café was not ready for business yet but the kind waiter let me order a cappuccino anyway. My hot cappuccino was served ten minutes later, on the house ! The waiter even apologized for making me wait even though I was the one troubling him…I insisted on paying but eventually accepted his generosity.

Normal practice in this city:

Will be told to return later by a staff because the official business hour has yet to begin. Attitude of the staff varies at different places.


Example 2:

The filling of the chicken pie was cold obviously because of insufficient heating-up. The waiter took back the partially eaten pie, and served me a new one with additional salad.

Normal practice in this city:

Waiter may apologize, sincerely or not. Serve the re-heated chicken pie later.


My classmates, who come from different parts of the world, often lament the service standard here. There is room for improvement for sure. Here’s my attempt, after some mid-night chit-chatting and discussions with my night-owl friends, to explain such general situation in the country. Of course, it is possible to find great services here, but they usually demand a higher outflow of thy purse.

Perhaps this little illustration of a local phenomenon will help.

Long queues are generally perceived as a direct result of a demand for highly appealing product or service with limited supply. Thus, to avoid disappointment, some people develop the instinct to join the queue whenever there is one, or follow the majority to test the truth. It’s a common scene even at the key commercial district, where people typically have only an hour to grab lunch at those super-crowded eateries.

Yours truly here, sometimes unable to suppress curiosity, will ask those people in the queue if they know the prize for their suffering. Voila ! many of them have no idea at all. It’s akin to Forrest Gum’s box of chocolate, you never know what surprise awaits you! It might be a bottle of mineral water so promptly quenches one’s thirst after 45 minutes of queuing. Sometimes, it is a complimentary bottle of travel size shampoo, for one to look forward to the next trip.
Perhaps hours of queuing under the scorching tropical sun and in such high humidity is a great way to train one’s patience, and can produce similar effects of practicing calligraphy to calm one’s senses.

Imagine some of the service industry practices are brought here. Free food if you are not satisfied. Total refund, no question asked, within 30 days of purchase if you are unhappy with your purchase, never mind if it has been used once or twice. Complimentary free item if the service is not unsatisfactory.

In the name of exercising the right to receive great services, consumers can do many things… I can imagine queues and queues of people…