Yearning for customer service heaven in TnT

Bad customer service makes my blood boil!

Being back home has been great and also amusing. There are just so many aspects of Trini life that are entertaining in various ways. Let's talk about customer service or in my case, the lack thereof.

While customer service in London is not stellar when compared to that of the US, it is still better than customer service in Trinidad and Tobago. I call US customer service people smurfs - cause it's like they drink smurfberry juice or are totally loaded on pot or some other type of "upper". Noone can be that bubbly and smiley as these Americans. It's just NOT normal! They scare me.

The Brits are not anywhere near as bubbly. They approach customer service with a bit of trepidation - not rude, but there is no warm, fuzziness about it either; no drug-induced glee. While not as scary as the Americans, they can be droll.

Trinis on the other hand - you're lucky if you get a smile and if they don't answer back. I always use Pennywise as the prime example of the worst of local customer service. I beg anyone to argue with me that this place has the WORST customer service known to man. I went in there last week to replenish my stocks and excuse me for interrupting the reps' conversation and asking for a bottle of shampoo to be handed to me. It was like I was begging for the shampoo and not purchasing it. All the free or discounted makeup in the world cannot hide the sourness and the lack of courtesy on the faces of these girls.

Grouchy Smurf ain't have nothing
on some of these reps

Let's not even talk about Tobago. Heinous! Unless you're white and have a non-Trini accent, you are shit. The taxi driver at the airport looked at me as though I got off the banana boat and was curt and dismissive as I tried to give him directions. I concluded that I was too black to warrant a smile and a positive attitude! I just handed him the phone to avoid making a scene cause I cannot handle rudeness especially where my money is anticipated to leave my hands and be transferred to the rude party.

I did manage excellent customer service at various eating establishments in Trinidad, where I guess, the tip is king and everyone wants a good tip. I don't mind tipping for great service and I got the same waitress last week on the two occasions I patronised one restaurant and on both occasions she got a nice tip cause she was stellar. On the other hand, I did not feel the love at my coffee shop on Monday as Sour Sally was loathe to redeem my loyalty points and give me my free coffee, which I had earned! I had to ask whether they had onion bagels about 6 times as she was busy having a conversation with the girls in the back - a non-coffee, non-customer, non-trininista-the-customer related conversation. And this after I had to pound the counter to get her attention in the first place after waiting for someone to acknowledge my presence at the counter, even after they saw me walk up. I mean...I am not invisible and I was in a dazzling sunny kinda outfit so I was not blending in with the walls either.

I swear, it's like these people feel yuh begging!!! But just to let you know, there are many instances of EXCELLENT customer service as well but somehow they seem to be overshadowed by the men and women who feel that an upside down smile is where it's at!

Read more »

Flight 2-1 to the USA, now boarding!!!

The USA crashed out of the World Cup today and many people screamed Good Riddance. The Americans wonder why many don't like them when it comes to international sporting activities and I don't know about other people, but I can hardly stand the commentary and the we are the greatest, we are the best, and if we lose, it's not because the other team was better, but because we had a bad day mentality. Yes, there is talent, but talent without humility and sportsmanship is wasted.

I was channel surfing and heard the dude with the microphone on ESPN (cannot call him an unbiased sports journalist) say How can a country one-tenth the size of America beat the USA? I mean....wow. The level of arrogance is mind numbing and worse, America is home to many immigrants from small nations - immigrants that contribute to their economy. This flippant, arrogant statement really floored me. Especially coming from people whose team features players from countries even smaller than Ghana, including Trinidad and Tobago. I guess when it's not so shocking when it suits them.

 Take the Olympics. The 100m finals. The premier event of all track events. Usain Bolt is from an island way smaller than Ghana and runs circles around their best athletes on a bad day. The results table above just shows that. A Jamaican and a Trini beat an American into third. Shocking. And then for good measure, a dude from the Neth. Antilles, 2 more Jamaicans and another Trini decided to show the other American how it's done. Their total populations probably cannot fit in Alaska. But hey...they beat 'em. USA's World Champion in the 400m hurdles, Kerron Clement is from an island smaller than Ghana...my island. So yes, I am a bit miffed that these people continuously assert themselves as the greatest athletes the world has ever seen and it is incredulous that people from countries with smaller budgets, less resources but a whole lot of heart and pride can drub the USA in a sport that they have not even fully embraced. Shocker! I guess they have gotten so used to being kings in CONCACAF, a region with teams from countries so much smaller and with less financial resources than theirs, that the fact that a "small" African nation could send them packing is too much for their imaginations to handle.

Ghana played some spectacular football today and it was a well deserved win. I hope the USA at least gets first class seats on Air "Got my Ass Kicked" back to the States, as opposed to the French who sadly were relegated to economy after their dismal showing. I mean, coming from a country so much larger than Ghana in every way, shape and form, except on the field, this is the least they can do.

Read more »