Yesterday was a Sunday and I was infuriated. The incident had spoiled my otherwise peaceful serene Sunday. This was what went down. My wife and I we woke up really early because she wanted to go have breakfast at the chinese kopitiam in Jalan Imbi opposite 7-eleven famous for the Nasi Lemak there. It was a hazy Sunday morning, one I would rather sleep in than venture outdoors. After all, I only had 3.5 hours of sleep because of the Germany vs Ghana soccer match which ended around 5pm. Yes, it's World Cup season again! Physically and mentally I was trashed cos of the lack of oxygen in the brain from countless sleepless nights staying up late catching live soccer matches.
After breakfast we took a walk to Bukit Bintang opposite Fahrenheit 88 as there was a new property showcase there and we were in the market for one to add to our investment portfolio. After that, following some quick window shopping at Sg Wang Plaza we went over to Lot 10 to the Chatime Galleria for a drink. Both of us are ardent fans of the specialty beverage and would often go for a drink there if we weren't hanging out at our favorite Starbucks! However, after the incident yesterday and a few previous incidents, I doubt I will ever step foot into a Chatime outlet again.
My wife had earlier went to the Hong Leong Bank ATM to withdraw some money and one of the RM50 note happened to be slightly stained. No big deal we thought since it's not torn anywhere or defaced, it's still legal tender and the value of the money was still RM50. The chap at the cash register looked 18-19 at best and from the way he spoke we reckoned he was a student from China working part-time there. After ordering and giving him the RM50 note, he became very rude and keep on asking if this was a real RM50 note. We assured him it was and told him we just got it from the ATM. He wasn't convinced and keep on holding it up to the light to see if there was the outline of the Agong there. He kept saying it was difficult to bank in that note later at the Cash Deposit Machine and it would be rejected. At that point we were already really annoyed. In my mind, it was none of my business whether the money can be banked in or not. As long as I paid for my purchases legally using a legal tender note taken out from an Automatic Teller machine and not a fake note. He the gave me back my change grudgingly, made our drinks obviously grudgingly and handed the drinks to me with a black face.
We then went over to the airconditioned area of the kiosk where they had some bar tables and high stools as my wife was tired from all that walking. 2 minutes later another kpop boyband looking guy came over to us holding the RM50 note we gave him earlier looking annoyed and kept on insisting we gave him a new one. We found out he was a Myanmar national and his name was Naim or Nain or something. After debating for 5 minutes, my wife took out her purse and grabbed a new RM50 note and handed it over to him in exchange for the stained RM50 note in his hand.
The cash register and kitchenette was attached to this little dining area and when he went back to his little corner, we could hear the both of them (China PRC national and Myanmar guy talking in Malay) "Money like this if we give customer also they don't want to accept, how can they give such thing to us?" rather audibly and in my opinion, rather on purpose to mock us.
At that point I totally lost it and shouted all sorts of Fcuk him up words from where I was sitting and instructed him to come and stand in front of me and say what he said again which to my surprise he did. I said I was going to report his stupid shit attitude to Bryan Loo the boss of Chatime to which he had the cheek to spell out his name clearly so I wouldn't misspell it to his boss when I complained about him. I then fcuked him up further for another 20 minutes till he went into the kitchenette to hide. There was another table of customers there who remained quite during most of the ruckus.
Here's a little thought I would like to share. Do you think we were not able to simply switch the RM50 note we legally tendered for the transaction we concluded over the counter? I am not rich but I'm sure I'd easily have a couple of RM50 notes in my wallet I can randomly take out to use to purchase stuff. How if I was a tourist there and that RM50 was the only piece I had when I changed my foreign currency for Malaysian Ringgit at the money changer? Would I need to run to the money changer again and frantically look for more foreign currency to change so that I would give this foreign worker a fresh unstained RM50 note? Would that look very good at the kind of customer service that we Malaysians show to our customers during Visit Malaysia Year 2014?
I am not against the idea of hiring foreign workers as our front liners in industries such as F&B or Hospitality. Being the Head of Department for the School of Hospitality and Tourism in a private Uni in Malaysia, I feel that we should properly train our foreign workers in the area of customer service and EQ before we allow them to be placed in the actual customer facing situation. Albeit cheap to hire, these foreigners will cause your company to lose millions of ringgit in profits if they continue to be ignorant in how to handle customers professionally or to the very least, politely. If you don't realize this early, don't be alarmed when you find that even if you have hundreds of outlets, your customers start to dwindle even though you have the best products at the best price.
Although you are selling a physical product and adhere to the 4Ps of marketing in formulating your killer marketing strategy, don't forget that you are also selling a service to your customers. In marketing services, there are an extra 3Ps you need to be aware of. People, Processes and Physical Evidence. The 'People' part of the 3Ps are the most important element in ensuring your company's success.
Overall, what went down yesterday, 22/6/2014 at the Chatime Galleria outlet outside Lot 10 Bukit Bintang was less than satisfactory. In fact, to be blunt, it was appalling so say the least. Receiving such service and treatment in an outlet located in a popular tourist shopping area leaves you much to desire for. It also leaves much (emphasis on MUCH) more room for improvement, not only for the sake of the country's image but also for the company's own reputation and profits. Why is this so? Because once you lose a customer, you may never ever get him/her back and don't forget, customers talk and if they don't have anything nice to talk about they will still talk and they will tell their friends in person, in Facebook, in twitter, in instagram and in Skype and not forgetting Whatsapp, Line, Wechat, Kakao, Viber, Gtalk, Email etc. And if they have bad things to say about you and you brush them off, now imagine they have 4000 friends in Facebook! That's enough to make you lose 4000 customers instantly... and then there's Youtube but let's not go there.
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