Thanks to Internet banking and the privilege of having a Relationship
Manager designated to me by my primary banker, I rarely need to visit
any brick-and-mortar bank branch. The other day was one such rare
occasion, when I needed to transact a certain kind of business that
could only be executed at a certain branch of a certain bank.
It took me a while to navigate to the desk of the customer service
officer to whom I was directed, and I got there only to find her seat
vacant. I looked around for a bit and everybody around seemed
extremely busy. At another desk nearby an important-looking officer
was going through a whole bunch of important-looking documents. She
didn't have any customers seated opposite her and I could tell that
she was aware of my presence, but she did her best to avoid
eye-contact. Lest I should bring her more work, I guess. Anyway, since
I was not in a tearing hurry I decided to hang around and look
helpless, hoping someone would notice. I was relieved when at last the
officer I was waiting for showed up. However, she scarcely registered
by presence, and instead immediately started talking to her colleagues
across her carrel partition. Yet another reminder that I have neither
a commanding presence nor a charming personality.
As I was waiting for her to turn her attention to me, I couldn't help
overhearing her complaining to her important-looking colleague (who
suddenly found time to listen to her), about the poor service she got
from her mobile provider's customer support staff. My patience was
rewarded when she finally turned to me, still in an unpleasant mood.
No smile, no warm friendly greeting, no "How can I help you?" -
instead, just a "Yes?" that barely managed to be polite. Before I
could complete my first sentence the telephone at her desk rang and
she answered it with a shudder of exasperation. By the time she was
done with that call and turned to me again, an apparently junior
colleague of hers came to her desk with some papers in her hand,
seeking advice on some other customer's transaction. Long story short,
it took me all of 30 minutes to complete my transaction, which
according to me should have taken not more than 5. Or maybe 10
minutes, at most.
As I was leaving I made a brief comment to her, with a smile - "When
we complain about poor service, as customers, it's a good idea to
introspect a bit about the quality of service we provide to our own
customers, when we act as service providers. After all, we all play
both those roles, don't we?" She was smart enough to get that, and
only then apologized. And even in that, showing herself to be an
efficient but helpless cog-in-the-wheel of a large, chaotic system. I
wanted to quote a line from Bob Dylan's song - "It may be the devil or
it may be the lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody". But
somehow it didn't seem appropriate. For one thing I didn't think she'd
know who Bob Dylan was, and who knows, she might have even found the
quote egregious.
But for you, here's the song. Enjoy! And do remember this little
anecdote .. as much when you're the pigeon dumping on the statue, as
when you're the statue taking crap from the pigeon.
Manager designated to me by my primary banker, I rarely need to visit
any brick-and-mortar bank branch. The other day was one such rare
occasion, when I needed to transact a certain kind of business that
could only be executed at a certain branch of a certain bank.
It took me a while to navigate to the desk of the customer service
officer to whom I was directed, and I got there only to find her seat
vacant. I looked around for a bit and everybody around seemed
extremely busy. At another desk nearby an important-looking officer
was going through a whole bunch of important-looking documents. She
didn't have any customers seated opposite her and I could tell that
she was aware of my presence, but she did her best to avoid
eye-contact. Lest I should bring her more work, I guess. Anyway, since
I was not in a tearing hurry I decided to hang around and look
helpless, hoping someone would notice. I was relieved when at last the
officer I was waiting for showed up. However, she scarcely registered
by presence, and instead immediately started talking to her colleagues
across her carrel partition. Yet another reminder that I have neither
a commanding presence nor a charming personality.
As I was waiting for her to turn her attention to me, I couldn't help
overhearing her complaining to her important-looking colleague (who
suddenly found time to listen to her), about the poor service she got
from her mobile provider's customer support staff. My patience was
rewarded when she finally turned to me, still in an unpleasant mood.
No smile, no warm friendly greeting, no "How can I help you?" -
instead, just a "Yes?" that barely managed to be polite. Before I
could complete my first sentence the telephone at her desk rang and
she answered it with a shudder of exasperation. By the time she was
done with that call and turned to me again, an apparently junior
colleague of hers came to her desk with some papers in her hand,
seeking advice on some other customer's transaction. Long story short,
it took me all of 30 minutes to complete my transaction, which
according to me should have taken not more than 5. Or maybe 10
minutes, at most.
As I was leaving I made a brief comment to her, with a smile - "When
we complain about poor service, as customers, it's a good idea to
introspect a bit about the quality of service we provide to our own
customers, when we act as service providers. After all, we all play
both those roles, don't we?" She was smart enough to get that, and
only then apologized. And even in that, showing herself to be an
efficient but helpless cog-in-the-wheel of a large, chaotic system. I
wanted to quote a line from Bob Dylan's song - "It may be the devil or
it may be the lord, but you're gonna have to serve somebody". But
somehow it didn't seem appropriate. For one thing I didn't think she'd
know who Bob Dylan was, and who knows, she might have even found the
quote egregious.
But for you, here's the song. Enjoy! And do remember this little
anecdote .. as much when you're the pigeon dumping on the statue, as
when you're the statue taking crap from the pigeon.
