Due to the current project that I am involved in, I have been hanging around my client’s office for the most part of this year. And because of that, my project mates and I have been having our lunches and sometimes dinner around the same area. In particular, we frequent this little shop managed by a family of husband and wife, with I presume one of their parent, and sometimes their kids during the holidays.
The food is not fantastic to say the least, but it is not bad if, like me, you are not fussy about food. The decorations are sparse and furnishings really minimal. Yet we keep going back to the same little shop. Apparently quite a number of customers felt the same way about the place.
If it is not the food, so what is the draw of this place? The first time I visited the shop, my colleagues and I were instantly greeted by the friendly shopkeepers. Their politeness and friendliness continued to impress us throughout our meal. Neither is it just a one-time fluke. The good service has continued throughtout the months that I have visited.
An elderly lady who serves and collects payment is equally friendly. The tradition seems to run in the family. On numerous occasions, despite ordering a meal that did not include any sidedishes, I was offered a bowl of complimentary soup. The feeling that good service ignites is rather pleasant.
I relate this back to an article that I read recently in the local papers, about a lady who teaches students the art of good service. Of note was that she was lamenting the fact that the youth of today do not have the correct attitude when it comes to service. This is especially true in this country. We see it happening everyday.
Sales persons who cannot bring themselves to smile, even when approached. Taxi drivers who line up for hours at the queues and expect passengers to pay them more even if the trip is short. Drivers who refuse to help with luggage, citing that it is not within their “job scopes”. Customer services officers who sound exasperated when asked too many questions. And there are countless other examples.
To extend along the same lines, we have rude people who refuse to stand to one side of the escalator to let others pass. Passengers on the train who crowd near the entrance, preferring to explore each other’s odour, rather than move towards the center. There are movie-goers still having their mobile ring-tones turned on, and worse still, answering the phones loudly during the show. We have the roadhogs that speed up whenever they detect another vehicle about to overtake them, or even when pedestrains are crossing the road ahead. And there are countless other examples.
I have come to the conclusion that it all boils down to personal attitude towards life, self-esteem and basic social awareness. A person who has a relatively positive outlook on life tend to reach out for the goodness in things. They will in turn brighten up the lives of others around them, or they will try to. Having a higher sense of self-esteem will cause a person to feel good about himself, and thus not be self-centered, trying their best to always outperform others; always something to prove. A lot of people these days think so hard about their own problems, that they toss everything else out the window. It is all about the person staring back in the mirror.
I wish that everyone I meet can be like the shopowners of this particular eatery. They teach me about service. They teach me about Life. We all have something to learn from them.
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