and 1 week passed by before i could even take a breather.
such fast pace. the intensity of deadlines. of furiously-written essays. of applications.
of another yacht club waitressing experience that left me sour and sick of the rich-poor divide.
of people that make me feel secure in their presence.
---------------
the yacht club waitressing experience showed me the flip side of an F&B outlet. from being a customer complaing of lousy service, i became the victim of complains. i began to realise the effects of short-staffed F&B outlets, the feeling of trying to finish everything quickly and in then end, inevitably giving sub-standard service.
i began to see, the difference between expats and local customers. the difference is startling. now i know why expats are given preferential treatment. they earned it by being a good customer. one does not throw his/her weight ard just bcos he/she is paying money. or dirty the whole area since "im paying for ppl to clean up after me" or start scolding ppl when their whim and fancy isnt satisfied. wth i'll rather run away with your order in case you didnt realise i havent tasted a drop of water for goodness knows how many hours and it took great strength not to devour ur icecream.
sadly, local customers need to learn. maybe im a culprit too? i hope not.
--------------
went exploring tdy! hehs went central bcos heard frm steph tht its a new place. its not fully opened yet but wow! found a dress there that someone said complimented my nice figure (: of course i bought it. then went night safari!
havent been to night safari since more than 10 yrs ago when it was different. took the tram ride, then walked ard. funn!!! hahah the night feel is much more fun (:
tired but happy. impluses can turn out very well (:
--------------
1 comment:
Hi there, I'm a friend of Jia Qi's and she showed me your blog entry after I complained to her about how pissed I am about local customers and how Western customers are such dearies and such nice people to work with. BTW, I'm working as a salesgirl at a place which isn't considered a tourist attraction, but there are still lots of tourists who visit the place. In fact, I even blogged about it too, but I kept the entry as private.
All I have to say is.... I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU. You're a waitress, I'm a salesgirl, and we both share the same sentiments.
The local customers who come to my shop irked me when their kids play with our stuff, spoil it but they refuse to pay. When they want to buy something, they DEMAND THE BEST. They have lots of complaints about us, from the service attitude to the goods. They bring back goods for exchange, saying lame things like " I forgot that my house also has the same thing. Can you refund me my money?" and if we apologise and said no, they wanted to complain. When they demand for a refund, they want people to refund them for their transport fees too.
And the Western customers? I'm sorry to make such a generalization but I think they are such dears to work with. I've had the best memories and the best stories to tell my family and friends when I work with them. They make my day when they smile and thank me. They are so gracious that it puts my local customers to shame.
I had a really bad day at work today because a local customer misunderstood what I've said, told me off and proceeded to bitch about me loudly in front of me to her friends. I am so glad to see your blog entry because it confirms that I am not being biased and that there are others in the service sector who think alike.
=) cheers to you.
Post a Comment