A man was on his way home in the MRT.
The cabin he was in didn't have any seats, it's standing room only. Such standing room only cabins are introduced to carry more passengers especially during peaj hours as they save more space which effectively means that more people can squeeze into the cabin. The cabin was relatively empty and so he sat down on the floor with his head touching the handrail. As the train moved and jerked, he knocked his head against the handrail. He bursted out cursing and swearing at the handrail. Everyone on board turned and looked at him. He seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting and started swearing at the system and the management of the MRT. Suddenly he was talking on his mobile phone to someone and again, he was cursing and swearing about the system and its management. By now, everyone either knew he was trying to get attention or just couldn't be bothered with him and were ignoring him. When he finally reached his destination, he went off while still talking loudly on his phone. Two elderly man standing next to where he sat looked at each other and shook their heads. Some wondered if he was actually speaking to himself on his phone. When I logged into my email account this morning, I had a rude shock.
It was an email by Citibank (Shittybank) thanking me for going paperless with Citibank Electronic Statements. Technology is changing the way we work and live in a faster way than before. From taking public transport to ordering of food, from watching TV programs to banking, technology is disrupting all kind of industries in unexpected ways. Banks are also jumping on the bandwagon to be ahead of competitors and Fintech companies, which are threatening banks' businesses and its very existence and survival. Technology helps to improve efficiency, lower costs, increase productivity, reduce human errors and create new businesses and opportunities. It also makes life easier and more convenient for people. In fact, you'll be hardpressed to find a bank which is not into something to do with technology. And when you look at all the banks, there are essentially no differences in the new services and products that they offer online or on mobile, except for the names they call them. In fact, Citibank has been trying to get me to subscribe to their paperless statement many years back. Their marketing message was to go green and save the environment, if I remembered correctly. And I think they do offer some form of incentive to encourage me to switch over. Of course, saving manpower and postage costs are the other reasons they did not mention. Not to forget the huge amount of capital investment they made to acquire the technology (software and hardware) to support online statement. I tried it once and revert back to physical statement cos I tend to forget to log in. And it's not responsibility to helps the bank saves money. Technologies might have improved over the years and made logging in a breeze. In a final effort to switch its customers over to online statement, the bank issued a notice informing its customers that there will be a charge for physical statement in future. And when this still didn't work to imgrate stubborn customers like me to switch over, they simply inform you what they've done after they've done it. I seriously do not remember signing up to go paperless with them and wonder why they are putting words into my mouth. This reminded me of my broadband contract which was up for renewal about a year ago. I went down to the shop to renew my contract and was told the plan I was on is no longer available. The staff offered me two new packages which were about 10 to 15% more expensive than what I was paying. He said all plans now are using new technology which is faster and more reliable. There were no notifications informing me that my plan was obselete, which they could easily do with an email (they have all my contacts to contact me). There was no special rates for existing customers to imgrate them over to the new technology. It's either you take it or leave it. Had Citibank tried to find out why customers like me are not switching over to paperless statement when it first implemented this service, they could probably gain insights and improve on their system. And if they really listen, I might have considered switching over without the need for them to do all kinds of stuff to make me change. Shoving something down your customers' throat leave a bad taste. That's why I refused to go down to their branch to close down my account which has one cent left. What do you do when you encounter a problem you cannot solve at work?
What do you do when you have something you do not understand at work? What do you do when you need advice, instruction or direction at work? In most situation, you would look toward your superior for an answer or solution. What if one day your supervisor come to you and ask, "What should we do?" Most of us expect our superior to have more experience/knowledge than us, know more than us and have all the answers to our questions at their finger tip. No one could imagine having a supervisor who does not has answers to problems, much less accept a supervisor who knows less than him or her. You'll question the supervisor's ability in leading you and how did he or she get into that position. But isn't having a supervisor who is willing to be truthful about what he or she does not know better than someone who pretends to know. Would you rather be lead by someone who does not know and pretends to know? Recently, I left a comment on the Facebook Page of a place that I had a bad experience with.
The administrator of the Page replied promptly and asked me to send a private message to them regarding the matter. I was hesitant about sharing my experience with the company. The incident involved a third party company, which the company would not be able to do anything. On the other hand, the experience with the company wasn't bad. Neither was it good (not excellent). The staff were just doing what they were doing in their posts. And that is exactly the problem. I wonder what will the company do after receiving my feedback. Are they going to put into their process or SOP (standard operating procedure) what their staff must do for future similar incidents? Even if it's possible, how are they going to ensure everyone follows it? And when it becomes a process that everyone follows, where's the experience? A staff was having his annual performance appraisal.
His supervisor highlighted a few of his strong points. She was especially pleased with him taking initiative to prepare some information on a project and disseminated it to the team members, which no one bothered to do. On the other hand, she also cautioned him not to always stick his head out. Otherwise, such initiative becomes part of his responsibility. What will his supervisor says next time if he displays less initiative? The diamond ring you did not receive at your engagement.
The new sports car your neighbor is driving. Never seeing snow in your life. Not receiving any birthday present. Your boyfriend is half an hour late for your date. Change your perspective. A screw from one side of my spectacle came off without me realizing it.
I quickly called the optical shop where I made my spectacle to ask if they could give me a replacement. The staff told me to just bring down my spectacle for them to take a look. While at a shopping mall yesteday, I saw that the optical shop has an outlet there. I went in and asked the staff about my problem. He asked, "Did you bring my specs?" I replied, "No. I just found out you have an outlet here." I then went on to describe the size of the screw. He walked to the shelf, opened a box and picked out a tiny screw with a pincer. He then placed the tiny screw on my palm. I couldn't tell if this is the right size and had wanted to ask if he could give me a few different ones for me to try. I will return those that do not fit on my next visit. But after placing the tiny screw on my palm, he just walked away. I was like "Huh?" How am I going keep this tiny screw without losing it? Am I going to put it in my berms pocket? Am I going to slot it into one of the slots in my wallet? Couldn't he at least give me a small plastic bag or wrap it in a piece of paper? Sure enough, I nearly dropped the screw when I tried to pick it between my thumb and index finger. I opened my wallet and try to look for somewhere to store it safely when I saw a namecard. Carefully, I placed the screw on the namecard and folded it before slotting it safely in my wallet. A month ago, my cousin and I went to another optical shop to buys his contact lenses. The manager promised to give him a pair of free contact lens previously. But during the last trip, the manager was transferred to another outlet. This time my cousin went back, the manager is back at the shop. My cousin jokingly mentioned to the manager that he still owes him a pair of free contact lenses. The manager not only kept his promise, he gave my cousin two pairs of contact lenses which were better. On top of that, the manager also gave me two pairs of the same contact lenses. Chope seats - An uniquely Singapore meal time culture where people use items like packet tissue, name card, lanyard, notebook, umbrella, water bottle, staff pass (yes) or any other personal belongings of low value to reserve seats by putting them on table or chair at hawker centers or foodcourt before buying their food. It's an indication that this particular seat has been taken though the person is not physically there.
One person occupying a seat will place a name card on a seat. Two persons occupying two seats will place two name cards on two seats. Three persons occupying three seats will place three name cards on three seats. Four persons occupying four seats will place four name cards on four seats. Five persons occupying five seats at a six-seater table will place five name cards on five seats. How many name cards do you need for six persons at a six-seater table? What do you do when you see a person distributing flyers?
Do you avoid him? Do you take a flyer from him? Do you gesture to him that you do not want it? Do you ignore him and just walk pass? Even if you take a flyer, do you do it out of pity to help the man clear his stock? Do you even give it a glance or just discard it at the next rubbish bin you see? Many times those flyer distributors are teenagers or adults. The other day, a kid about 7 years old was distributing flyer at a busy road in the central business district. Instead of avoiding him, all the passerby actually stopped or slowed down for him to give flyers to them. A few of them even approached him to get the flyer from him. And those who took the flyer actually read what's on it. Did they take the flyer from the kid out of sympathy or curiosity? Or is it because it's out of the ordinary to see a kid doing it? A big corporation is running a donation drive to bring some cheers to the underprivileged and low income families.
People are encouraged to adopt a wish from children of these families. All they have to do is to pick one of the many wishes, buy the item on the wish list and put it at a collection point. The company will then arrange to have the gifts delivered to the children at an event. The gifts soon trickle in... There are huge kitchen playset, Anello bag, Nike bag, basketball, Converse and Addidas product, etc. And it seems that there are wishlist for things like skate scooter, headphone, shirt and jean. Majority of the gifts received are from well-known brands an are not cheap. This makes me wonder if the children only specify the item and the brand that they want. If they only specify the items, kudos to the donors for their generosity. In fact, these donors might have bought those expensive stuff for their quality and durability. But what if the kids actually specify the brand of items they want? What if the company had ask the children to list down their wish list and the reason for choosing a particular gift? This reminds me of Standard Chartered Bank's 8-minute Service Pledge that it rolled up a few years ago. This 8-minute Service Pledge is part of the bank overall approach to drive superior customer service whereby it pledges that customers will be served within 8 minutes of visiting the bank's branch, failing which, it will contribute $1 to charity and participate in community work. On the surface, it looks like a win-win situation for all parties involved. Customers get quick service. Staff are more efficient. And there's some form of corporate social responsibility built into it that benefits charity and community. But on closer look, there is a huge conflict. Is the bank sending the message that charity is an afterthought? Only to be given some donations only if the bank is unable to fulfill the 8-minute Service Pledge? And how are the staff going to feel? For every customer they manage to serve within 8-minutes, this means that no money will be given to charity. What if they contribute $1 for every customer served within 8-minutes and reduce that amount by half if customer not served within 8-minutes? The Christmas dinner advertisements in December.
The free newspaper that's still available at 8am. People you see around your workplace. The crowd shopping at the new store. The size of tourists luggages. An elderly had a fall about one month before her trip to Bangkok.
Her son quickly checked with the budget airline and Changi Airport to arrange for a wheel chair so she does not need to walk too much. He also checked and made sure there is a wheelchair ready at Suvarnabhumi Airport when they arrive. The same arrangement was made for the return flight. On the day of departure, they queued and checked in their luggage at the counter. When he asked about the wheelchair, he was told to approach another counter on the opposite side. He did as instructed and was told by a staff that he needs to come back one hour later to get the wheelchair. As they planned to have their breakfast inside the transit area, they decided not to wait for the wheelchair. While clearing the custom, his mom had some problem with her finger print and was made to walk by herself to a corner counter even though it's obvious she had difficulty walking. Luckily her sister was with her. Inside the transit area, the son remembered that the airport also provides free wheelchair as he checked earlier. He went to the counter and told the staff. The staff pointed to a row of wheelchairs and told him to get it himself. She then turned back and continued talking to her colleague. So off he went to get the wheelchair and helped his mom get on it. When they reached the gate and passed through the security check at the waiting area, a staff suddenly appeared with a wheelchair. The staff asked the elderly lady to sit on the wheelchair and then pushed her into the plane. The son wondered why they did not give him a wheelchair at the check in counter as the distance from the check in counter to the gate is way farther than from the gate to the plane. Imagine how far his mom had to walk if the airport does not have free wheelchair. Upon arrival at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, there was another passenger, apart from his mom, who required wheelchair assistance. There were two wheelchairs at the gate but somehow his mom was made to wait for another wheelchair, which fortunately arrived shortly. The staff pushed the elderly lady all the way to clear custom through an express lane. He then pushed her all the way out of the arrival hall and to the taxi stand three levels down. On the return flight, they queued and checked in their luggages at Suvarnabhumi Airport. When the staff saw wheelchair assistance on the flight itinerary, they quickly brought a wheelchair to her. Instead of having to go up the escalator for security check and then down again for custom clearance, the staff pushed her through a door directly to clear custom, then pushed her all the way to the waiting area at the gate. Changi Airport may have won many awards as Best Airport in the world. But where is the human touch? Two Hong Kong ladies were queuing at airport custom for clearance.
They were queuing at two different lines and were talking across to each other. The queue at one of the line was moving faster than the other. The lady at the line which is moving slower decided to cut queue by crossing over to join her friend at the faster line. The custom officer at the faster line saw her and signaled to her to go back to her original line. Instead of abiding his order, she tried to hide herself behind her friend. When she approaches the counter, the custom officer signaled to her to go back to her original line again. She obediently went back to her original line but her face was as black as charcoal. The irony is that she is just two persons behind the faster queue and four persons behind the slower queue. And she was not late for her flight. Why cut queue when there's not much difference in clearance speed between the two lines? Does it make her happier to clear the custom faster? Does it make her feel like a winner? Or feeling of winning by being able to cheat? And have it ever happened to you that the queue you thought was faster ended up being slower? She should be glad that the custom officer did not ask her to re-queue. Two travellers were catching a flight at Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Singapore.
They joined the queue to check in their luggages when they noticed a Singapore family, a parents and their two daughters about 9 and 14 years old, in front of them. The parents were pushing a trolley each. On closer look, there were no luggages on the trolleys except for a few paper carriers. The two daughters were sitting sloppily on the trolleys and their parents were pushing them. Did the children find it fun to be pushed around in trolley? Were they too tired to walk? Were they way too lazy to walk? Are they too pampered? The travellers recalled seeing the Thais pushing supermarket trolleys with their kids in it. And all the kids are no more than 4 years old. And here is a 14 year old kid doing this. One of the travellers could only think of a valid reason if he ever allows his kid to sit on a trolley. That is if his kid is a handicapped. It's not difficult to foretell how the kids will grow up to be. |
AuthorOutrageous Marketing Archives
May 2020
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