This was the title of a dance movie a few years ago, with some brilliant choreography, but not much of a storyline. The term appears to originate from handing out (serving a person with) a court subpoena, but in typical American slang, has morphed into something that basically means, "someone better than you has just outdone you!" In less pleasant terms, you just had your arse handed to you, and you can't do a thing about it, live with it! Ouch! I digress...
In Ghana, someone somehow decided that when offering Customer Service, the customer actually should be SERVED. Then this cruel person went and taught this ideology to the entire service industry in the country. The result...
Customer: Waiter, there's a fly in my soup!
Waiter: And so what? You are even lucky it wasn't a roach! Pay up and get off that table so someone else can use it. You probably won't even give a good enough tip anyway!
Ok, well it's not this drastic, but when you're a paying customer, you tend to feel this way sometimes.
Then there's the staff in the Ghanaian service industry who have realised it's not that cool to SERVE customers, so they try hard to approach the situation differently. They SWERVE customers.
Customer Care Rep: Hello Customer Care, this is Ama speaking, how may I help you?
Customer: Hello, your service is currently not working.
Customer Care Rep: Yeah, we have been hearing that complaint all day today.
Customer: But it's not been working since last week, I am losing business!
Customer Care Rep: I am sorry sir, we have the technicians looking into it. Just be patient.
Customer: This is a waste of time. If I hadn't already paid for it, I would have gone for the other one.
Customer Care Rep: I am sorry sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Customer: NO. Goodbye!
Customer: Thank you sir. Have a nice day.
Customer (thinking to himself): Customer Care? Of course she doesn't care. Maybe if I pray the service will be back soon. I wish I didn't have to prepay for it though, it makes it hard to terminate and move to another one. Dear Lord...
Customer Care Rep (thinking to herself): Customer Care? Tweeaa! I don't care. You're on the other end of a telephone line, Ama is not even my real name. What can you do to me? Just move along. Hopefully it will be closing time soon...
You just got SWERVED buddy.
Whether its SERVICE or SWERVICE, it doesn't feel good. A lot of you feel helpless or nonchalant when it happens this way - I guess because you've become used to it.
I am NOT used to it. In fact, I DEMAND good service when I'm paying for it. It doesn't matter if its on special offer, or I am getting it for free. It should be good. When its not good, I complain. I let you know I'm expecting better. If you try and swerve me, I will have to escalate it. Someone higher up knows that the company's reputation and their job depends on EACH satisfied customer so they will work harder at making sure you get good service.
Of course this doesn't mean there are no exceptions that prove the rule. There are individuals in many companies who actually care. Who are considerate, professional and compassionate enough to do what is appropriate, appeasing. appreciable or useful to ensure that the customer is satisfied. The customer may not always be right, but they certainly are PAYING. Let them get some value for their money!
So this blog is about Customer Service in Ghana, the good, the bad, the ugly and annoying. Maybe they will see it, and the inventor of "YOU GOT SERVED" will repent of his/her evil ways. Maybe they won't but we will still have a place to vent our frustrations. I will call out those who SERVE and SWERVE, but I will also hail those who do good. I may have guest blogs, or I may not. You are certainly welcome to comment on anything you wish. I shall use the following terms loosely (probably with new ones joining in):
To SERVE generally means to offer bad service; and do so with the full confidence of knowing the it will upset the customer and showing you don't care.
To SWERVE generally means to avoid offering service at all, either by shifting blame, or pretending that you will do something about it, and not doing so. Either way, the customer has just wasted valuable time interacting with you.
GOOD SERVICE may be used interchangeably with to DELIVER, and generally involves the customer getting what they expect or at least feeling satisfied with the situation. Therefore, if a company's rep helps to defuse a brewing situation or deals effectively with a complaint or just does his/her job, it deserves commendation.
A REP or SERVER or STAFF will be used to refer to any person or group of people who offer service on behalf of the company that employs them. They are the point of contact in that company and their service delivery is what defines our reaction.
The CUSTOMER is the person who is expecting a service to be delivered, often at a cost, no matter how large or small. This person shouldn't be made to lower his/her expectations just because many companies don't care. This person should be pleased, or at the very least, satisfied with the service delivery to the point where he/she would be desirous of paying for it again.
There will likely be older experiences that I will refer to on this blog, and the good news (for my friends who work in any of these companies) is that I will not name the companies. But from hence, any SERVES and SWERVES will be properly called out, including, where necessary, the name of the service representative.
Here we go...
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