Old People or England and Customer Service
Remember that song about Short People?
Someone should write something in a similar vein about Old People. After Saturday's Mrs Difficult we had her grandmother in, unhappy about her tin of corned beef (and if you don't know what corned beef is, just be grateful; if you want a hint, think the English and food culture: whatever your imagination cooks up, it's worse)
It wasn't this old bird's problem that wound me up. I already was aware of the problem with the shelf pricing of the very similar tins and would happily have refunded the difference, but the battleaxe was having none of that. We'd inadvertently overcharged her and she no longer wanted the product. She practically flung the thing at me, made no attempt to speak to me with something approximating civility and left gracelessly clutching her returned coins.
Foreigners are quick to complain about standards of customer service in this country, with good reason. All too often the person the other side of the counter is sullen and/or vindictive.
The explanation for this is said to be rooted in England's class structure (as if that was not in fact far more fluid that that of most European and even former colonies). The English instinctively fight the class war anywhere and everywhere it might exist. A deep-seated fear of being demeaned by being in a position of 'service' induces most English to do the bare minimum as a form of revolt.
I think that the problem is at least a little more complicated than that. The English don't know how to be good Customers. This is not in itself news: plenty of commentators have flogged their 1,500 on how the English are unable to complain, are unable to stand up for themselves in the fact of poor service etc, etc.
This is not the real problem with the Englishman (or woman) as Customer. Fear of being seen to consider oneself actually no better than the equal of the person on the other side of the counter leads far too many English people who might otherwise be mild and well-mannered to deliberate, considered and calculated rudeness when confronted by contact with an individual in a 'service' role.
The idea of being in equal but different roles in a fleeting relationship is something to which the majority of English people cannot relate, and until they can Good Service will be a distant prospect: the poor sap on the other side of the counter from you is expecting you to belittle, to the extent that you acknowledge him or her at all.
Someone should write something in a similar vein about Old People. After Saturday's Mrs Difficult we had her grandmother in, unhappy about her tin of corned beef (and if you don't know what corned beef is, just be grateful; if you want a hint, think the English and food culture: whatever your imagination cooks up, it's worse)
It wasn't this old bird's problem that wound me up. I already was aware of the problem with the shelf pricing of the very similar tins and would happily have refunded the difference, but the battleaxe was having none of that. We'd inadvertently overcharged her and she no longer wanted the product. She practically flung the thing at me, made no attempt to speak to me with something approximating civility and left gracelessly clutching her returned coins.
Foreigners are quick to complain about standards of customer service in this country, with good reason. All too often the person the other side of the counter is sullen and/or vindictive.
The explanation for this is said to be rooted in England's class structure (as if that was not in fact far more fluid that that of most European and even former colonies). The English instinctively fight the class war anywhere and everywhere it might exist. A deep-seated fear of being demeaned by being in a position of 'service' induces most English to do the bare minimum as a form of revolt.
I think that the problem is at least a little more complicated than that. The English don't know how to be good Customers. This is not in itself news: plenty of commentators have flogged their 1,500 on how the English are unable to complain, are unable to stand up for themselves in the fact of poor service etc, etc.
This is not the real problem with the Englishman (or woman) as Customer. Fear of being seen to consider oneself actually no better than the equal of the person on the other side of the counter leads far too many English people who might otherwise be mild and well-mannered to deliberate, considered and calculated rudeness when confronted by contact with an individual in a 'service' role.
The idea of being in equal but different roles in a fleeting relationship is something to which the majority of English people cannot relate, and until they can Good Service will be a distant prospect: the poor sap on the other side of the counter from you is expecting you to belittle, to the extent that you acknowledge him or her at all.
posted by Enyo @ 11:36 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home