Serv-ish Culture

cus·tom·er serv·ice

noun

1. the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services.
2. 
   

Question. Do proprietors in Lagos actually know what customer service is? I suspect that most of them will complain of the poor quality of the workers they have access to if this question was laid at their feet, but I wonder, do they really grasp the concept of how to deliver good services to their patrons? I hear you argue, "but a lot of these people are rich now, and they travel around the world". My counter is that you assume that they actually notice the subtleties in the service they receive in the posh restaurants and hotels they patronize in exotic places pied for by local punters. For many, the "more kpomo and moin moin crowd", as a dear friend likes to describe those who have more money than manners, (the more money they have, the more of these things they buy you see) after exceeding their very low threshold for good customer service, all the rest may fly above their heads. This characterization, though crude, may not be too far off the mark, for it appears to be a baffling concept for far too many that if you want someone to give you custom and business, it would be beneficial to afford that person a reasonable measure of courtesy and quality of service.

I believe the Nigerian consumers, both rich and poor, have been so traumatized that they no longer expect or even deem themselves worthy of good service. They accept "Nigerian business" service, (not to be confused with the mostly excellent "Nigerian cultural" service) which is great if you are a "big man" (and thus gets lots of eye service) and non-existent if you are not. Oga gets the good mornings, and yes-sirs, some complimentary water and a seat if he has to wait a few minutes for anything (oga madam gets less, but that will be the subject of another post). However, if you don't have the right cut of suit and shoes, or your agbada is not of the right material, or your car is not a 'big man's car', you get treated like a step child and 'seen finish' as they say.

Or else, how does one explain what last Sunday? The tale was relayed to me by the same dear friend (of the plenty kpomo ati moin moin fame) of a visit to a hairdressing salon. I say a and not hers, as her visit to this one was born of necessity as she could not get an appointment at her normal place and could not wait to arrange one. So she calls up a stylist that she had used before who arranges with her to come to her new madam's salon early to avoid other patrons (as she was unfamiliar with this establishment having not been there before and wanted to control the timing and experience as much as she could as she had other commitments that same day). That the lady she made the appointment with kept her waiting for almost two hours is not the story here, though normally that should be a prime example of poor customer service. It was actually the horrific experience of another patron (as her stylist was so late she did not get the time slot she wanted and consequently lost the exclusivity she had hoped for) that came in shortly after her. This patron thankfully had a different stylist, however, the establishment had only one sink (now you begin to understand why she wanted the place all to herself), far below the normal Lagos big girl standards.

So besto was relaxing her hair, and made sure that she pushed her stylist to be efficient so she got to wash her hair first. Luckily, it turned out the other lady needed longer anyways, but no one wants to hear 'sorry ma', cos that ain't going to grow back the bald patches if the relaxer burns your scalp. After washing out the relaxer, she had a conditioner applied and asked that it be washed out at a certain time. Shortly before her requested time slot, the other lady started to complain that her hair was beginning to tingle, a telltale sign that the relaxer should be washed off. So she politely asked my friend if she could cut in, and being a considerate human being was more than happy to wait a little longer with conditioner in her hair so her fellow customer could get the nasty chemicals out of her hair. So the other patron was deposited in the chair, more than ready to continue with her treatment, when her stylist excused herself for an important task and stepped out of the salon.

Soon after, the customer starts to make some feeble protests after a while about her hair burning and the lack of urgency in attending to her, the other stylist is entreating her colleague to sort the customer in chair out, and my besto biting her tongue to avoid putting her mouth inside. And guess what the girl was doing? She was on the phone. Wonderful! Na wa oh my people.

There are so many things wrong with the treatment of this customer that I don't even know where to begin. How do you leave a customer in such a state to answer the phone without making arrangements to attend to her? How does a "professional" hair stylist ignore such a crucial safety issue? How are they not aware or, if they are, worried by their liability if the other customer was injured due to their inactivity? I say they as I suspect the proprietor or proprietress (trying to be PC sha) has never told them that this was an absolute no-no. It so sad how little business owners prepare their staff to give their customers a decent experience. Do they now appreciate how much custom this turns away from their business? Do they not appreciate customer satisfaction or feedback? If I owned a service business I would ask every customer to fill in a form or give feedback in some way, and I would make sure that part of the workers pay (or even continued employment) was contingent on good reviews. I would use technology to keep watch (nanny cams don't only have to be for house helps) of their interactions to make sure they don't represent my business. Alas, I have come to the conclusion that most business owners don't know, don't show, or don't care about what is going on in their establishments.