This incident occured last Monday when Snowylady's colleagues decided to give her a birthday treat at a Japanese restaurant in the revamped Marina Square.
I arrived slightly later separately with the two children, having to get Snowylass to have her dinner first and then a shower before leaving home.
When I arrived, I learned that moments before, a waiter just scalded a bare arm of Snowylady's colleague, Ms L., with hot water. I have been scalded before and I recalled how painful it was. The waiter just apologised but showed no initiative to improve the situation. It was after he noticed Ms L. putting the wet tissue towel on the scalded arm that he offered her more wet tissue towel. I don't think he even informed the manager. He seemed more keen to assure himself that it was not too serious.
I went to the Guardian Pharmacy in the mall and asked for the pharmacist to recommend a salve for scalded skin. It did help Ms L. feel a lot better.
As I mentioned in an earlier entry, it's rather difficult for me to have proper meals with Snowylad around. Most of the dinner, I was walking with him outside, exploring more of the mall on a quieter Monday evening.
When I returned after the dinner ended, I learned the restaurant didn't give them any discount whatsoever.
I also learned that the guilty waiter saw Ms L. applying the lotion (which according to instructions, to re-apply half-hourly) and inquired about it. Only then did he offered to pay for the lotion, making a joke it'd come handy for the cooks in the restaurant who often scalded themselves. He was rejected.
I know the service level in Singapore is pathetic. The waiter was not the bottom of the barrel, but he lacked some common sense and initiative. Furthermore, telling customers that the kitchen staff often scalded themselves does not inspire any confidence in the eatery, which was too bad 'cos Snowylady told me the food was quite good (I didn't eat there.)
Being in the service industry myself, I know service failure might be inevitable, but what distinguishes a good service provider and a mediocre one is a good service provider actively seeks to more than make up for it through service recovery.
What kind of service do you do, Snowyb? A lot worse off than American waiters, but some waiters here are pretty racist; serving whites first and such.
ReplyDeleteHmm... my gf's sister once had soup splashed onto her shirt. The restaurant reimbursed her for a brand new shirt costing $70 more than the meal itself.
ReplyDeleteSome establishments or managers do have sense in their heads.
ReplyDeleteBut the notion of taking personal responsibility in one's job is still not very widespread here in Singapore.
suumaamiyamoto, I provide services to help clients get the best professional/business use from their IT systems. I also oversee the maintenance of the systems.
The most racist service I ever got in America was at a Chinese restaurant in Boston served by Chinese. :-)
ReplyDeleteJust to share a little something about service recovery, this happened during the CHF outing on Aug 20th, it took more than half-hour for GZ to get his drink when the rest of us already had ours, obviously GZ was upset and told the staff so.
ReplyDeleteOne of the staff who wasn't responsible for the delay came to apologise to us in a very sincere manner. I believe she was hearing-impaired judging by her use of hand-signs. I might be mistaken but she also informed the manager who came to apologse to us as well and advised us she will take off the service charge.
The same staff who apologised earlier drop better later to once again apologse to GZ when he has already cooled down. Later she saw that we were taking pictures and came by to offer to help us take our pictures without us asking for any help.