One of the oldest beverages known to man, teas have always held pride of place in many cultures.
All around the world, festive occasions like weddings and birthdays are marked with tea ceremonies. While the English are known to obsess over their afternoon teas, many Asian cultures too have embraced tea as the healthier drink of choice. Numerous innovations like “bubble” teas and fruit teas have made this leafy libation cherished by both young and old.
You need the right tool for the job (Swiss Army knife courtesy of Victorinox)
Productivity is one of the main prerogatives for Singapore’s service-based and export-driven economy.
Unfortunately, it is also one of the toughest challenges to surmount.
As I’ve blogged previously, addressing our productivity challenge entails understanding what it means. This involves studying how man, method, machine, material and other means are combined to generate wealth for the enterprise in the most effective and efficient manner. Through the careful analysis and diagnosis of problem areas, organisational productivity issues can be resolved.
This platter of sushi and sashimi tastes every bit as good as it looks! Oishii desu ne!
“Irrashaimase!”
Was horrified by Victor Koo’s recent post on his mis-encounters with a certain leading bank in Singapore. It is certainly not just an isolated incident since I heard so many horror service stories.
I don’t know if you guys have watched this video about a customer’s frustrated attempt to cancel his AOL account. Vincent Ferrari spent more than 20 minutes on the line with a joker from AOL (who subsequently got fired it seems). I am sure we all can empathise with Vincent Ferrari some way or other.
Even fish mongers treat you like a god!
A key reason why I enjoyed my recent vacation to Hokkaido so much was the customer experience. Let’s face it. Japanese service quality is light years ahead of ours. Almost everybody I know who visited Japan raved about it. However, they do also have certain chinks in the armour as you would see later.
First, let’s talk about what great service is. Delightful service goes beyond being polite and courteous. It looks at ensuring that every single touchpoint to a customer is taken care of. It emphasises being quick and responsive to customer’s needs. It empowers staff to be flexible and to take quick remedial action in service failures. It pays close attention to the fine details and little nuances.
I came across this post from marketing guru Seth Godin about service on an airline. Thought it was interesting enough to share.
Joel Spolsky shares this great story from a flight attendant:
Alright, I am gonna dote on my company for a few minutes. As most everyone on here is probably familiar with, last night was a nightmare for people travelling to and from the Northeast. We currently have 5 flights a day from CMH, 4 to/from JFK and 1 to/from BOS. Last night, out of CMH alone, Delta cancelled 3 flights, American cancelled 2, and Continental cancelled 1 and those are just flights that I know of. After we found out that our flight was delayed until 2223, the captain and the rest of us station employees decided to pool our money and we purchased pizza for all passengers on board our aircraft. Since the pizza place wouldn’t deliver to the airport, one of our crewmembers volunteered to go pick it up. Once the pizza was brought back, the passengers were boarded, our live tv and xm were turned on and the pizza was served by ALL the crew, not just the flight attendants. The Captain, FO and other airport crewmembers went above and beyond. Granted I may be a little biased, but I was glad to be here last night. The feeling of seeing that plane take off and those people get to where they are going, even if they were late was pretty darn good. Not too many other airlines that I know of will do that for their customers.
It’s not just “not too many other airlines…”, it’s, “not too many employees.” Wanna bet she had more fun than most flight attendants that day?
I wonder if we will ever encounter this in Singapore? It would be great to have char kway teow or chicken rice delivered to us on a delayed flight!