Do you want ice?

17 August 2005. 3.30 pm. Plaza Singapura foodcourt on the 6th floor. Drinks counter. 

I am the second in line, beside the thirtyish woman being served.

All dialogue is in Mandarin, unless otherwise indicated.

Woman customer, pointing to the drink fountain with soyabean milk, to the middle-aged woman behind the counter: Do you have this hot?

Woman seller: No, only cold.

Customer: Oh.

Seller: Do you want it?

The customer puts her hand against the drink fountain to feel how cold it is, and says: No, then I don't want it. You don't have it warm?

Seller: This is all we have. Just this cold version.

Me: There's another stall in Basement 2 - they have both hot and cold soyabean milk.

Customer replying to to me: Oh....

Seller interjects: Do you want it?

Customer thinks for a while, then: Can you warm it up for me?

Seller: No, I cannot. We have to sell it cold.

Customer: Why?

Seller: That's our product range.

Customer: So you dispense a cold one and you warm it up. What's so hard about warming it up?

Seller: That's not our system.

Pause.

Customer: Then can you mix in some hot water?

Seller: Cannot.

Customer: What's so hard about mixing in some hot water?

Seller: I have to sell you a whole cup.

Customer - and I am amazed she isn't exasperated by then: You can't mix some hot water in it for me?

Seller: No, I can't do that. 

Pause.

Seller: But I can give you a  separate cup of hot water.

Customer: OK, give me a separate cup of hot water.

Seller: So you want a cup of this soyabean milk?

Customer: Yes, and a separate cup of hot water.

Seller, while dispensing the soyabean milk: Do you want ice?

Customer: Of course not! Why would I want ice?

The customer and I turn to look at each other, our eyes rolling. we needed each other to steady ourselves, lest we collapse.

While the seller went away briefly to get a cup of hot water, the customer said to me (in English): Thanks for the tip, but I don't think I can walk so far.

(I think to myself - maybe she isn't feeling well.)

The customer paid for her soyabean milk (the hot water was free) and left. Her parting words to me (in English): This is so typical of service in Singapore!

I nodded in sympathy.

It was my turn. All I wanted was a green tea which was simple enough, but the seller tried to justify her actions by saying (in Mandarin): I have to do it like that, because that's what my supervisor wants. otherwise, he will scold me.

* * * * *

And do you know why the supervisor has to lay down a system? Because if he didn't insist, the service level would be even worse!

There is no culture of service in Singapore, especially among the Chinese-speaking. Things can be unbelievably bad when there is no management presence. The customers are ignored while the staff chat away; or they are served in any random order regardless of who has come first. Ice may or may not be provided, carrier bags may or may not be provided for take-away items.

Faced with a complete absence of service sensibility, the management has to lay down set procedures, MacDonald's style. Follow the script, the supervisors insist.

And so the seller in this incident followed the script. She only sells cold soyabean milk; she cannot tamper with the product, like warmiing it up; she cannot dispense half a cup when the customer is paying the full price; and she must offer ice.

Of course the entire scene was absurd, for it would have taken very little to satisfy the customer. Just a bit of flexibility, motivated by a desire to help, was all that was needed.

But the root problem is that there is no inclination to be helpful. If they are not told, too many staff will do their jobs any way that suits them, not excluding raising their voices at customers. The lesser of the two evils then is for the management to insist they follow the script, even if that means a rigid, follow-the-book kind of service, for the alternative may be no service at all.

You shake your head. It is insane! But it is Singapore.

© Yawning Bread 

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