I remember being so elated with the auto driver's approach.
Unfortunately, I have had to reconsider that opinion. You see, last Friday (Feb 22nd), this guy asked me for an advance of Rs.500. I made the mistake of giving him the amount, simply to avoid the "sillarai" (petty cash) issue in the morning, while settling the Rs.80.
Since I had set a precedent, last Thursday (Feb 28th), the guy coolly asked for an advance of Rs.2000! I gave him Rs.500 and said that I would think about the balance. He has assured me that he would "oattee kazhichiduvaen" the whole amount.
Simple arithmetic will tell you that he has to make 25 trips for me, to finish off the advance. What the heck? That translates to 5 weeks of continuous morning trips. If I take a day off or even take my car, then I am looking at a further extension in the repayment, which in effect means that I would have to retain his account till mid-April or thereabouts.
So, on Friday, when he enquired about why I looked tired (I was really looking a bit tired since I am yet to get over my cold-cough situation, even as I am blogging this now), I saw a window open and told him that it was all due to the pollution and the early morning mist that is still going around in Chennai's outskirts. I told him that I was so affected by it that I was planning to return to my car just to avoid all this.
I thought he got the message, but when I got off at the station, he brought up the money topic in a subtle way, saying that we could settle it on Monday. I was in a hurry to catch the train and simply told him that I would consider it on Monday.
Now, all that is left is for me to finish off the 7-8 more days that he owes me and probably start looking at alternate options of commuting to the station.
Showing posts with label service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label service. Show all posts
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Value added service
As usual, on Wednesday morning, I took an auto. This guy is from the Stand at the end of my street.
A few minutes into the trip, the guy passed me the newspaper he was reading and asked if I would like to read it. While it may be a very trivial little gesture, I still liked that he was trying to do something extra for his customer.
Furthermore, during the trip itself, he voluntarily asked where exactly my house was and if he could come there by 6.45-6.50 AM to pick me up.
My experiences last week - on 2 or 3 days - was that I just couldn’t find any auto in the morning and had to take the bus to reach the railway station. This caused me to miss my usual train and hence reach office later than usual.
Anyways, that kind of played into my mind and I agreed to work out the deal with him. And he was there at my doorstep this morning at the indicated time. He greeted me with a big and traditional Chennai Hello Salute. And handed over the newspaper promptly.
I just hope he doesn’t ask for a hike in the rates due to the hike in fuel prices declared today. In any case, Raghu is going to arrange for my bike to repaired, so the arrangement could be only a short-lived one. But till that time, I am going to let myself be pampered like a King!
A few minutes into the trip, the guy passed me the newspaper he was reading and asked if I would like to read it. While it may be a very trivial little gesture, I still liked that he was trying to do something extra for his customer.
Furthermore, during the trip itself, he voluntarily asked where exactly my house was and if he could come there by 6.45-6.50 AM to pick me up.
My experiences last week - on 2 or 3 days - was that I just couldn’t find any auto in the morning and had to take the bus to reach the railway station. This caused me to miss my usual train and hence reach office later than usual.
Anyways, that kind of played into my mind and I agreed to work out the deal with him. And he was there at my doorstep this morning at the indicated time. He greeted me with a big and traditional Chennai Hello Salute. And handed over the newspaper promptly.
I just hope he doesn’t ask for a hike in the rates due to the hike in fuel prices declared today. In any case, Raghu is going to arrange for my bike to repaired, so the arrangement could be only a short-lived one. But till that time, I am going to let myself be pampered like a King!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Exemplary service at Sangeetha's
Last evening my dad and I went to Sangeetha's at Adyar for a quick evening bite. We ordered Ragi Dosa, just for the heck of it.
The aforementioned dish was served. It is so dark in color that the first impression one gets is that its roasted real well. Au contraire, it is barely cooked.
One thing that both of us observed was that there was no, or at best little, salt. After the first bite, I had a good mind to cancel the stuff. But then we just proceeded to have a couple of more pieces. The supervisor came by and we somehow couldn't resist asking him about the lack of salt. He explained that since it was treated as a health food, they usually don't add much salt. He then walked away.
We went on with the job on hand and in a minute or so, were interrupted by the supervisor asking for our excuse. He said that he'd checked with the chefs and found out that the salt level was lower than normal. He then proceeded to say that we could cancel the order and get a fresh order of the same dish or anything else we require.
Since we had already eaten like half the dosai, we said it was ok and that we don't mind continuing with what was served. But the guy went on to say that our satisfaction was of utmost importance and that if we were not happy at any level, he was willing to bring anything else to supplement what we were eating. Another supervisor also joined the session and went to add that they were supposed to take care of customers and that no one should go unsatisfied.
We had a really difficult time in telling them that we were okay eating that dosai. I went on to add that I was really happy with the kind of attention they were giving to what was just an enquiry/comment about the salt content in the dosai.
It was a very different and satisfying experience. I'd never expected any restaurant folks to go so far to please their customers. This is a big restaurant with a lot of floating population. The more expensive and niche restaurants have a regular clientele and can well afford to pamper their customers. Since they don't get that big a crowd they can easily find out who is regular and who is not. And mostly, these restaurants are not open for very long hours and so can easily concentrate on anyone who visits them. And all the attention could just be to get a good tip and not a genuine wish to serve you well.
But this is a big chain in the city and even if there are regular customers, the sheer number that floats in and out when they are open, will make it tough for them to remember who comes often and who does not. And since the section where we ate has a 'payment only at the counter' policy, it is understandable if the supervisors and waiters just do their work and leave customer satisfaction out the door.
This is where, I feel, this restaurant differs. And mine was not an isolated incident. My friend Raji and her husband Anand were in an almost identical situation and were given the exact same treatment.
Hats off to the Restaurant staff.
The aforementioned dish was served. It is so dark in color that the first impression one gets is that its roasted real well. Au contraire, it is barely cooked.
One thing that both of us observed was that there was no, or at best little, salt. After the first bite, I had a good mind to cancel the stuff. But then we just proceeded to have a couple of more pieces. The supervisor came by and we somehow couldn't resist asking him about the lack of salt. He explained that since it was treated as a health food, they usually don't add much salt. He then walked away.
We went on with the job on hand and in a minute or so, were interrupted by the supervisor asking for our excuse. He said that he'd checked with the chefs and found out that the salt level was lower than normal. He then proceeded to say that we could cancel the order and get a fresh order of the same dish or anything else we require.
Since we had already eaten like half the dosai, we said it was ok and that we don't mind continuing with what was served. But the guy went on to say that our satisfaction was of utmost importance and that if we were not happy at any level, he was willing to bring anything else to supplement what we were eating. Another supervisor also joined the session and went to add that they were supposed to take care of customers and that no one should go unsatisfied.
We had a really difficult time in telling them that we were okay eating that dosai. I went on to add that I was really happy with the kind of attention they were giving to what was just an enquiry/comment about the salt content in the dosai.
It was a very different and satisfying experience. I'd never expected any restaurant folks to go so far to please their customers. This is a big restaurant with a lot of floating population. The more expensive and niche restaurants have a regular clientele and can well afford to pamper their customers. Since they don't get that big a crowd they can easily find out who is regular and who is not. And mostly, these restaurants are not open for very long hours and so can easily concentrate on anyone who visits them. And all the attention could just be to get a good tip and not a genuine wish to serve you well.
But this is a big chain in the city and even if there are regular customers, the sheer number that floats in and out when they are open, will make it tough for them to remember who comes often and who does not. And since the section where we ate has a 'payment only at the counter' policy, it is understandable if the supervisors and waiters just do their work and leave customer satisfaction out the door.
This is where, I feel, this restaurant differs. And mine was not an isolated incident. My friend Raji and her husband Anand were in an almost identical situation and were given the exact same treatment.
Hats off to the Restaurant staff.
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