Sunday, May 27, 2007
10:16:00 PM
Some time back, Mediacorp TV in Singapore had a programme called "The Arena". It was a programme which pitted the debating skills of high school students in Singapore. I recalled this particular motion which was something along the lines of "The service standards in Singapore still has a long way to go". The teams debating this motion were Nanyang Girl's High and United World College (UWC). UWC won the round. They later went on to clinch the title. Their argument was, it wasn't that Singapore's service standards were not good, but there was still a long way to go before they are world class.
The pride of the nation's service standards without a doubt goes to the folks at the airport and on board Singapore Airlines, but these folks are at most professional, not warm. They can do no wrong in making sure that you have a satisfactory answer, but in making you feel right at home, they still need a long time. However, there are others in Singapore who somehow cannot deliver customer service. I was a personal witness to some incidents and I bore the brunt of some of these incidents too. In writing this post, I do not mean to say that all cabbies in Singapore do not meet the mark, I have personally encountered quite a fair bit of nice cabbies, but in all honesty, all the goodwill that the nice cabbies have earned are destroyed by some of their compatriots of the business.
I was on my way back from the airport once and I witnessed this cabbie dictating and screaming at a caucasian couple who have presumably come to Singapore on a holiday. I personally hope this couple is one of those who have never heard of Singapore as a first world country and still believe us to be in the third, for I am quite sure this cabbie has ruined their trip.
On many occasions in which I try to hail a cab between 10pm to 12mn along Orchard Road, I always fail. It is not that there were no cabs, it is just that cabbies refuse to stop. Comfort and other cab operators can choose to dispute this, but it is a fact, you can check with any Singaporean. One day, before a flight overseas, I was trying to get home from Orchard Road at 11+ at night. At least five cabs zoomed past me with their green lights on, but none came to a halt. It got me really irritated and wanting to prove my point, I immediately whipped out my digital camera, put it to video mode and started filming, the next cab that I hailed stopped immediately.
It also seems that cabbies in Singapore can do anything for tourists, even if it means stopping on the wrong side of the road. I personally witnessed this while dining at Food Republic at Wisma Atria. A cab stopped for a pair of tourists and my friend who was with me commented that if it was a Singaporean doing this, the cabbie would not care, which leads me to the incident which just took place.
Now, Singapore cabbies have this habit of putting out signs of their preferred destination and if you happen to hail one without, it means this this cabbie is willing to go anywhere. I hailed one of these cabs today and hopped on. However, Mr Comfort cabbie, SH7548Z decided that waiting was not an option for him and he told me after I have gotten on and closed the doors that he didn't have time to wait. My entire journey would have taken at most 20 mins, but imagine if I got on and told him that I wanted to go to the airport, which was half an hour away, would he still have made me get off the cab? If so, couldn't he have put up a sign earlier to at least let me know he was in a hurry, cos clearly, he was not. Should I hear another complaint from a cabbie that he has no business in Singapore (and trust me, they do that all the time), I think I am tempted to ask them if they reject customers cos I think that is likely to be the case. It is such an exasperating end to my otherwise happy day. Aargh... why are we always at the cabbie's mercy?
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