The Siamerican

There are times in Thailand where one can just get fed up with the standard of customer service, or lack thereof. Perhaps local Thais who haven’t seen or known any other standard aren’t as bothered, but for someone who has reference to an actual consistent standard, it’s been quite the task to keep one’s displeasure suppressed for so long, without doing much more than complain.

In the USA, one of the first and most important rules of business, particularly in the service and goods industry, is ‘the customer is always right.’ If one is going to successfully conduct business or provide some type of public service for a fee, it is detrimental to keep this rule in mind. In Thailand, there is clearly less emphasis on such rule.

The Siamerican is reminded back years ago when he worked in the service and goods industry of the good ol’ US of A. His first regular pay check job was at the age of 14 as a grounds attendant (sweeper and cleaner) for the Water World amusement park in north Denver, pulling in a grand $2.75 an hour. As work permits for 14 year olds don’t permit one to work directly with customers, the sub-minimum wage was justified.

Anyhow, a year later, the Siamerican found himself working as a Sandwich preparer for Chick-Fil-A restaurant (one of the best chicken sandwiches and nuggets to be had!). As appealing as it was at the time to work register, his manager was hesitant to assign the Siamerican a customer-intimate position, for as you see, customer service rep status in the states calls for top notch people skills and mannerisms, which the Siamerican was still lacking at the time.

At the age of 16-17, the Siamerican had learned the value of maintaining an erect posture and consistent eye contact, and so was mature enough — so as his Macdonald’s manager thought as to train him for front registers. Even though the Mickey D’s gig lasted a mere two weeks, the Siamerican learned some valuable lessons up to his last day before quitting (the point of that job was just to save up some spending money for his first Thailand trip).

At both Chick-Fil-A and Macdonald’s, his managers stressed the importance of leaving a good impression on all who walked into the restaurant, despite there insistence to live up to the exact serving size proportions as stated in the training manuals’ specifications. Even if we weren’t allowed to overfill the fry box, if a customer complained, there was no argument in it, they’d get their extra fix.

And that was the model of the customer service world that would prove to be consistent in the Siamerican’s other CSR jobs, later as a cashier at Border’s book store, and then as a cashier at 7-11. (Well, the Seven Eleven manager was an Indian woman and she proved to be more loyal to her employees than some ignorant customer on a few occasions, but that’s beside the point)

And now years later, on the other side of the world, and on the other side of the counter–no longer a service representative, but the receiver in service; A whole new capitalist market, where money is still God, yet customer value is viewed in a different light, or so it seems.

Knowing that Thailand is Thailand and USA is USA, the Siamerican will try not to get too caught up in superiority type comparisons–rather, he will point out several examples, differences, reasonings, and ironies here in Thailand.

In Thailand, wages are much lower in comparison to USA, yet ironically, the employee-employer loyalty seems to be much higher in Thailand. Where in the USA, it’s not uncommon to be intentionally over-served i.e. an extra chicken nugget, a large sized fries when paid for was small sized, given a freebie of something when voicing a small complaint, in Thailand, it is rare to get more than what you actually pay for, and common to get less than what you pay for, whether it be extra small portion of food, or quick finishes before one’s paid time is up (i.e. massages).

Both in USA and Thailand, business management can tend to be frugal, as one could expect knowing that one of the main goals in business is to cut back costs as to increase profit, but the difference is in Thailand, managers and employees will tend to stand strong behind such frugal practice even if/when customers challenge it. And so the customer is rarely right in Thailand.

Take Pizza Company, for example. One of their major promotions is ‘Buy one, get one free.’ Aside from their special promotional times, they also sell a six month valid take away card for 199 baht. Now the deal, as it states in their rules, and basically an unspoken agreement is that the extra pizza must be of the same or lesser value.

The problem at many branches is the frugal managers don’t think this applies when you order extra cheese or extra toppings. So if a medium pizza costs 280 baht, and extra cheese is 40 baht, the total is 320 baht for two pizza’s with extra cheese, right? Not according to many of these cheap managers who insist that you have to pay 40 baht times two for extra cheese on both of the pizzas.

The clear argument against these managers is that you’re paying 320 baht for one pizza, and that the second pizza, according to the agreement must be at the same or lesser value. You’ve got to be pretty charming to get some of these employers to sway, which is baffling considering they are payed peanuts.

Well, luckily, it’s not a universal frugality for Pizza Company, as the Siamerican has found atleast one branch who realized the logic of the promotion without argument.

Other examples worth mentioning are places like KFC. Compared to locally fried chicken, where a drumstick, breast, or wing will cost anywhere from 5 to 15 baht, KFC charges a grand 34 baht per piece, and doesn’t offer the option to choose which piece you want. Chances are if you make special request of what piece you want, you’re bound to get a dirty look. The Siamerican was even told once that customers aren’t allowed to choose. Chicken is chicken, but when you’re paying three to four times the local price of it, and your server gives you a skimpy piece the size of a buffalo wing, it can be quite irritating.

Again, these workers get payed from 20 - 30 baht an hour (.65 cents to a dollar), so it’s amazing the amount of loyalty they have for a corporation who pays them peanuts…perhaps, it’s something to do with the larger cultural umbrella. What do you think?