Manners or the lack of them !

You have summed it up very well. I was saying the same but used too many words I thin ... Damn! But I guess what I was saying when I was referring to the highlighted statement is that cultural groomings affect peoples behaviours and that coupled with the factors you mentioned make for the resulting customer dis-service we experience. Cheers.

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it"

When I was working my customers came first, regardless what was happening in the background.

>So does this include customers sexually harassing staff in the background?? It goes on here quite often.

Oh, oh Matty.... my fav is when people go to the "10 item lane" with like 50 items in their trolley and start shouting at the check out chicks- as if they want to work in the stupid "10 items only" counter.

I can imagine myself feeling very "happy go lucky" and "chirpy" after being shouted at like that...!!

'Our freedom is but a light that breaks through from another world'

"We never apologise to anyone unless we feel like and we never show gratitude unless we feel it in our hearts".

That has absolutely nothing to do with manners or courtesy.

I feel everyone is slightly avoiding the issue here. You can butter it up as much as you like but here are the facts of why ALOT, not all, check out assistants in Qatar are Shyte.

1. They get paid shyte.

2. As a consequence, they live like shyte.

3. They're customers treat them like shyte. ( Why wait for the poor girl to finish scanning your 2 baskets full of goods and then expect them to pack them afterwards. Busy supermarkets are the new roadrage. (Do it yourself you idle shyte's) That's open to alot of nationalities, im not generalising here)

4. Theres a slavish culture here in Qatar, ( that gets adopted by all those that do well and think its ok to do so).

Its embarressing.

[img_assist|nid=17864|title=Chicks dig Guys with skills|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=440|height=440]

There is something to be said for good customer relations, and there may be the issue wiht salaries, however I would like to say if you agree to a job with a certain salary that is what you are paid to do. The customer is not to blame if the bus is travelling 3-4 hours not for the salary the employee is paid.

If a sales person doe not know about the product this is a mistake from the management in not investing the information in his employee.

Now if you want to experience real customer ignorance you have not visited the shops in Ankara, in Turkey - they could not care less if you buy a product or not, where as if you go to the market they will do anything to bring their product on their man.

Going to any market in Iran I find the people are more interested in aking about me than selling a product to me lol.

Going to a Supermarket in Beijing/China is much the same as anywhere else in the world except not much customer/ salesperson interaction main reason language barrier.

However, with having said all that I enjoy shopping in Britain the people are just plain friendly.

.,.........I thought you were going to the Oktoberfest?!?!?!

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it"

Kerrie you completely misunderstood me. I will rephrase:

1. The 'tendency' of 'most' people to say "Thank you' and 'sorry' is a UK trait (as you know some of them are far cuter, actually, such as when the old ladies say "darling" and "love"). (i.e. You will not find it as prevalent in USA or Germany or France or India or Greece or Turkey or Iran). However I did NOT say "Customer Service is a UK trait" - though I wish it were :P

2. Luckily (or unluckily), being connected to shipping, I have been globe trotting for the last 15 years (including 3 years in UK) and I have found stark differences in the way customer service is perceived in different places. As you mentioned there are mixtures and "there have always been people that through common sense say please, thank-you and can I help you?". Maybe I mis-concluded but are you suggesting that there are NONE here? I can imagine if you said they were less accommodating, but to say that there are NONE will mean Qatar is an oddity, no? But if you did have some decent experiences, then I suppose it will be within the realms of "being different" rather than being the "odd man out". While I am no fan of customer service in Qatar, I just think its different to what you and I are exposed (rather conditioned) to.

3. The differences are not because of lack of motivation ALONE or lack of training ALONE or cultural / language barriers ALONE.....its a equilibrium which has been attained by market/historical/cultural forces. Since there is no great competition, organisations will not invest in something that will not create a competitive advantage. Once there is a large enough customer base and significant competition amongst suppliers THEN you will see customer service being exploited as a competitive advantage and the whole equilibrium shifting again.

That said, and I am sorry to sound brusque, but there is no NEED for anyone to be nice to anyone else. If you happen to speak to Greeks who are in UK, for example, they will tell you "Malaka what is all this bull sh*t about 'Thank you' and 'Sorry'. We never apologise to anyone unless we feel like and we never show gratitude unless we feel it in our hearts". Now most of my best friends are Greeks and I just love them, but MAN they are FAR from polite. So thats where I was referring to your (and even mine) "conditioning" where we expect politeness to be a "normal" social practice. What you and I perceive as normal is not. In fact on our MBA project we did a Mergers and Acquisition project and I was surprised (initially) to be told by investment bankers and company heads that many acquisitions are not undertaken simply because of the "cultural differences", i.e.: The financial and other operational synergies may be the best, but if the cultures don't match, the merger will result in a failure in most cases. And their definition of "culture" included, but was not limited to, cultural differences between nationalities.

My Tuppence.

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it"

Well, you know, I've been thinking about the same thing recently. However, not a lot of the locals take the time to greet their checkout person either. You can really tell that a simple 'hello' to some of the folk at Carrefour perks them right up.

Man, though, the clerks over there really get abused with being busy. Continual checking and checking and checking, not much of a break. Having people argue with them because there's no bar code on their vegetables.

A few of the clerks I've gotten to talk to there... wow, they really see quite the world.

But look at things this way too. If I had to work in a place like that for 8 hours... 8 hours of screaming children, and repetitious noise, and repetitious actions... I wouldn't be so chipper either, nor would I be greeting folks left and right.

Just this morning I popped over to get a few things before I had to go to work. There was a guy who had a whole cart full of that cheap perfume. That moon stuff that's 6 riyals or something a bottle, and big ol' bottles too. They thought he had confused the product with something else, so they got curious and asked him why he was buying all that perfume. Turns out he and his friends were going to drink it. With fruit juice.

When the clerk told me this (I was after Perfume Man in line), you could tell it really disturbed her.

You think you've seen it all...

Venks,

I agree that the choices are not great but it is a choice. They choose to leave their families in order to earn at least a little more money. There are many countries in the world not just Qatar so if the conditions are so poor perhaps they should try their luck elsewhere. where their families might get to join them.

Personally I think the excuse that customers services is a UK trait is false. I have travelled across the world, as has my husband, and there has always been a mixture but there have always been people that through common sense say please, thank-you and can I help you? As I said it is their job and regardless of conditions, culture or nationality they should do it properly.

Personally I have had few experiences of bad service here but it could be a lot lot better. I do agree with others who have said that they make the point of being nice, as I do the same.

1. Freon, what you "expect" from service is from your conditioning. Saying "Thank you" and "Sorry" is a very UK thing. Theres nothing wrong with that, except that it is not the universal norm and so please don't expect it everywhere. Some cultures don't really believe in overt expressions of courtesy (although they may be great on the inside), while some do.

2. Scarlett, you may have been "taught" retail but I will be surprised if any of the sales people behind the counters here have studies beyond high school, let alone retail. Plus the local management may not be stressing the importance of customer service simply because its not part of their culture. (Actually customer service would be a huge competitive advantage should one choose to exploit it here - while in some other cultures its now a given")

3. Kerrie, your saying "they have a choice" is so off the mark. Not even ONE of the lowly paid worker here is for the fun. They are here for the money that they could not earn back home because there are simply not enough jobs to go around. If they were back home they would probably get a job paying them a tenth of what they get here (if they found a job at all). Then you might argue, so they ARE getting paid here so that should be a motivation. Well, they are paid enough to leave their countries, but far below what will qualify to maintaining a basic standard of living. These people stay at 2 people to a room, 10 to a flat (if its a 5 room apartment) and cannot afford to bring their families here. They are surviving here so their wives/husbands/children can live back home.

Its a complex network of reasons, ranging from cultural differences to language barriers to lack of training to lack of motivation. In an ideal world, I would expect that........but under all the petrodollar blanket, theres an ugly underbelly which makes Qatar far removed from being an "ideal world".

"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it"

please and thank you..but "yes m'am" and "no sir" to just about everyone, especially those my age or older. Always have and probably always will since its ingrained in me

but if they just ask once..may i help you and i say no...they have done their job.

Personally, I don't like a shop assistant following my every move in the shop(I know they're trying to help, but I like my space), at the same time I want an assistant who would help out IF I asked. All the shop assistants over here have helped me out when I asked, and have smiled and made sure I was satisfied with the service. So no complaints from me.

But I'm sure their working conditions are awful and probably didn't get the right training.

that meant when I had my FIRST job, I was 16..lifeguard at a pool and even then had to treat others well because I also worked the food desk. Moved on to retail the next year and the manager insisted that we provide good service or we'd be out on our keisters. Its not asking too much to have someone come up to you, instead of standing, leaning on a counter, and say..May I help you? I don't get mad here about it because of the living and working conditions, but I certainly do back in the States. Nothing irritates me more than a lazy teenager or college student (or yes, the older snooty women) who is busy yapping on the phone to her friends instead of helping the customer..have been known to press my finger down on the receiver button and disconnect them,(talk about a look of shock..the audacity to interrupt their personal life during work!) then if they get mad about that, get the manager and explain exactly what happened.

Well i can see from your replies that there are a number of factors which seem to determine the quality of service here.

My point is really that if i as the customer make the effort to treat the shop assistant like a human being and with respect, i would have thought it not too much to ask for that respect to be returned to me. For example a simple please and thank you would suffice.

Thanks for all your replies.

Regards Freon.

All I will say is, I'm glad I don't work for you.....LOL

'Our freedom is but a light that breaks through from another world'

I agree for some of the jobs the conditions must suck but if I am not mistaken it is their choice to move and work in Doha. There are other places that they could go.

Despite what is happening in the working or personal life if they are in a service industry it should not matter. They are paid to do a job and good customer services should be included. As far as I am concerned when you are being served you should feel that at least for that moment you are the most important thing they are doing.

And before anyone asks - yes I have worked in services industries ranging from pulling pints, serving fish & chips to brokering commercial insurance polices. When I was working my customers came first, regardless what was happening in the background.

Oh come on give them a break. I have Syrian and Lebanese friends who work in retail (I won't mention the shops) and it's not just a matter of low pay. There life is awful, with virtually no privacy even outside work, which is why a lot of them leave after a short period of time. Instead of fixing the problems, they recruit new staff; it's a constant turn over-because they can! One of male friends tells me how some of the female staff are treated by some male customers- it's disgusting, but they have no rights. Trying to get their phone number, making sexual gestures and if they don't comply get them in trouble with management. The customer is always right hey!!

I was speaking to this girl who works in one of the supermarkets who said it can take anywhere between 3-4 hrs to get to work, ONE WAY because the driver has to pick up all the staff- she was like, that's ok, I don't mind, it could be worse. This other guy's brother died and he had to produce the death certificate as they didn't believe him before they let him leave the country- he ended up missing the funeral. I could go on and on!!

I feel really sorry for them, and can forgive any staff in Doha for not smiling at me…but that's just me!

You shouldn’t judge until you step in someone else's shoes!

'Our freedom is but a light that breaks through from another world'

Hey mx, that means that every worker who has a grind about his wages can be rude to a customer..........Ive lived around poor people all over the world and so many of them are gracious, curtious and well mannered and most of them have a higher sense of diginty than alot of so called Human beings running around this planet.

we're taught in retail that helping out a customer was always the right thing to do...I've found most of the sales clerks to be helpful...IF you ask them a question. The exception to the rule is the ladies behind the cosmetics and perfume counters...wonder if they work on commission because they come directly up to you and ask if they can show you something...

If the workers are satisfied at work, salary wise...etc then they are good to a customer.

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./`I don't wanna waste another day-Keepin it inside, it's killing me./`

I agree TC but you know even poorly paid people can still have good manners

when they pay peanuts they get monkeys ... do i need to say more

If you can't change your fate, change your attitude.

check out staff --- if to be girls they to be good. also help. some shop assistant ---some time zero knowledge for product.

They think it sells more products. They can be since they usually have a monopoly on things and no competition

Act your age not your shoe size