So many things are notable here it's hard to know what to talk about first! Today's topic: customer service. In the US, customer service varies from company to company, establishment to establishment, and, by and large, interactions with customer service, in my experience, are not all that helpful. However, generally speaking, if something is really wrong, you can usually go up some sort of chain of command and get your concern resolved, particularly if you follow up with email or letters or documentation of some kind.
Not so in Qatar. On the one hand, everyday customer service is somewhat shockingly comprehensive. For example, take fast food: Burger King and McDonalds and every other fast or not so fast food establishment deliver, for no extra charge, just as a matter of course. And if you need to pay by credit card? No worries, the driver will take your card, drive back to the establishment, run the charge, then drive back to your house for your signature. Because he is here to serve you! And "drive through" service means you pull up to the front of McDonalds and someone will rush out to get your order and then bring it back out for you. And if you decide to eat inside? They will wave you away as soon as you place your order and then come find you and bring it to you when it's ready. Or take grocery shopping: when your groceries are bagged, someone will offer to roll your cart out to your car for you so you don't have to carry them yourself or even push your own cart. Actually, come to think of it, if you want someone to push your cart around the entire store and pick up the items that you indicate, someone will do that for you, too. Or so I've seen; I can't even imagine letting someone do that for me so I haven't availed myself of this particular brand of service. But sometimes it can't be avoided: at the vegetable market, men with wheelbarrows will follow you around to carry your purchases and practically wrestle them out of your hands if you are not firm. They are hoping for a tip, but the grocery store folks don't even expect that.
Even a company built on self service like Ikea operates differently here. Throughout Ikea, employees are stationed with pencils ready to write down what your'e looking for and then follow you through the store to finish your order. They will then pull the items off the shelves for you and deliver it to your house if you want. It's craziness! And it's the norm: I asked someone to tell me if they had a certain mattress pad in stock, and he handed me back a printout and asked for my signature. When I asked him why he needed my signature, he said "So we can purchase this for you on your account and deliver it to your house." I said, no, I would just like to know where it was in the store so I could pull it myself and take it home with me, and he actually laughed and shook his head and then pointed to the location, chuckling the whole time. In Ikea!!
It's hard for me to get used to this kind of behavior, actually, after living in cities where most on the ground employees can't be bothered to know where anything is in the store, let alone help you find it. I try not to take advantage of the system, but yesterday I was looking for some decorations for a birthday party (more on that adventure after the party!), and I saw some foam dinosaurs flying in the air. I asked where they were in the store and first one man and then another led me to where they were, only to discover they were out. Both men were extremely apologetic and almost as a joke I asked if I could buy the two on the ceiling. Immediately one ran to get a ladder and the other quoted me a ridiculously low price (especially for Qatar) and then ran back to where I was checking out to add them to my bill. And I walked out with both dinosaurs and many smiles all around, even from the man who climbed up on top of a stool perched on top of rolling cart to cut them down for us!
However, this level of customer service has limits and those limits stop at the door to the stores. Government offices seem to revel in obfuscation here; they even have names that sound like something out of a sci-fi novel, like the Supreme Ministry of Health. Landlords and administrations of all kinds act in mysterious, seemingly illogical ways, and often when something happens, there is never any reason given or any redress available. And an unspoken class system governs every interaction. For example, our playroom here in our compound contains an antiquated play metal play structure, with exposed bolts and big metal pieces ready to come crashing down the minute play gets even a tad enthusiastic. We were always there with the boys, who are fairly rough and tumble anyway, so it never bothered us. But apparently it bothered someone important enough to say something to someone else of equal or greater importance (who?? couldn't tell you on either count), and today when we showed up to play, that structure had been dismantled. Someone from the landlord's office told us it was unsafe (duh--it's been here for over 6 months unsafe) and it was being taken away. Its replacement would come...some time in the future. It would be plastic...or fiber glass...or something, but don't worry, it would take some time because it was being custom-made. Translation: we may or may not ever see a replacement, and there is nothing we can do one way or the other. Oh well! At least someone will bring me a hamburger, right?
Not so in Qatar. On the one hand, everyday customer service is somewhat shockingly comprehensive. For example, take fast food: Burger King and McDonalds and every other fast or not so fast food establishment deliver, for no extra charge, just as a matter of course. And if you need to pay by credit card? No worries, the driver will take your card, drive back to the establishment, run the charge, then drive back to your house for your signature. Because he is here to serve you! And "drive through" service means you pull up to the front of McDonalds and someone will rush out to get your order and then bring it back out for you. And if you decide to eat inside? They will wave you away as soon as you place your order and then come find you and bring it to you when it's ready. Or take grocery shopping: when your groceries are bagged, someone will offer to roll your cart out to your car for you so you don't have to carry them yourself or even push your own cart. Actually, come to think of it, if you want someone to push your cart around the entire store and pick up the items that you indicate, someone will do that for you, too. Or so I've seen; I can't even imagine letting someone do that for me so I haven't availed myself of this particular brand of service. But sometimes it can't be avoided: at the vegetable market, men with wheelbarrows will follow you around to carry your purchases and practically wrestle them out of your hands if you are not firm. They are hoping for a tip, but the grocery store folks don't even expect that.
Even a company built on self service like Ikea operates differently here. Throughout Ikea, employees are stationed with pencils ready to write down what your'e looking for and then follow you through the store to finish your order. They will then pull the items off the shelves for you and deliver it to your house if you want. It's craziness! And it's the norm: I asked someone to tell me if they had a certain mattress pad in stock, and he handed me back a printout and asked for my signature. When I asked him why he needed my signature, he said "So we can purchase this for you on your account and deliver it to your house." I said, no, I would just like to know where it was in the store so I could pull it myself and take it home with me, and he actually laughed and shook his head and then pointed to the location, chuckling the whole time. In Ikea!!
It's hard for me to get used to this kind of behavior, actually, after living in cities where most on the ground employees can't be bothered to know where anything is in the store, let alone help you find it. I try not to take advantage of the system, but yesterday I was looking for some decorations for a birthday party (more on that adventure after the party!), and I saw some foam dinosaurs flying in the air. I asked where they were in the store and first one man and then another led me to where they were, only to discover they were out. Both men were extremely apologetic and almost as a joke I asked if I could buy the two on the ceiling. Immediately one ran to get a ladder and the other quoted me a ridiculously low price (especially for Qatar) and then ran back to where I was checking out to add them to my bill. And I walked out with both dinosaurs and many smiles all around, even from the man who climbed up on top of a stool perched on top of rolling cart to cut them down for us!
However, this level of customer service has limits and those limits stop at the door to the stores. Government offices seem to revel in obfuscation here; they even have names that sound like something out of a sci-fi novel, like the Supreme Ministry of Health. Landlords and administrations of all kinds act in mysterious, seemingly illogical ways, and often when something happens, there is never any reason given or any redress available. And an unspoken class system governs every interaction. For example, our playroom here in our compound contains an antiquated play metal play structure, with exposed bolts and big metal pieces ready to come crashing down the minute play gets even a tad enthusiastic. We were always there with the boys, who are fairly rough and tumble anyway, so it never bothered us. But apparently it bothered someone important enough to say something to someone else of equal or greater importance (who?? couldn't tell you on either count), and today when we showed up to play, that structure had been dismantled. Someone from the landlord's office told us it was unsafe (duh--it's been here for over 6 months unsafe) and it was being taken away. Its replacement would come...some time in the future. It would be plastic...or fiber glass...or something, but don't worry, it would take some time because it was being custom-made. Translation: we may or may not ever see a replacement, and there is nothing we can do one way or the other. Oh well! At least someone will bring me a hamburger, right?
You're in the Fringe alternate universe!
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