SQ
Announcement at Dhaka Airport: "Passengers are requested to proceed to Gate 3 ALPHA".
BRAVO! An ALPHA male may get it, but given that most of us are CHARLIE Browns, the DELTA (change) in the announcement will not ECHO with us masses as we FOXTROT towards departure gates that we can't identify.
Just say "Gate 1A" please…
Meanwhile, my flight is delayed and eventually canceled. No, it is not Bangladesh Biman, which has been faring much, much better in punctuality. But I do not yell, despite knowing that I will have to wait 24 hours to catch the next flight on the same airline operating just one flight a day in and out of Dhaka.
While there are 300 yelling passengers with an uncertain departure, I, despite having a thin fuse, remain calm and smiling, even assisting the beleaguered staff members, understanding that it's futile to fly on an aircraft with a faulty oxygen system. Better late than dead.
My Gandhi like demeanor pays off – I'm made to reach London on time for my show via two other airlines, oh and all upgraded. This is called service quality, denoted as SQ. Is it a mere coincidence, or more, that the airline code of Singapore Airlines, known for having the best in class service, is SQ? Hence my asking at the SQ counter at check-in during a different flight, "Is your flight on time?"
"What? We are ALWAYS ON time." The word 'delay' is not in their lexicon.
Service quality and customer experience. The differentiator when it comes to a competitive market, knowing that every product and service is eventually a commodity. As such, there is also a term for national customer experience that determines the draw of 'customers' to the country.
So, where do we, as a nation, stand in this area? Well, let's first hear this comedy routine from my fellow comedian Jonathan Atherton, "The guy from Kerala is against the guy from Tamil Naru. As soon as the guy from Delhi walks in, the Keralite and the Tamil are all of a sudden buddies and join forces. It's now South versus North. Then there's a Pakistani in the picture and the South and North become Indians and it's now India vs. Pakistan. Then a British walks in and the Indians and the (sole) Pakistani join hands and it's now the Indian Sub-Continent vs. the British. Finally when the American comes, it's the US vs. the Commonwealth. And now no matter who walks in, a Balkan, Russian, Chinese…doesn't matter, it's still the US vs. the rest. Thank you USA for uniting the world."
It is therefore perfectly normal that we in Bangladesh are divided along every line possible which is as faulty as the Madhupur fault line. But when it comes to facing the outside world, let us unite to put on the best customer service hat, else whether it's tourism, or FDI, we will be scrambling for customers like a sweater vendor on a July summer day.
The writer is an engineer at Ford & Qualcomm USA and CEO of IBM & Nokia Siemens Networks Bangladesh turned comedian (by choice), the host of ABC Radio's Good Morning Bangladesh and the founder of Naveed's Comedy Club. E-mail: [email protected]
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