Recently flying with one of the airlines i had a good experience. The service was efficient and courteous, the flight was smooth.
As we were reaching the destination the flight attendants brought the feedback form.
And they were handing over the form to anyone interested in giving the feedback about the airlines and the services received.
On the airplane with 80 odd people i saw only a couple of peoples taking the feedback form (and I am not sure if both of them heard it correctly as to what it is before taking it) although you get enough time to put your feedback and costs nothing.
It is sad that we are still not habituated about giving feedback for the services we have received. Off course this trend is picking up but way too slow. There are not many reviews or comments about the hotel, airlines, restaurants services in our country which you can check before taking a dive.
Even the hotel reviews for Indian hotels that are present are mostly given by out of the country tourists that come and visit the Indian cities.
Probably we don't think that giving feedback is important, or we think what good or bad is going to happen from our feedback or comments
Or sometimes we are only interested in giving feedback when we get bad service or bad quality of products (keeping at the back of the mind that probably that bad feedback might do some good for us).
But we have to start thinking in terms of 'others', we have to think that how can others benefit from our experiences (good or bad) about the quality of services that we have received.
And as they say ' a good deed never goes unnoticed' so someone might be getting benefited with the feedback that you are giving, as you might have got benefit from someone else's feedback or comments sometime.
So no one is asking us for monetary value for the benefit that we might have received from others feedback but the least we can do is contribute to the world with our experience about the quality of services.
And sometimes if you have got good service from some hotel, airlines, restaurants, realtor, etc then we should take some pain in putting a thank you in your feedback or suggest some measures to further improve the services with a thank you note.
Everybody needs feedback to know how well they are doing their work.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Horn Please
The journey from Mumbai to Pune is not that bad in terms of distance or road condition but after 18 hours of flight and 2 hours of immigration and baggage collection it does become pretty tiring.
But then there are always cab drivers who will keep you entertained and (mis)informed about almost everything from their life to the nation.
So the cab driver looking at my baggage and having information about my flight (collected beforehand) strike the conversation with the most burning question of the day, “Bhaiyyaji the job condition in our country is very bad and even our dhanda is not going that good, how is the condition there is Amreeca”.
Now you have discussed this topic umpteen number of times with almost everyone from different sectors, with people living in US, those living in India or even with them to whom it doesn’t even concern.But then how do you explain this to the cab driver who is already well informed about the global turmoil and knows that he is a victim of the global economic downturn. What does he want to hear is most important while answering. Would telling him that things in America are way too bad then India will console him or telling him that things are improving in that part of the world will give him hope that his dhaanda will get back to normal in sometime.
From a software engineer to a cab driver everyone knows that their dhaanda still depends majorly on US of A. If the thanksgiving and Christmas are good in that part of the world then we for sure will have a dhamakakedar Diwali or else like this year a somber Diwali owing mainly to bad festive season in US.
I tried to explain him that all I have heard and seen in America suggests that things are way too bad there, millions of people have lost jobs, factories have shut down and every now and then you can even read the news that people are struggling to make the ends meet and families are selling their possessions to pay for their children medical needs (thanks to CNN, I can narrate some stories to the driver which appealed to him).
He heard the stories and information I was pouring in with interest (which I am sure he would narrate to some local passenger sometime or amongst his cab driver gang and the story would get molded in thousand different ways and probably it might end up suggesting that America is on the verge of collapse and everybody out there are going to be on streets). Nevertheless he showed compassion listening to the plight of the Americans in these hard times. “Bhiayyaji this is way too bad, everybody should have naurki and food to eat at least, aur dawa daroo ka kharcha to hona hi chahiyee (everybody should have enough for the medicines)”.
But then came his next question, “how did it all happen so suddenly?” Brilliant question everybody is trying to find out and from former president Bush to current president Obama, every US government official has been trying to explain this to the American public in the best way possible (may be not the correct way) and everybody is citing their own reasons (again may not be the correct ones).
Now it was difficult for me to explain him the nuances of subprime, mortgage and reverse mortgage. And the fault here lies with me as I myself am not very clear about these issues which have plagued the American economy and hence the little I had understood about them, it was difficult for me to explain that thing in cabman’s language. So I rather tried to explain him that how the life style of the Americans is different from people in India and how everything works on credit and I tried to explain the mortgage in terms of home loans not being paid by the people and how when the people didn’t return money the banks didn’t had any money and hence no further credit to people was being given and hence it became a vicious circle.
I am not sure how well I explained him or how well he understood it but he did keep on pouring his inputs during my explanations which gave me an impression that he is getting it and also gave me courage to continue with the explanation (I should learn this skill from him rather than sitting like stupid in the trainings where sometimes I don’t get what is being talked about).
He asked me if I would like to have tea (which indirectly meant he is going to stop for tea either ways and if I want I too can have it), I agreed. When he pulled off the car at a food junction on Mumbai-Pune expressway I took a cup of tea (and believe me it was 2 sips, max 3 for INR 10) and after another 15 minutes we were back on the highway. Pune was still 1 hour away and I was dead tired and half asleep.
But then the driver’s interest in America and Americans have not faded a bit, I have answered many other small questions about how is the cab business in New York to how people commute their and are there any small Paan shops their etc. etc.
Suddenly he asked in animated voice “Bhaiyyaji why are these Americans besharam?” the word suddenly woke me up completely and I was intrigued as to why he would think that.
He continued, the other day I took a few people to this beach which is near Mumbai and there were these foreigner ladies there lying naked on the beach, I exclaimed “what?”, yes, he replied, I mean they were wearing only those 2 cloth pieces and lying on the sand without any shame and everybody around the beach was looking at them and they were not disturbed by that and continued to lie there. And when I passed them (looking at them) then one of the lady just looked at me and smiled without any shame.
And suddenly there was this lady coming out of the water, she wrapped the towel took off her underwear and put on a fresh one all in full public glare. Isn’t it besharmi? How can they do all this in public places? Is it the way it happens in their country?
Now I was completely lost for words, I didn’t know how to explain this practice to him. If I start defending them then he is going to argue that I have become another amreecan and certainly in all consciousness I can’t say that all they do is bad and is certainly besharmi and I can’t even lie that it doesn’t happen there.
Now even in India you can see girls donning a bikini on the beaches and even a 15 year old will tell you the difference between a swimsuit and a bikini. There are different sections in India society and the difference in information they possess, their attitude, their beliefs is magnanimous and you just can’t bring everyone at the same table ever.
I tried to reply to him in a vague manner something like such is the culture of that country and for them it is a normal practice. Since childhood they see a few things, follow a few practices which comes naturally to them and which might not be considered good in other cultures.
Suddenly a car which was driving behind us passed using the opposite lane and suddenly came in front of our car honking at full force and the cab driver had to apply sudden brakes and without any signs of frustration he slowed down.
I was bewildered for a moment as it had been a long time since I have seen cars changing lane or overtaking in such an unsafe manner. I remembered how difficult it was in America to change lanes and overtake any vehicle.
But in our country we have been brought up with a tradition of traffic which might be considered as besharmi by American standards. Where someone honking at you is considered as an insult to your driving skills in America, here our vehicles bear the sign “Horn Please”.
But then there are always cab drivers who will keep you entertained and (mis)informed about almost everything from their life to the nation.
So the cab driver looking at my baggage and having information about my flight (collected beforehand) strike the conversation with the most burning question of the day, “Bhaiyyaji the job condition in our country is very bad and even our dhanda is not going that good, how is the condition there is Amreeca”.
Now you have discussed this topic umpteen number of times with almost everyone from different sectors, with people living in US, those living in India or even with them to whom it doesn’t even concern.But then how do you explain this to the cab driver who is already well informed about the global turmoil and knows that he is a victim of the global economic downturn. What does he want to hear is most important while answering. Would telling him that things in America are way too bad then India will console him or telling him that things are improving in that part of the world will give him hope that his dhaanda will get back to normal in sometime.
From a software engineer to a cab driver everyone knows that their dhaanda still depends majorly on US of A. If the thanksgiving and Christmas are good in that part of the world then we for sure will have a dhamakakedar Diwali or else like this year a somber Diwali owing mainly to bad festive season in US.
I tried to explain him that all I have heard and seen in America suggests that things are way too bad there, millions of people have lost jobs, factories have shut down and every now and then you can even read the news that people are struggling to make the ends meet and families are selling their possessions to pay for their children medical needs (thanks to CNN, I can narrate some stories to the driver which appealed to him).
He heard the stories and information I was pouring in with interest (which I am sure he would narrate to some local passenger sometime or amongst his cab driver gang and the story would get molded in thousand different ways and probably it might end up suggesting that America is on the verge of collapse and everybody out there are going to be on streets). Nevertheless he showed compassion listening to the plight of the Americans in these hard times. “Bhiayyaji this is way too bad, everybody should have naurki and food to eat at least, aur dawa daroo ka kharcha to hona hi chahiyee (everybody should have enough for the medicines)”.
But then came his next question, “how did it all happen so suddenly?” Brilliant question everybody is trying to find out and from former president Bush to current president Obama, every US government official has been trying to explain this to the American public in the best way possible (may be not the correct way) and everybody is citing their own reasons (again may not be the correct ones).
Now it was difficult for me to explain him the nuances of subprime, mortgage and reverse mortgage. And the fault here lies with me as I myself am not very clear about these issues which have plagued the American economy and hence the little I had understood about them, it was difficult for me to explain that thing in cabman’s language. So I rather tried to explain him that how the life style of the Americans is different from people in India and how everything works on credit and I tried to explain the mortgage in terms of home loans not being paid by the people and how when the people didn’t return money the banks didn’t had any money and hence no further credit to people was being given and hence it became a vicious circle.
I am not sure how well I explained him or how well he understood it but he did keep on pouring his inputs during my explanations which gave me an impression that he is getting it and also gave me courage to continue with the explanation (I should learn this skill from him rather than sitting like stupid in the trainings where sometimes I don’t get what is being talked about).
He asked me if I would like to have tea (which indirectly meant he is going to stop for tea either ways and if I want I too can have it), I agreed. When he pulled off the car at a food junction on Mumbai-Pune expressway I took a cup of tea (and believe me it was 2 sips, max 3 for INR 10) and after another 15 minutes we were back on the highway. Pune was still 1 hour away and I was dead tired and half asleep.
But then the driver’s interest in America and Americans have not faded a bit, I have answered many other small questions about how is the cab business in New York to how people commute their and are there any small Paan shops their etc. etc.
Suddenly he asked in animated voice “Bhaiyyaji why are these Americans besharam?” the word suddenly woke me up completely and I was intrigued as to why he would think that.
He continued, the other day I took a few people to this beach which is near Mumbai and there were these foreigner ladies there lying naked on the beach, I exclaimed “what?”, yes, he replied, I mean they were wearing only those 2 cloth pieces and lying on the sand without any shame and everybody around the beach was looking at them and they were not disturbed by that and continued to lie there. And when I passed them (looking at them) then one of the lady just looked at me and smiled without any shame.
And suddenly there was this lady coming out of the water, she wrapped the towel took off her underwear and put on a fresh one all in full public glare. Isn’t it besharmi? How can they do all this in public places? Is it the way it happens in their country?
Now I was completely lost for words, I didn’t know how to explain this practice to him. If I start defending them then he is going to argue that I have become another amreecan and certainly in all consciousness I can’t say that all they do is bad and is certainly besharmi and I can’t even lie that it doesn’t happen there.
Now even in India you can see girls donning a bikini on the beaches and even a 15 year old will tell you the difference between a swimsuit and a bikini. There are different sections in India society and the difference in information they possess, their attitude, their beliefs is magnanimous and you just can’t bring everyone at the same table ever.
I tried to reply to him in a vague manner something like such is the culture of that country and for them it is a normal practice. Since childhood they see a few things, follow a few practices which comes naturally to them and which might not be considered good in other cultures.
Suddenly a car which was driving behind us passed using the opposite lane and suddenly came in front of our car honking at full force and the cab driver had to apply sudden brakes and without any signs of frustration he slowed down.
I was bewildered for a moment as it had been a long time since I have seen cars changing lane or overtaking in such an unsafe manner. I remembered how difficult it was in America to change lanes and overtake any vehicle.
But in our country we have been brought up with a tradition of traffic which might be considered as besharmi by American standards. Where someone honking at you is considered as an insult to your driving skills in America, here our vehicles bear the sign “Horn Please”.
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