And there are times in life when you have no idea whats happening with your life. A limbo of all possible growths in life is not that frequent in anybody's life. A state is attained where there seems no way out. Each road you wanna head, you drive a couple miles and see the "Road Closed" sign ahead.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Monday, August 27, 2012
Customer service and cultural disparity in Nepal
I really needed a Rs. 100 recharge card for my NTC phone. I parked my scooter in front of a stationery shop, reached to the couter-top, placed Rs. 100 on the counter-top and asked for a Rs. 100 recharge card. The shopkeeper, who was busy talking to another person inside the shop, seemed undisturbed by my request. So I asked with a louder voice, "Can I get a 100 rupee recharge card?" I started to feel uncomfortable as the shopkeeper just looked at me and simply turned back to his partner and continued his conversation without responding to me. I waited patiently, despite the discomfort. Amid uneasiness and shock, I counted some long and awkward 15 seconds. I didn't have many recollections of times I had been ignored that bad in situations like that. After those unpleasant 15 seconds, I lost my patience; I simply grabbed my money from the counter-top and took off.
This is a common complaint of any person who lives in USA and is in a visit to Nepal. They complain about the poor customer service in virtually every transactions they make.Customer service is mainly judged by expectation from the customer and the service provider. Once there is a discrepancy in cultural setting and expectations, there are going to arise serious complaints about customer service in any transaction.
I personally felt this after I came back to Nepal after living for 5 years in USA. Before I left for USA, I never had any complaints about costumer service in Nepal. I was never dissatisfied by the treatment of any shopkeepers, receptionists, or any service providers. As I went to USA, I was amazed by the outstanding costumer service culture in that culture. On almost all my transactions or communications, I was really satisfied by the way I was being helped, served, or assisted in different ways. In another words, I felt like my expectations were exceeded. Pretty soon, I got acclimatized to that culture.
In this visit to my home country after slightly over 5 years, I realized a huge discrepancy in the customer service culture of the society of Nepal. I was not only surprised, I was disappointed on every transaction I made, every place I was received, and every communication I participated to. I felt like the saying "Customers are God" has failed in implementation in every aspect of service. I shared my stories to many other friends who came to visit Nepal from USA and surprisingly, they shared that they had similar experiences like mine. In the list of their complaints about Nepal like pollution, traffic, politics etc, customer service was the most serious complaint of all.
I feel like the credit to this trend goes to customer expectation and cultural difference. Neither me, nor my friends with similar experiences used to have any complaints about customer service before we left Nepal. My friends, families and relatives who live in Nepal never felt any such issue about customer service. After being raised this culture and going to the States, we felt like we had our expectations exceeded by the service providers of the States. And now after we come back to the culture we were used to, we feel so much different about the stuff we never used to think about. The truth is, once we get accustomed to the home country culture again, we will start having less complaints like that as we keep pulling our expectations down and down.
This is a common complaint of any person who lives in USA and is in a visit to Nepal. They complain about the poor customer service in virtually every transactions they make.Customer service is mainly judged by expectation from the customer and the service provider. Once there is a discrepancy in cultural setting and expectations, there are going to arise serious complaints about customer service in any transaction.
I personally felt this after I came back to Nepal after living for 5 years in USA. Before I left for USA, I never had any complaints about costumer service in Nepal. I was never dissatisfied by the treatment of any shopkeepers, receptionists, or any service providers. As I went to USA, I was amazed by the outstanding costumer service culture in that culture. On almost all my transactions or communications, I was really satisfied by the way I was being helped, served, or assisted in different ways. In another words, I felt like my expectations were exceeded. Pretty soon, I got acclimatized to that culture.
In this visit to my home country after slightly over 5 years, I realized a huge discrepancy in the customer service culture of the society of Nepal. I was not only surprised, I was disappointed on every transaction I made, every place I was received, and every communication I participated to. I felt like the saying "Customers are God" has failed in implementation in every aspect of service. I shared my stories to many other friends who came to visit Nepal from USA and surprisingly, they shared that they had similar experiences like mine. In the list of their complaints about Nepal like pollution, traffic, politics etc, customer service was the most serious complaint of all.
I feel like the credit to this trend goes to customer expectation and cultural difference. Neither me, nor my friends with similar experiences used to have any complaints about customer service before we left Nepal. My friends, families and relatives who live in Nepal never felt any such issue about customer service. After being raised this culture and going to the States, we felt like we had our expectations exceeded by the service providers of the States. And now after we come back to the culture we were used to, we feel so much different about the stuff we never used to think about. The truth is, once we get accustomed to the home country culture again, we will start having less complaints like that as we keep pulling our expectations down and down.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
NBA lockout ends
Great news NBA fans! The lockout has almost come out to an end. The rigorous battle between the millionaires and the billionaires about how to separate the 4 billion revenue NBA league generates annually has finally been settled. They are commencing the season starting Christmas day.
Even though it was obvious, the millionaires seemed quite oblivious about who will win the battle. The audacity the billionaires posed upon the millionaires was strong enough but the players association had aspired to achieve more. To the dismay of the players, they had to abate the 148 day financial war by settling down for an even worse deal than what they were proposed in the previous meeting a month ago. They had been offered 52.5% of the overall revenue on September. September’s deal was not a satisfactory one to the players given the fact that they were getting a 57% share previously. But as history repeats in itself, the dominion of money is uncovered again as the billionaires posed threat on the millionaires stating that they would get an even worse deal if they don’t settle with the 52.5 % share deal. And here the players are, settling with an even lesser share, 50%, the aftermath of going in-congruent with the money holders. I have an ambiguous feeling for Derek Fisher, the president of the NBA players association; I am proud of his hard work and dedication for striving for the benevolence of the players but I also feel sorry for how his commitment didn’t pay him off.
The lockout had to come to an end and finally it did. We, as fans, are very excited to hear that we can once again enjoy the NBA games. Because the NBA and the NBAPA know that the fans really don’t care how the revenue is agreed to be shared, the details of the agreement are not exposed to the fans. But surely it was unfair to the fans because of the lockout. The NBA should realize that lockouts like this really dwindles the revenue of the league in long term. The NBA should not be so oblivious to the fact that fans lose interest and shift to other sports like NFL or MLB where lockouts are very rare and fans get to keep their loyalty. Apart from the consequences of the lockout to the NBA, NBA players, and the fans, there are millions other people dependent on the league for their living. While it is just a battle between the millionaires and the billionaires, it is important to realize that their self interest poses poignancy to millions others dependent upon the league.
The lockout is settled and that brings happiness to many fans and other people who make a living off the league. We hope that the league giants like the millionaires and the billionaires solve their internal clash between themselves and never invite perilous situations like lockouts in future. We, as fans, wish the league giants a very good luck for the rest of the season and happy holidays.
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