-
Quote
-
0
login to like this post
Post
by earthfriendly » Thu, 09 Feb 2006 7:28 am
I don't mean to blow our own horn/trumpet but I truly appreciate all the wonderful and thoughtful service I received when vacationing there for 2.5 months.
Here's a tribute to some of the men and women who work in the service industry of Singapore, and whom I have the pleasure of meeting.
From the very compassionate staffs (I nearly crushed the nurse's hand during laser surgery as she offered to let me hold her hand when I requested for stress ball) and Dr. Jon Goh (service with a smile and always giving me reassurance as I was a nervous wreck) at the Singapore eye institute.
The helpful and kind receptionist and nurse at my dentist office, not to mention the dentist himself.
My mum finally had her 18-year-old Toshiba washing machine replaced and wanted to drill a hole to insert the hose into the bathroom (old HDB flats do not have the predrilled holes) and the washing machine installation guy gladly called a contractor for us that charged a reasonable rate. However, contractor showed up and said he did not have the right tools (due to our wall material) for it and did not charge us anything for the wasted trip. However, my mom felt bad and offered him $10 to pay for his time and gas.
My facialist, Mdm Lim, who gave me free products (hee, hee, I guess my face needed it badly). She gave me 2 concentrated bottle of serums (i believe value worth up to $200). I am a loyal customer though. Still, I am very touched by her gesture.
The sales assistants at the cosmetic counters and clothing stores were very patient and generous with their time to help me searched for the "perfect" item/s.
Janet Phua of the Singapore consulate who helped me processed my lost SG passport. I mailed my application without signing it and she immediately called me back the next day. I needed my passport in a hurry (as I miss SG too much and mentioned that to her) and instead of mailing the original form back to me so I could sign it, she advised me to print out and fill out a new form and she volunteered to transfer the photo to my new application (so I did not have to include another photo on the new form). Though it was stated that I would receive the new passport in a month (or 6 weeks in my case as this was 2nd time I lost my passoport), I got it in a significantly shorter time.
And to make the deal sweeter, they issued me a refund check for overpayment. But you know what, I did not overpay as I made the payment for 2nd time replacement (this is 2nd time I misplaced my passport). However, I did find my first passport and returned it to the SG consulate so in their opinion, they felt right to charge me the first time replacement fee. I think they are very honest as technically, I should be charged the 2nd time (a higher fee) replacement fee. But I am not going to argue with them since they have been so wonderful to me.
Ironically, one of the goals for SG in the National Day Rally was to improve the level of service as PM Lee pointed out that SG did not have a "natural" service culture and he felt it needed improvement. I do agree to an extent especailly the wait staff in restaurants (some of them seem a little clueless when taking food orders). Overall, I am more than pleased with the service i received in SG.
I do agree that compared to many countries, the level of common courtesy/friendliness/chilvary (saying hi and striking up a conversation with strangers) is lower in SG. I think main reason is the reserve nature of SGeans. So don't be offended if people are not so ready to say hi or hold the door open for you. I guess they make up for it with their sincere service and kindness (have to dig deep to find it though). No culture is perfect.
meant to type relocation in thread heading.
