Every time I visit the US, I can’t help but compare certain aspects of the Philippines to what I experience here.  Aside from the obvious differences, the most glaring one seems to be Customer Service.  It is such a foreign concept to Filipinos.  And sadly sometimes it seems management doesn’t even care. 

Maybe it’s because most sales staff in retail stores are on 6-month contracts.  They don’t need to invest in their job because they know that at the end of the contract period, they’ll have to leave their jobs and find a new one.  Companies prefer this so they can get away with not providing benefits. 

I was chatting with my friend in Manila this morning and she was telling me how annoyed she was because the cashier in SM just assumed that it was ok that my friend wasn’t getting the right change.  And I told her that I totally agreed!  I’ve been a victim of that in SM too many times. 

In the past, they would give out Stork Candies in lieu of 5 centavo coins, which was bad enough.  I remember someone’s mom tried to use the Stork Candy as a form of payment in SM but the cashier refused to accept it.  If they consider it a form of currency (is that the right term) that they give it to customers instead of cash, then customers should have the right to use them as cash as well.  Eventually they ended that practice, not sure if that’s a good thing because then at least you got something for your money.

These days, they don’t even bother to give you anything, not even a smile and an apology. They just assume that it’s ok that you don’t get the right change.  If they do that to enough customers, that adds up to a lot of money that the stores pocket.  Every time this happens to me, I ask the cashier, “If I wer the one short on cash, even just 10 centavos, would that be ok with you?” And they’d say no, so I reply, “So why do you think it’s ok with me that you don’t give me the right change?” And they’re forced to give me what I am supposed to get. 

This isn’t just an SM habit.  I had lunch out once and when the waiter handed me my change, I couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t any small coins on the tray.  And, based on the bill, there should be 10 centavos.  I know that this shouldn’t be a big deal, it was just 10 centavos.  But it’s the principle of the whole thing.  I walked up to the cashier and asked for my change.  Rather than be nice and apologetic, she was even livid that I was asking for MY MONEY! She replied in a snippy tone, “E wala akong barya e.”  What was worse, there was a pile of 25 centavo coins in front of her.  Had she been nice, I probably would have said it was ok.  But because she was the opposite, I said, “Di ko problema yan.”  So she was forced to give me 25 centavos.  I found 15 centavos in my wallet and handed them to her.  She was quite shocked that I bothered.

Once I was in 7-11 and they didn’t have any 25 centavo coins to give me as change, so I stood there until they did.  The manager kept trying to get rid of me by telling me he’d give it to me later, but I refused.  He was so relieved when, 10 minutes later, a customer finally paid with coins so I could get my money and leave.  (There was a long line so I knew eventually someone would have the necesssary change, plus it was a quiet day in the office so I had some time to kill.)

I know it’s not the cashier’s fault, but she should at least say something to customers or apologize ahead of time and not just sit silently.  Come to think of it, maybe when their register comes up over in the end, they pocket the money? Hmmm

And to the stores, maybe you should re-think your pricing schemes if you can’t provide change?  And to customers, SAY SOMETHING! Don’t let these retail giants get away with it!!!

Can you tell that this really annoys me?

That’s all for now….bow.