The Tribune

CUSTOMER service in The Bahamas is, more often than not, severely lacking in professionalism and care. Jobs in this area are often considered entry-level and pay minimum wage or close to it. Employees need to do their jobs, but are not necessarily motivated to do more than the bare minimum or even, in some cases, the bare minimum itself. The work environment can be unfriendly and uncomfortable, and managers can be uninspiring and/or disrespectful. The expectation that everyone do their jobs at the highest level is generally unreasonable, but customers should expect to have questions answered, be advised of their options, and have smooth transactions when they decide to make a purchase. Unfortunately, this is not the norm.

In cases where there is commission, the service may be a bit better, but this depends on a number of factors, including the rapid assessment that the employee makes of the customer and their budget. People on commission generally do not want to spend time on customers they deem less likely to make a purchase or assume will spend less than another who may walk through the door at any moment.

There are two clear sides here. There are employees who are underpaid, not even making a livable wage, and there are customers who typically find prices to be too high and have to make difficult decisions to enable them to buy what they need. Neither side is happy. None of these people are at an advantage. The business owner, however they may grumble about the struggle of doing business in The Bahamas —which is certainly far from easy —tends to have more power than the employee and the customer. They choose to be in business, and they choose the way they operate, from sourcing products and markups to staffing and hours of operation. They have their own interests, of course, at heart, and everything else is lower on their agendas. Their money comes first.

Consumers have a certain degree of power, and we do not always tap into it and use it for our own good, much less the collective good. In many cases, there are constraints to the exercise of consumer power that even keep us from recognizing it. Living in a small place like this that produces very little of what we need means that we have to spend more money to get what we need than people do in places that produce more of it. Another consequence of being in a small place is having fewer options. It is not as easy to stop supporting certain businesses when they are the only ones that can meet the needs, especially when so many businesses have the same bad practices.

We have come to expect subpar service. We know employees are sometimes unwelcoming and unfriendly, and some of us know it has less to do with us than it has to do with the work environment, (lack of) benefits, personal struggles, and lack of training. We know the prices are high, and some of us realize that this is often the case because of shipping costs, exorbitant customs duty, and the overall cost of doing business which includes time spent applying for and paying whatever is required, electricity outages and the associated loss and costs, and theft. Some of us also know that greed exists, and the capitalist system does not work in the favour of the average consumer. The way we choose to respond to this knowledge varies, but we generally accept the notion that we are cogs in a wheel.

We generally expect businesses to operate during the opening hours they advertise in print ads, television and radio commercials, social media ads, and signage. We do not expect to be unable to enter a store at 9.05am or 4.50pm when the store is open from 9am to 5pm. We do not consider ourselves responsible, for example, for the time it takes for the staff to clean, reconcile cash, and close. We expect systems, from the internet to the credit card machine, to work, and if any systems are down, we expect the business to have another way to take our orders, process payments, and deliver products and services. We expect people to help us when we walk into a store or call a business to request an item or a service. We expect them to know what they have to offer, give accurate information on those products and services, including the price, know or be able to quickly determine what is in stock and when they may have a particular item available again, and provide this information in a pleasant manner. Our expectations are not always met.

People are becoming more and more frustrated with the level of customer service in The Bahamas, and it seems to be much worse in New Providence. People complain that employees act as though they are being asked to do them a favour. In some cases, there are additional complaints, sometimes even worse complaints, about managers and owners who have terrible attitudes and no interest in maintaining good relationships even with long-time customers. Some are quick to tell people to go elsewhere rather than address a problem being brought to their attention. Sometimes managers and owners refuse to leave their offices to address complaints, so employees are left to try to appease customers or adopt the same attitude of indifference.

More and more, people are choosing to order just about everything they need. The combination of internet service—which is also terribly inconsistent from every provider—and freight forwarding companies in the country, it is easy to click, click, click, use a credit or debit card, and order and ship whatever we need. From school supplies to furniture, there are many options at various price points. It is often less expensive and more gratifying to order exactly what we need, not having to compromise based on what is in store, ship it, and pay the additional fees at the time of pickup. There are, of course, some items that it is not particularly advantageous to ship due to the dimensions which impact the freight charges or the duty, so some homework is required. When people want something and have the money for it, they generally want it right away, so going to a store to buy it or ordering it for delivery within the next day or two is generally preferred. Anything that requires a wait is a bit less attractive, but tends to be a good second option.

Participating in the local economy is not fun. It often feels like more trouble than it is worth. It can be hard to find what we need, the prices are often higher than we want to pay, and then we have to deal with employees who clearly do not want to be at work, doing whatever it is that they do. Business owners need to do much better at recruiting, training, and retaining employees and making the work environment a safe and healthy one. At the same time, consumers can do more to support good business practices ad encourage greater investment in customer service. This is, after all, where we make our judgments of our overall experience with a business.

Here are a few actions businesses can take to improve customer service:

Provide customer service training to all employees. This is important for every single employee, regardless of their position. There is no telling when a manager, usually tucked away in an office on a computer, will need to be on the floor due to being short-staffed or in the midst of a rush because of a holiday or an unexpected situation. Sometimes an accounts manager needs to explain to a customer why they are not able to make a purchase on credit, or someone from the warehouse is stopped and asked a question because the uniform indicates that they work there. Everyone needs to know how to speak with customers, what to do when they do not have the answer to a question, and who to call for assistance.

Cross-train staff. Employees need to understand more than just their job. This can help them to better support one another and to connect customers with the right people when they have questions and/or concerns.

Retain and recognise excellent employees. When people excel, acknowledge it. Words of affirmation are nice, but it is important to do more than that. Raise pay, offer time off and/or more flexibility in the schedule, promote people in line with their demonstrated skills and interests, and show them how they can move up in time.

Pay a liveable wage and provide benefits. When people have their needs met, they are better able to focus at work, are less tired (from working multiple jobs or losing sleep over bills), and can perform better. When they have access to healthcare and have sick days, they do not have to resentfully drag themselves to work when they are not feeling well.

Create a healthy work environment. Ensure that everyone is aware of policies regarding time off and breaks. Make provisions for people who need to do school drop-off and pick-up within specific hours, take medication, breastfeed or pump, see doctors, and do errands during business hours. Encourage employees to support one another as a way of building a happy, functional team, not as a way of making them responsible for filling in deficiencies that management needs to handle.

Acknowledge customer complaints and commit to resolving them. Follow up to let customers know the steps that have been taken and what is changing in response to their complaints. Thank them for bringing issues to your attention. Offer them something in acknowledgement of the inconvenience they experienced and the kindness extended to you in communicating their frustration. Remember that they could have chosen to make a scene in your store or office, post online, leave bad reviews, and any number of other damaging options.

Here are a few things customers can do to combat subpar customer service:

Ask to see the manager about things that are not going well. It is not productive and it is generally unfair to complain to frontline employees about systems they did not choose and are required to work within. Employees usually have to help a number of people after you, so refrain from unnecessarily draining their energy and monopolizing their time to rant.

Report excellent customer service. Let the employee know that you appreciate their help, and then share it with their supervisor and/or manager. If you can do it in-person, great, but it is also good to follow up in writing as it is more likely to get attention, can be included in performance reviews, and may encourage others to improve their own service.

Where possible, stop supporting businesses with bad practices. There are limited options, but when there is at least one other one, do not stick with what you know just because it is what you know. If you can afford to make a change—maybe to a place that is further away or where the product or services costs a little more—do it. If you value good customer service, factor it into the cost.

Consume less. There are some things you simply need to purchase and some services you must pay for, and there are some that you can do without. What are you prepared to cut out, or drastically reduce? It could be a particular fast food item, brand of a product you use frequently (that can be substituted with something else from another store), or something you can order supplies to make on your own.

The next time you think about how you only ever go to that particular place for this one item, and if it were not for this one item you would never go there again, think about alternatives. There isn’t always a replacement or a workaround, but sometimes there is, and you may find it if you decide to think about it.