Today’s Special – Racism with a side of DIY

Think of a time when you had the worst customer service experience and how it made your blood boil. Is the steam coming out of your ears yet? Great! Now that we’ve set the appropriate mood for this article please read on. I’m no stranger to bad customer service but the scenario that played out two nights ago when I hung out with a good friend at a popular eatery left a bad taste in her mouth (and left mine open).

It all started when she ordered @ Shawarma & a Couple of extras: chips and a soft drink. Her food was served on a tray which she took to the sitting area for us to settle down. Unfortunately the sales assistant forgot to include the drink she originally ordered. But no harm done. All the sales assistant had to do was waltz down to our corner and hand over the drink – it was supposed to be that simple, give or take a calorie burn or two. Needless to say my friend has visited this eatery a couple of times in the past and has always been served i.e. had her order brought to her table. Last night however when she called for the sales assistant to bring her drink there was a delivery staff on his way out of the eatery. He decided to use his initiative and go back to get the drink from the fridge for my friend but the manager intervened and gave a direct instruction not to attend to my friend – and that’s when this happened…

Let’s profile this manager for a minute:

  • Country of origin – Lebanon
  • Customer service skills – None
  • Initiative – None
  • IQ – 1 (Just enough to spell his own name)

“I don’t know what’s even more annoying: the fact that a foreigner is coming to my country and misbehaving or the fact that a fellow Nigerian feels so inferior that he allows his initiative to be eroded by a Falafel-headed manager with an IQ of numero uno.”

My friend wasn’t going to take this incident sitting down so she walked over to the manager and gave him a (big) piece of her mind. She asked why he behaved the way he did but his response was simply that they operate on a self-service basis. In other words, do it yourself because it’s beneath me to serve you.

Now, I don’t know where you (the readers) come from but if you saw a manager tell a staff not to attend to you and they both go back to whatever they were faffing with, how would you react? Is this normal? Is this what customer service is about? I don’t know what’s even more annoying: the fact that a foreigner is coming to my country and misbehaving or the fact that a fellow Nigerian feels so inferior that he allows his initiative to be eroded by a Falafel-headed manager with an IQ of numero uno. One thing’s for sure – they won’t see the back of me for as long as that manager still works there. And for the record, here’s what I think he should do with his Shawarmas…

***THE FOLLOWING CONTENT HAS BEEN CENSORED AND IS TOO EXPLICIT FOR WORDPRESS. THIS KIND OF LANGUAGE HAS BEEN BANNED IN 17 COUNTRIES AND IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. YOU MAY NOW RESUME REGULAR READING, THANK YOU***

…and don’t come back to Nigeria!!! So now I’d like to know your bad customer service experience stories. The steam is all out and I’m all ears 😀

7 thoughts on “Today’s Special – Racism with a side of DIY

  1. “***THE FOLLOWING CONTENT HAS BEEN CENSORED AND IS TOO EXPLICIT FOR WORDPRESS. THIS KIND OF LANGUAGE HAS BEEN BANNED IN 17 COUNTRIES AND IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. YOU MAY NOW RESUME REGULAR READING, THANK YOU***
    😀 😀

    I don’t wait to be served poorly– unless you count the numerous madness happening in Lagos danfo 😛
    Anyway, if I don’t like your face, I’ll leave the food and walk away. No payment o.

  2. Lwkmd! This is too on point. People take ********************** on top of their on money oh. It baffles me really. Your a paying customer. Don’t be an *************** but don’t take ****** either!
    Great post man. Glad to meet other Nigerians blogging about day to day stuff.

    • lol…Thanks AW. Much appreciated. If you want to know how much shit even I have put up with in the past and kept silent *aaaaargh* but since 2015 kicked in I’ve been voicing my grievances – imagine, in Shoprite at the queues a customer will come from the back and ‘chance’ me like I’m invisible. By the time I go EXCUSE ME! AM I INVISIBLE?! They’re like, ‘I didn’t know…’ – Total B.S. mehn

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