TGIF

We’ve had the good fortune to have three babies born into our family on Saipan. Unfortunately, we’ve also experienced the care and attention given at Saipan’s sole baby delivery facility, and with almost every visit we have more fodder to add to our customer service not-to-do-list.

With our first baby, the labor and delivery room seemed unsanitary and the floor still had bloodstains from previous deliveries. A wonderful Fijian midwife delivered the baby, and a nurse later inserted a tube in our newborn’s mouth to suction fluids out of her lungs. When the tube fell out and dropped on the bloodstained floor, the nurse simply bent down to pick it up in order to reinsert it in the baby’s mouth. Luckily, the attending pediatrician told her to get a new tube.

The doctor that was supposed to deliver the baby took one hour after the baby was born to saunter in and attend to post-delivery duties. What made it even worse is he offered no apologies, but acted like we should be grateful he even decided to show up. He started whistling a happy tune while doing some stitching, and it took great control for Rik not to do some bodily harm that would necessitate him to be stitched up.

When our second baby was ready to make her grand entrance into this world, the blood on the floor had been mopped up, but the nurse in labor and delivery informed us with a smile that there were no pillows in the hospital. Patients had been taking them home, so their brilliant solution was to not get new ones. Now, if you went to a hotel and you were informed that there were no pillows after you checked in, you might consider it a big enough inconvenience to go to another hotel. Unfortunately, if you are not happy with CHC, there are not many other options to have a baby. You not only need to be a patient to stay at the hospital, you have to be very, very patient. So while Janel was having contractions, Rik quickly drove into Garapan to buy a couple of pillows for her to rest her head. The delivery went well with Dr. Stearns carefully attending, and after the baby was born more blankets and clothes were brought from home.

When it was time to sign the birth certificate several days later, we had to make a second visit, for all three children, to the Health & Vital Statistics Office because the documents were not ready or the “system” was down. What makes it even more difficult is the offices are open only from 1pm to 4pm, Monday through Thursday—which means one has to schedule the time off from work to make the visit. When the paper is not ready to sign, it means scheduling more time off work.

What adds insult to injury is that they have a ridiculous paper posted on the wall for everyone to read that sums up their customer service philosophy quite well. Can you imagine being inconvenienced for the second time to sign the birth certificate, and then reading this sign entitled: OH!!! For You At The Office?”

“If it rings, put it on hold.
If it clanks, call a repairman.
If it whistles, ignore it.
If it talks, take notes.
If it’s a friend, take a break.
If it’s handwritten, type it.
If it’s typed, file it.
If it’s Friday, forget it…TGIF!”

It actually should read TGIT because the office is not even open Friday. Looking forward to the weekend is natural, but advertising to your customers that you can’t wait to close the doors makes the department or organization seem that there is a lack of commitment to the customer.

What are the lessons you could learn from our “experience”? Make sure your facilities are clean and inviting. Be prompt and courteous in your service. Ensure that you have what the customer wants, and if you run out of something, make sure you have something else that would satisfy the customer.

Typically, problems will occur because of faulty systems. If the system is causing the problems, then it will frustrate your employees and cause your customers to be dissatisfied. Either fix or replace the system before it drives you out of business.

Make sure you take the silly signs down that advertises your lack of courtesy to the customer. They may be funny among coworkers, but the impatient customer may not find much humor in them. If your work environment fosters a TGIF mentality, then you may want to look at how the business is being managed and how to improve morale and motivation. Whatever you do, don’t turn your customers into patients.

(Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com)