Cleanliness counts

Our children are the pride of our life. They are about as good as any kids on the island and we have been blessed to not have any problems with them. Only one thing keeps them from being perfect kids, though. If you go into the room of our daughters you would think a war had just occurred and the weapons were their clothes. Their dirty and clean clothes are strewn all over the floor, furniture, beds and dressers. It’s a habit that they’ve developed from older siblings, and no matter what we’ve tried to do, we can’t seem to break them of that behavior.

Recently, Rik had a chance to travel to several countries and he was struck by the contrast just from the airport terminal perspective. At Nagoya, Japan, the airport tarmac was immaculate. After disembarking from the aircraft, he saw workers holding bags and ready to board the plane after the last passenger got off. They were like a high-precision team, ready to clean the aircraft and get it ready for the next flight.

Inside the terminal it was very clean and orderly. Sales clerks were in dresses and suits and business was conducted professionally. Security guards wore white gloves, and patrolled the facilities to ensure peace and order. Safety was not an issue.

The security guards also looked for trash and then properly disposed of it into empty trash bins. People tended to throw their trash away because there was a feeling of cleanliness that one did not want to disrupt.

A flight was ready to depart and the personnel at the gate kept paging a passenger who was late. When the personnel saw her coming, they raced to meet her, and get her documents. One of them headed down the ramp with her while another called on a walkie-talkie to let the plane personnel know that she was coming. It appeared that those individuals cared about every passenger and made an extra effort to ensure they were not inconvenienced.

Contrast that with the airport terminal in another country where Rik had a totally different experience. The floors and walls were dirty. It looked like holes were being patched up on the walls. There was a lack of security and possessions were carefully watched. Before leaving the airport, the luggage tags were checked to dissuade vagrants from walking off with tourist’s luggage. The feeling there was in stark contrast to Nagoya, Japan, experience. It felt dark, dirty, and uninviting. The tourists needs and concerns did not seem to matter, and people were moved around like cattle.

Do first impressions make a lasting impression? Is cleanliness and order important to make a good first impression with guests making their first visit to another country or to your business? The answers to those questions are obvious.

Benjamin Disraeli said: “Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them.”

If one grows up in an environment where order and cleanliness are not important, it tends to become their “culture,” and getting someone to change is nearly as difficult as getting our daughters to pick up their room on a regular basis. When individuals from a culture that values cleanliness and order encounter the culture of another group that does not hold those values in high regard, then the two cultures clash, and if the disparity is great enough, the visitors may not return.

Culture shock is described as the feeling of confusion and anxiety experienced when a group of individuals suddenly find themselves in an unfamiliar, and uninviting cultural environment. How do our tourist guests who come from an orderly and clean environment feel when they go to our local beaches after a party?

How clean are our streets and public areas, and how safe do they feel walking in the tourist districts of the island or visiting tourist sites? If their experience was good, they may return. If it was a shock to their style of life and way of living, they will most likely not return, and the word-of-mouth message they share with others will dissuade potential tourists from making a visit.

One case in point is the Marianas Visitors Authority. The building is one place that tourists might want to visit to gather information about the islands. Try finding it in the phone book. How does it look? The signage is in poor condition, and the building needs a fresh coat of paint. Millions are spent trying to encourage tourists to spend their money choosing the islands as their destination for their yearly vacation, yet little seems to be done to ensure their stay is fondly remembered. Cleanliness and order can make their first impression a lasting one.

(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)