Stony Faced Singapore Girl

[benlee]

Rather presumptuous, aren't we? Just loving the accusations against many of us that we don't pay for our own travel.

You are reading it wrongly here. I'm saying he is not paying for my airfare and not experiencing what I had exprienced ( which is true ). I'm not saying he is not paying for his own travels.

A little tact and niceness would have gone a long way here.

Maybe you can lead by example by not writing the first part of your post until you clarify it?

[Gunnar Smithsen]

I dont work for SIA yet but i am in the customer service industry. I work at the Four Seasons Hotel and dealing with irate, annoying and impatient guest IS emotionally draining. Sometimes we do run out of bloody marry mix and let our smile turn upside down into a frown.

I'm with singaporeairlinesboi, I too am in the hotel industry and I can assure you Mr benlee, everyone in the industry has their fair share of rough days where their smile may not always be as beaming as one might hope. Nobody likes to have bad days at work, personally I would love to walk into work day in and day out with a smile. But I'd be a touch dillusional in thinking that would be feasible.

Once again, if a person is not able to control demeanour and let emotions overrule one's professional conduct when providing services, it is better that he or she don't work in the service industry, whether in an airline or hotel or related industry.

Afterall we, like our guests, are human. Simply saying that because one can't be in control of the emotions 24/7 they shouldn't be in the service industry is a bit too far off the mark.

[LukeGT]

@all SQTalkers: Once again, as jjpb3 said, please accept our nice request to cool the tone down in order to avoid further misunderstandings.... and of course the request is valid for every SQTalker

@benlee: I do understand your expectations were not matched on that sector, but I'm happy to know everything went definitely better on the subsequent flight.
Cheers
Luke

[benlee]

Thanks Gunnar for your feedback and insights. I can definitely appreciate the fact that those in the service industry like airline or hotel are also human and they have their up and down days. But i think you should see it from the perspective of the paying customer also. Should a customer, esp one that is paying for premium service put up with less than ideal service standard basically due to an employee's having one of "those days"?

Maybe I should elaborate on my experience. It is not just that the flight stewardess in question was not smiling. In fact, she was wearing a permanent frown throughout the whole flight. When I press the call button, she will come and instead of asking "May I help you, Mr XXX", she will just stare at me and say "Yes?" in a cold unfriendly voice. When she bring me my meal or drinks, she will just put them on my table and walk away immediately. No "Please enjoy", or "can I get you anything else?", which is the norm when I am in either J or F. No hot towel until I asked. No offering of blanket until I asked. This is such a significant deviation from the service standard of SQ.

As I said earlier, to be successful in the service industry, one must be able to control one's emotions and not let it show during work towards fellow colleagues and esp not towards paying customers. Life is not always happy and most of us ( including myself ) come to work unhappy or not totally in a good mood most of the days, probably a good 40-50% of the time. But I do not see 40-50% of the people putting up a frown. Some do though, like my experience shows. Yes, it takes training and a good attitude but it can be done. And being friendly and dare I say putting on a nice smile is part of the service requirement, esp so in Asia and in the premium airline/hotel. And if one is having those "down days" so severe and upsetting that it's affecting his or her mood at work, maybe the person concerned can just take a leave for that day?

To be fair, I will also say there are many over-demading customers making unresonable demands that sometimes push the employee over the edge. In such case, I will think the customer is at fault. Like the hotel industry, I have personally witness many hotel guests that throw up such a big fuss simply because they are not getting upgraded on check-in or their meals were delivered 5 mins late. Or a passenger on F that demands for something not in the menu and got upset because he or she didn't get it. That's just wrong. It's just where you draw the line. In my case, I don't think I am being "PITA" for expecting an FA in F to be a bit more friendly.

[MAN Flyer]

Well, I't's good for you that you are so tolerant of low service standard. But I have much higher standards and expectations. It is easy for you to talk lightly here when you aren't the one paying the premium travel fees

Very good. I am delighted to hear unlike me and others on here you pay for your premium travel.

And where am I implying the decline of an entire airline?

Err, in your very first post perhaps, where you posted the following:

Hope this is not the start of a decline in service standards on board SQ

It is quite clear that you pay for premium services, you worry about a decline in standards and know what you are talking about on this subject. I also note that you are PPS. As a matter of interest, how many years have you been PPS ?.

Rather presumptuous, aren't we? Just loving the accusations against many of us that we don't pay for our own travel.

That old chestnut eh ?.

A little tact and niceness would have gone a long way here.

Quite.

[benlee]

It is quite clear that you pay for premium services, you worry about a decline in standards and know what you are talking about on this subject. I also note that you are PPS. As a matter of interest, how many years have you been PPS ?.

There's a difference between saying this might be a trend of declining standards versus actually implying directly the airline of decline standard. The earlier is raising a possibility, the later is stating an allegation. Kindly don't confuse these two.

I don't see how how many years I've been a PPS has any relevance to this. Suffice to say, I've flown SQ F enough times to say this is unconventional behaviour, and to some extend unacceptable, whether you agree or not. Pls re-read my reply to Mr Gunnar.

P/S : If you want to continue this discussion, we shall keep this as civilised as possible as requested by the moderators.

[MAN Flyer]

There's a difference between saying this might be a trend of declining standards versus actually implying directly the airline of decline standard. The earlier is raising a possibility, the later is stating an allegation. Kindly don't confuse these two.

Right, OK.

I don't see how how many years I've been a PPS has any relevance to this.

I would personally beg to differ, but I think we can summise from this that it's not very long, so thank you for answering the question in your own little way.

P/S : If you want to continue this discussion, we shall keep this as civilised as possible as requested by the moderators.

That would be most welcome and a refreshing change, as there is only one person who seems to have been having a very bad day looking at the attitude of their posts, as some replies you have got from a number of members would indicate.

Maybe now you could understand how the SQ Girl may have been feeling when she didn't smile.

[benlee]

Right, OK. I would personally beg to differ, but I think we can summise from this that it's not very long, so thank you for answering the question in your own little way. :

Feel free to guess

That would be most welcome and a refreshing change, as there is only one person who seems to have been having a very bad day looking at the attitude of their posts, as some replies you have got from a number of members would indicate.

Well, I also hope you can understand that an action always invite a reaction. I'm not the one to start off by trivialising another person's opinion or making remarks like "high demanding PITA passengers". I'm always nice to those that are nice to me, even if they disagree with me. Thank you.

[MAN Flyer]

Feel free to guess

Less than a year, as evidenced by previous posts.

[StarG]

I think we have just enough discussions about this.

We'll keep this thread locked for now.

StarG
SQTalk Moderator