THERE IS NO nice way to say this: service in Barbados, for the most part, needs a serious overhaul.
I make this statement with no fancy statistics or quotes from persons who would have written papers on such a topic. This statement is made based on my own experience.
Now, I am sure that Mrs Kim Tudor from NISE is doing her absolute best to ensure that our service providers operate at a stellar level. However, from the looks of it, we don’t give her much to work with.
There is a sense of entitlement among some Bajan service providers that is mind-boggling. It also seems to worsen as the economy goes through more troubling times.
I recently read a NATION article about an establishment whose workers, knowing it is in massive debt, don’t want to be sent home but also want raises. Where is this even possible? Utopia? I am awestruck the more I see and hear of these kinds of situations.
As a self-employed person, I ask myself how many of these people want to work harder to bring revenue to these failing establishments. What
if pay was directly based on output of work? would they appreciate this methodology? For example, the average coconut vendor’s pay is directly based on his output.
This is not a politically correct column today. However, someone needs to say these things. We cannot be experiencing downgrade after downgrade and not want to work harder or prove ourselves.
A peer recently lamented that more billionaires need to come to Barbados and do business – setting up more call centres, manufacturing plants and the like. My response was a blank stare. If we cannot provide ten solid reasons (sea, sun and sand are not solid reasons) why billion-dollar companies should set up shop in Barbados, we are failing. Our labour is expensive and for the most part we don’t have the infrastructure for many of the ideas my peer had. Additionally, many of us have a sense of entitlement and a laissez-faire attitude that will not cut it on the international stage. That’s a fact.
As we enter more troubling times, will we have to endure the horror of calling a local restaurant chain to order food and the person on the other line snap at us about ensuring that we have credit on our phones when they call back for collection?
As we enter more troubling times, will service providers knowingly continue to sell products which are not what they advertised, only to never be made accountable simply because they have the monopoly?
I recently paid for a service and was given the runaround for 48 hours straight, only to then have to show up at the business, wait an hour to be addressed and then resort to asking back for my hard-earned money that does not grow on trees.
Reps on the phone flirting while signalling customers to “hold on” should no longer be acceptable. Recently, I had to wait while an employee hid behind the surveillance camera to text her man. I realised it was not an emergency when she excitedly squealed that she was going to watch the movies that night with her “boo bear”.
We should no longer tolerate persons who complain about their bosses and working experience in front of customers.
It is also good manners for us to tip persons who work in the service industries. However, it is more than unacceptable to insist on a tip. This experience left a recent dinner party flabbergasted, to say the least. “Eva suh welcome, wait for a call.”
A recent study stated that the productivity to revenue in Barbados was low. In layman’s terms that means we are producing less than we are paid for.
Elections are around the corner and it is sincerely hoped that we don’t believe that any new government (B, D or whoever else will be entering the fray) will encourage this coddling. We cannot continue to reward ourselves or be encouraged to reward ourselves for blatant acts of laziness and mediocrity.
The world is “flatter” and many countries are creeping out of their economic turmoil. We Bajans need to stop cruising and hit high gear into all-round excellence.
The cream always rises to the top but right now a lot of us are operating like bottom-feeders. We have to improve quickly. God bless us all.
Toni Thorne is a young entrepreneur and World Economic Forum Global Shaper who loves global youth culture, a great debate and living in paradise. Email: Tonithorne@hotmail.com.