Accuracy guarantee...

The invention of Universal Bar Code on merchandize has revolutionized the tertiary industry. It saves time and cost when doing transactions. The accuracy of these barcodes is impressive and in fact, most errors are generated from the inputs of prices, rather than the decoding of barcodes.

I experience a barcode error today when I shop at the Atlantic Superstore. The error is not as a result of misread, but as a result of data inputs. What makes me angry is not the error, but the attitude of the staff at the Superstore. I have insisted many times that I see the sales sign and I actually tell him where the sign is. After he has gone investigating, he refuses to give me the sales price and even worse, he says the English on the sign is not the product I am buying. The way he speaks make me feel that he does not believe I know English.

I later go back to the stacks and take the on sale sign to the customer service. It turns out that I am correct, but that staff comes and takes away the sign rudely. His supervisor gives me the item free in return in order to calm me down.

Customer service is important in the tertiary industry. A radio show in the FM 91.9 interviewed some Nova Scotia supervisors and concluded that most workers do not enjoy working. They enjoy their pay checks, but feel working painful and stressful. As an economist, working has negative utility which is consistent with this finding.

There is a famous Chinese article on working and happiness. The author preaches the importance of finding joy when you work. If every of your staffs enjoy their works, your firm is likely to be operating at a high efficiency.

To my understanding, working should be all business and staff should not carry any emotions. I forget how many times I get pissed by calling center staffs. Shouldn’t they be trained to be more professional and be able to handle complaints? Remember, customers are always correct.