Shades of Gray

I have completed almost two months in Kolkata, the capital of Left ruled West Bengal. The experiences have been mixed as they would be in any part of the world. It is a city where life is not as fast as Mumbai, where you get delicious street food ad where you can have a sumptuous meal for fifty rupees. But there are certain areas which weakens the case for the city. The metro and the former capital of India, performs poorly when it comes to customer service. The attitude of service staff (not all but most) is appalling at best and if you are moving from Mumbai, Delhi , Chennai or Bangalore, you are in for a culture shock.

The first I experienced this ’so-what-if-you-give-me-business’ attitude was when I was eating egg rolls at a roadside stall. It was 8 pm on a Friday evening in Sector-2, Salt Lake, one of the posh localities of this city. A couple came and ordered for two egg rolls. The vendor prepared these and asked for money. The gentleman handed him a 50 rupee note. The vendor asked for change and when he didn’t get it, declared – ‘Roll hobe naa‘. I was taken aback at his refusal to sell rolls that had already been prepared. Nobody would buy them stale and a roll costs Rs. 10, so it was not that he had had to produce change for 500 bucks. The couple had to walk away.

Sector 5 Salt Lake is where all companies are located. I had skipped lunch and so at around 4 pm, went to Tea Junction, outside RDB Boulevard for some snacks. I asked for two samosas (costs Rs 8 each) and gave out a 20 rupee note. The vendor said – ‘Change nahi hai?‘ (You don’t have change). When I replied in negative, the standard answer came – ‘Samosa hobe naa‘ (No samosa then). I had to leave and move around to get something else to eat. I am still not able to believe that this guy couldn’t have managed 4 rupees change after doing brisk business (the place always have people coming for tea and snacks) all throughout day. May be if he had waited for another customer, he would have got his change.

One of my colleagues has shifted from Chennai. He had an Airtel number there and since he has been with Airtel for some time, he wanted to transfer his connection to Kolkata. So, he visited the Airtel shop at City Center, Salt Lake. The guard and asked him why he wanted to transfer. My friend got so pissed off that the guard would not let him speak to the Airtel Customer Care guys sitting behind the desk that he just walked out. And the Customer Care guys just kept lloking at the whole incident and didn’t intervene at all. Now, this gentleman gives a business of around Rs, 10,000 per month. Shouldn’t such a customer be treated with respect?

There are many such incidents that I am coming across almost at the rate of two every week. My blogging here is not going to change anything but perhaps this is the reason why City of Joy offers no joy to the customers at Kolkata and why people keep ranting about work culture and unprofessionalism in this great city.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Postscript:

I would like to add here that I am very happy with the Airtel Broadband service that I have recently taken. My calls and queries have been handled very efficiently. However, this post is not a bundle of lies – my mobile service provider Vodafone has refused to send me a PDF copy of my April bill as the paper copy has already been generated. So, they say I will get the PDF version from next month onwards. What puzzles me is why can’t they accept and process my request immediately when PDF generation costs them nothing! [April 25, 2009]