Critical Smoke

A month ago, my cousin went to a store in Vivocity to purchase a cable, but he met with an unsatisfactory level of customer service. Obviously miffed, he engaged my services to complain on his behalf. Below is the transcript of what happened. All emails with the exception of the replies from LG are written by me.

Round one

Unpleasant Experience with Counter Service Staff

Dear Customer Service Officer, I am writing to inform you about my dissatisfaction with the level of service I experienced in a LG Concept Store (VivoCity Branch) today at 3.30 p.m.

This afternoon, prior to my visit, I called your other stores at 1250 p.m, namely the Toa Payoh Branch, Tampines 1 Branch and ION Orchard Branch, to make enquires on the availability of the LG Mobile TV-OUT Cable.

I was informed that none currently carried the cable, and was recommended to check with the VivoCity Branch. Hence, I made a call to the VivoCity Branch. I made a total of 4 calls, at 1.01 p.m., 1.35 p.m, 2.09 p.m and 2.26 p.m. However, none were picked up.

With it being a weekend, I made a special trip down to VivoCity's LG Concept Store. Upon entry, a sales-lady helped me. I explained that I was looking for the LG TV-OUT CABLE. She brought me to the counter where I had an unpleasant experience. She informed her male colleague who looked to be in his thirties that I was looking for the LG TV-OUT Cable. The colleague was unwilling to help and just plainly replied, 'No Stocks.' He also had an extremely grouchy demeanor.

Following his reply, he went back to his work, leaving me and the sales-lady shocked at his attitude. Next, I asked if there were stocks coming soon, and he replied, "yes". However, I had to prompt him about when the stocks would be arriving, to which he replied "maybe 1-2 weeks time, not sure." I enquired further if any stores might be currently carrying the TV-Out Cable, and the sales-lady referred me to LG Service Centre, handling me a brochure to contact them. In the end, I left empty handed.

The attitude of this male colleague has left me with a extremely bad impression of the level of LG's customer service. My current impression is that LG does not put customer service high on its list of priorities, having employed such an obviously inept staff member to deal with customer queries.

Prior to this trip, I realised that sg.lge.com had no information on LG Mobile accessories. Nothing was displayed in the accessories section, such as earphones and TV-OUT cable, only information about the places I could purchase a LG Mobile Phone.

Left with no other option, I made calls to the shops, but it is obvious how that went. I believe the definition of the word "service" entails meeting the customer's needs, and it is hardly an impossible request for service staff to be attentive to customer queries. The saleslady certainly was, and hence I don't see why the guy should have problems doing the same. Even if he was having a bad day at work, it does not give him the right to treat customers badly.

Futhermore, a reputable company like LG should employ staff that are familiar with availability of their own inventories, while showing that they value my patronship of the brand, for example by taking note of my details so they can inform me when new stocks are available. I find it ridiculous that for all the money put into product development, such little attention is paid to the customer itself, when everyone knows that good service is the best sign that a brand takes their customers seriously.

I am currently using LG Renoir, and I have also recommended some LG products to my friends. Following my latest unpleasant encounter, I am considering boycotting future LG products because I am not confident your staff is capable enough to render assistance if I encounter problems with my products, and I will probably tell everyone I know to do the same. I hope that LG's customer service department will look into this case. I look forward to hearing from you.

Mr. -----------

Here was their first reply.

We understand that you wish to purchase the LG Renoir TV-Out cable, due to an acute shortage of stocks, therefore the TV-Out Cable is not available at any of our Concept Store outlets. However new production of the TV-Out Cable has just began and a new shipping will be arriving from Korea and will reach us on latest by the 4^th week of Oct 09. When the stocks have arrived, we will arrange for the delivery of the TV-Out cable to you, hence can you provide us with your address and contact number? This information will enable us to contact you should the delivery of the TV-Out Cables arrive earlier.

So we sent them the details he needed, and decided to give them up to the 4th week of October to reply. As expected, they did not, so in November, I decided to send them round two.

Hi Mr -------, I refer to your email dated 29 Sep 2009. In the following email, you mentioned that due to an acute shortage of stock, the TV-out cable is not available at any of your Concept Stores. You added that the latest shipment would arrive by latest the 4th week of Oct 09.

It is now November. I have yet to receive any updates, despite having waited 4 whole weeks. I am disappointed with the quality of customer service from LG.

Just because LG has forgotten about the problem doesn't mean it has conveniently disappeared. I get the impression that the date was mentioned in the email in an attempt to delay time and get me to forget about the whole situation, without any real intent to help me solve the problem whatsoever.

I expect an explanation, or I will boycott LG products in the future, and encourage other people to do so as well.

Upset Consumer -----------------

Upon receiving this email, the manager called to apologise, and offered to deliver the cable personally to my cousin's home. Upon delivery, he also told my cousin that the offending salesperson had been sent for retraining.

Serves them right.

I'm sure every student has encountered such a situation once in their lives, when they are next in a presentation queue and the person before has just delivered a presentation of such stellar quality that anything you have prepared just pales in comparison.

I read this off the New Paper on Sunday

Three Singapore models have attracted controversy over a series of online videos, where they dress in bikinis while performing certain tasks.

Such tasks, which include tips on how to kiss a girl and suntanning on Orchard Road, has drawn criticism from netizens, who say they are a bad influence to the young, among other comments.

But the three women, all featured on television show S Factor, are unfazed. They say they never set out to be role models....

Here are my two cents on this article, especially on the "concerned" parents who took the moral high ground, once again.

Obviously the girls didn't set out to be role models. They just want your attention, and the more you complain about how immoral they are, the more attention they get. I find it so silly that Singaporeans are so gullible and just play into their hands. Honestly, if you just ignored them and stopped complaining, the whole thing would die down soon enough.

Nobody needs to hear your tripe about how their actions corrupt moral values because there have always been people doing all this stuff, and frankly 3 more girls doing it hardly makes a difference. If you really think that their content corrupts young innocent minds on the Internet, you haven't seen the depravity that exists online these days. If children really want to find this kind of stuff, nothing, and I repeat nothing you do can stop them from it. I mean, how hard is it to turn off that filter on Google? I think even emptying the "Recycle Bin" is harder.

Come on, when you were younger you did your own research too. And I bet you didn't tell your parents. Your children are just doing the same.

No prizes for guessing who wears the pants in this one. The lengths some guys will go to for a romp in the sack can really be quite astonishing.

Technically, this seat in the train is probably reserved. However, if a pregnant lady comes in, should it function as a priority seat then? I mean, it's in a very convenient position for one, like near the doors.

I also wonder if this seat has a season parking label, since it is probably going to be functioning as a seat for the long term, like all future subway and bus rides, and I'm guessing no one else is allowed to use it.

Actually I'm sorry I even started this discussion. But I guess I couldn't help it since some guys prefer being furniture to being human.

Two days ago, this was the exact question a friend posed to me. She was asking me what I usually did, because one of her guy friends had accused her of "not having a life." Her rationale was that guys always had activities lined up, hence they were in a position to accuse her of not having a life.

So her question to me was, "What do you do in your free time?"

I told her I played the piano, surfed the net and shopped. Her next question was "Do you shop with people or alone?"

"I shop alone. Is it even possible to shop with people?"

"Is there anything you do that involves other people?"

Shit. What was the last thing that I met up with people for? Project meetings don't count.

She got me there. I actually had to think. I told her yes, but not often. Sometimes I watch movies, or meet others for meals.

After a short discussion, we came up with a plan. The apparent plan is for us no lifers to find some random hotspot in town, study there and put "Currently in town studying" or some other silly equivalent on our facebook and msn statuses to indicate that "we have a life".

The rationale is that if you can update your facebook and msn statuses with enough things, you have a life. Even if its stuff like "currently eating my sandwich." Or "Weili thinks that the coffee at Starbucks is great" like anyone needs to know you're at Starbucks or what you think of the coffee there.

The fact that informing people about your life or lack thereof is free and extremely easy on facebook/msn has made these platforms the main source of utterly useless information you would not tell someone in real life but feel absolutely liberated to do so online. Why so, I can only wonder.

It also helps if you're in town while you're doing such things. Apparently, being in town lends an aura of "I am a happening person" when all you are most likely doing is something totally unhappening like mugging.

Ironically, for all the fretting about not having a life, I don't think anyone can answer this question for me satisfactorily.

"What exactly then does having a life constitute?"

I was looking in the mirror and thinking women have it better than men because they don't have to shave.

Then I realised that they had to shave their legs.

I'm happy to be a man.

It's that time of the year again, when professional internships are around the corner and everyone is gunning for the best jobs. The competition is keen, as usual. The showcase has come, and everyone wants a role on the stage.

What has astonished me though is the sheer naivete of people applying for internships. Instead of being confident in their own ability, they choose to measure themselves against the abilities of others, and damage their own chances based on what they perceive other people to be. They try to ward off competition by asking people to not apply for companies they are interested in, in the hope that this will better their "chances".

The people who get cushy jobs are not the ones who fear competition. They are the ones who relish it because competition forces them to demand the most out of themselves. If you are afraid of competing with your peers, you don't stand a chance in the industry out there because the sky is that high and you've only seen a small part of it, namely the small world of CS which you might arrogantly think breeds the next generation of talent for the media industry. You couldn't be more wrong, because talent can be bred anywhere.

I find it even more amazing that some people think that they deserve certain jobs. Just because there are more places than applicants and an internship is assured does not mean that companies are obliged to hire you if you do not convince them you are worth hiring. I've found myself answering the same questions a countless number of times, about how to answer interview questions and the like, and what they have to bring to interviews.

I hate to be brutally honest but it is really that simple. If you have never thought about the important questions, namely "Why are you here?", "Why would you like to work for this company and not others?", "Why should we hire you and not other people?" and most importantly of all, "What are you looking to get out of your internship?", perhaps you are not ready for internship. Perhaps you expect it to be handed to you on a silver platter like a typical Singaporean who has been spoonfed through school. If you have ever sat down and asked yourself those questions, the answers for any interview will come very naturally.

In any interview, it is highly unlikely that you will say something that someone has never said before. It is highly unlikely that any one answer you give will make the interviewer go "Wow I should hire you now because you are going to be the next CEO of my company."

Since that is the case, what are interviewers looking for in interviewees? The same thing they look for in any job applicant, whether an intern, or a graduate. They are looking for initiative, drive, the ability to think critically, out of the box, and most of all, the willingness to work hard, and trust me, these things can be discerned from interviews.

Telling me that interviews are a poor judge of one's character couldn't be more wrong. If you couldn't even be bothered to put in the effort to prepare for an interview, what assurance do I have that you will put in effort for an actual job?

I wouldn't even say interviewers are looking for the ability to do the basic scope of your job well because that is a given. If you're an advertising creative, you should be able to design campaigns, so mentioning how good you are at that is pretty moot because everyone else can do that too. If you are going into PR, you are naturally expected to be good with people.

If you are going into journalism, and I will be most critical about this particular group because I am one of those people too, if you have to ask me about what to say in an interview, I will tell you to go work in another industry because it is obvious you lack critical thinking skills, initiative and drive, 3 things which all journalists need. I do not believe in mincing words to people who desperately need a wake up call because massaging egos is not in my vocabulary.

Thoroughout my internship application experience people have been telling me "Oh you're so lucky you don't have to fight for places with other people because you already have SPH." Honestly, if I had the chance to apply for these other companies too, I would, and trust me I would give you a hell of a competition because I actually enjoy telling these companies precisely why I think they should hire me, something which I find amazing that most people aren't even thinking about.

This post will not make for easy reading, especially for the guilty, but I would be hard pressed to admit I've said anything wrong here.

I'm sitting here with 10 minutes left to French lesson, and I realise that everything in life is but temporary.

I used to spend minutes, hours and days just reading about the lives of other people. Fantastic lives, eventful and impactful journeys, defined by the moments that make life living. And I would look back at my own life, so utterly devoid of excitement, filled with the drudgery of schoolwork, the banality of taking the bus from school and home, and other mundane things.

I would sit and wonder why I didn't have the life I wanted to lead. Then I realise that everyone has their own life to lead, and every journey is important because of the landmarks along the way. If I were to spend my life looking over my shoulder, I would never realise what I had in front of me, until it had passed me by.

And one day when I sit around wondering what had been, I would realise that I had a whale of a time, only that when I did, I never realised it, never treasured it, and never took the experience by my own two hands and lived in it.

I might not enjoy school, but the experiences I've had as a result of studying here, some of them are wonderfully unique. In strange ways, I find myself looking back upon them and smiling. It's not always a bed of roses in a garden scented with lavender, but a life based on a singular cachet of certifiably great ways to live would quickly lose all semblance of meaning, meaning that comes with having lived through a variety of experiences, both the extraordinary and seemingly mundane.

We go through lows so we appreciate the highs more. Okay, I'm ready for another difficult French lesson.