"OF BURNT CAKE AND BROKEN TOILETS"

I love my job, it takes to me to places within and outside Zambia and most times in the city of my dwelling- Lusaka.

Last week I was privileged to be invited to a workshop that was being undertaken by a certain NGO on Advocacy and as usual the workshops are almost always being held in a lodge somewhere.

So in the last couple of years, there has been an upsurge of lodges in the city of Lusaka and competition is high amongst all of them. The newer the Lodge the nicer it is, the older the loge the seedier it gets.

One of the best Lodges in the recent past has been Mika Lodge owned by a young and prolific entrepreneur this country has ever seen. If am not mistaken , it started with The Mika Lodge in Jesmondine area, very nice little place, then came the one in Kabulonga. When both started off, I can say for sure that the standards were top class.

In the recent times though I have been very disappointed with many of these lodges including  Mika Lodge, my shock came last week at the latter when I was attending a workshop there.... My first shock came at lunch time when guests queued up for lunch. If that queue didn't curl itself up I swear it could have reached the gates of either entrances.

After quite a sumptuous lunch, I need to refresh myself before the afternoon sessions began. I went to the conveniences and of course wanted to relieve myself, I sat on the toilet seat and almost feel off it literally, laughable but serious hey. Something is terribly wrong somewhere, the whole toilet actually shakes and one has to be careful to sit on it gives that shaky feel like you will fall off it. Is this the Mika Lodge I know? A clear case of Kuyamba timayambwino, but poor finishing!

Okay I know I wasn’t one of the organizers of the conference or anything, but such things really get to me. How can a Hotel handle guests like that? So I took it upon myself to speak to the Hotel authorities. Me being me, I asked to see the manager of the Hotel, was told he was out, I asked to see the next person after him. In came a smart gentleman that asked how he could be of help, I said yes he needed my attention, I asked how they could allow such mediocrity by allowing guests to queue like that for lunch. He explained that it wasn’t their fault that it was actually the fault of the organizers as they do not come out on their stated time. I explained to him that I had been to the hotel several times before and they had two serving bays and at one point they even had three serving points, the gentleman told me that has never happened. I argued with him that then he must be new at the Hotel because I was definitely not hallucinating.

Well, the gentleman promised to fix the problem and that we would not experience that in the coming days. And voila, the problem was sort of sorted the next day but not because he put measures in place, it was because there were fewer meetings taking place on that day.

Now as if the long queues were not enough on the first day, second day was even more disturbing, for desert, there was burnt cake! Yes burnt cake! As you can see from the picture. Like really!!! If someone told me this story I would not have believed but I saw it for myself and took the photos with my phone.

Again as if that wasn’t shocking enough, as we came from lunch going up the stairs to our meeting room, right there in the corner I saw our Juice dispenser (am saying our, because it came from our meeting room), even more shocking, there was no lid on it. Again, I had to take pictures for evidence. I even mentioned to my colleagues and they too had seen it, It looked like it was actually coming to our room. Like is this for real? What happened to the Mika we knew with all its standards and

 All.

What I know for sure is that the young entrepreneur who owns the chain of Hotels inspires a lot of young people apart from just creating jobs for the many Zambians. Am also told he has gone international in Rwanda and Chaina ( so I hear) I pray he takes actions and does some ass kicking before the Hotels are run down. Congratulations are in order also, as am also told there’s a convention Centre am yet to visit in Lusaka East somewhere, am informed the Convention Centre is state-of-the-art.

Mr. Mikalile has greatly contributed to the economy of this country, I just pray he keeps the standards as he continues to expand his empire.

Till next time!!

P.s. Eating places watch out… Next time it’ll be you!

   

   

OF STALE SCONES AND ROTTEN CHIPS. . . .

About a year and a half ago, I walked past a bakery store at Cairo Mall and my oh my all the confectionery looked so divinely tempting and inviting, I couldn't help myself, I decided to walk in and get myself some scones.

 I bought four of them to share with my colleagues in the office, feeling happy and having done justice to the temptation but that feeling would be short lived as the first bite into that beautiful looking scone turned into misery.

Turns out the scones as beautiful as they looked in the display, were old and stale, my friends testified to this in the office and so the decision was made. I was not gonna take this lying down. I gathered all the scones through them in a plastic bag and marched down to the bakery store and demanded to see the manager. I informed her that she sold me hard, old and stale scones.  I asked her to get one scone from the display and taste it, she tried to refuse but I insisted so that we “speak the same language”. She did, I asked her how it tasted although her face had already given me the answer I was looking for.

To add salt to the injury the lady Manager tries to apologize and offer me free doughnuts instead …Really!!! I asked her “Ma’am are you serious”? She obviously didn't get it so I made very clear to her that, I did not come to claim free doughnuts or anything free for that matter!!

So in my polite but firm voice, I asked her to remove all the scones from the display. She looked at me like I was a mad person and thought I was joking. So I told her “Ma’am am ordering you to remove all those scones on display before I report you”. She obliged and funny as it may sound the workers in the shop looked at me with smiles on their faces.

I learnt later that, they had advised her (the manager) to remove the old stock and she didn't listen.

ROTTEN CHIPS (FRENCH FRIES)

Just about the same period, I was going down to me some lunch and a a friend of mine asked me to get her a packet of chips while I was at it. So I bought my lunch and the chips and went back up to the Zamwa office.

As we were about to start munching on our lunch, my friend opens her packet of chips only to find rotten chips, I really couldn't believe it. My friend said to me that it was alright, she would go down and get another packet later. Armed with my receipt, I stopped eating and went back down to see whoever was in charge and why they sold me rotten chips. I was pointed in the direction of the gentleman in charge. I went over to him, showed him the chips and my receipt. Guess what!! The dude admitted that “they were the last potatoes in the bag and there was nothing they could do”….Oh and the name of this famous eatery was “Fudfe”, so now the gentleman is signaling to me not to speak loud fearing that other customers might hear. Well, I didn't back down, nor did I lower my voice. I spoke even louder for all customers to hear that they sold me rotten chips.

I was glad to see everyone checking their packets….I made my point!

Fast forward to mid January 2014, my friend and I walk into “Sper” we get various foods for lunch and a couple of samoosas, one bit into the samoosa and guess what? It’s off…again I go back, ask to see the Manager and demand she removes all the samoosas on display.

My dearest readers, please understand, am not a big shot or anything, and just a concerned well meaning citizen of my beautiful country Zambia, do not let anyone take you for granted. Demand what is rightfully yours especially if you have paid for it.

And to business houses, traders etc….customer relations are very important. Teach your staff to smile…you gain more than you will lose!!

Till next time!!

  

ARE YOU BEING SERVED?

Hello readers, I want to start this column first by introducing myself and a little about my background so people know what am talking to them about, I’ll also talk about what this column is about and what we will be talking about.

Let me first introduce myself.  My name is Sally Chiwama am a Journalist by profession, am a media consultant with a bias on gender issues, sexual reproductive health rights, women and children's rights, and sexual abuse against girls, but here, I will not be talking about that. I also have other interest such as traveling and eating good food and that is what this column will be focusing on.  

Some people call me feisty, some think am fussy, but am really just the type of person that likes to get my monies worth, when I pay for something, or a service, I expect to get a good service back.

You see, growing up as a little girl my mother always emphasized on manners, “manners count for everything young lady” she would say. My late Mother was a hotelier, she worked in big as well as small hotels and with this came the privilege of being accommodated in the premises where she worked. Fast forward to date, my job gives me another privilege of traveling abroad every now and then and this comes with staying in some of the finest hotels the continent has.

Maybe that’s where the taste for fine cuisine comes from…..  

Am sure anyone will agree with me that when we pay for a service, you all expect nothing short of a good service.  I will start by telling you a story have happened to me about two years ago, while the second happened only a few weeks ago.

About two years ago, I asked my friend to buy me a packet of French fries (chips) from a very well known take away along the famous Cairo Road, the chips were nicely packed in a paper bag and later in a carrier bag so obviously my friend did not see what they looked like. When I opened the bag to eat, the chips, half done, watery and looked sort of rotten. I was not going to take this lying down after paying my hard earned K8,000.00. I went straight back to the restaurant armed with my receipt demanded to see the manager and yes out came the manager. I showed him the chips and he agreed that indeed the chips were bad and to defend himself he said that his staff had used the old stock of potatoes , now what was laughable is that this man was turning sort trying to move me so that my back is to the other customers while at the same time motioning that I should lower my voice again so that other customers do no hear what the conversation is about.

So I asked him why he was motioning for me not to speak loudly. Now listen to this, then with his palms clasped together in a begging way asked if he could give me a fresh free packet of chips. I must say at this point I became very annoyed. I mean surely, did this man think I went to beg for a free packet of chips? I told him that that was why I was not there, I made it very clear that I came because serving those chips was stealing from customers and taking advantage of them, I also told him that he needed to do was retrieve the chips from the customers and made it very clear that they should not make profits from serving people rotten chips. The manager apologized profusely only after I threatened to report him and upon find out that I was a scribe. He restaurant manager has never has never forgotten me and gives me maximum attention when he sees me, but what about the millions of Zambian out there who are probably scared to report such issues or because the counter has a sign that says no refund or something like that.?

Before I tell you my other encounter, let me give a snippet of an incident that happened to another friend of mine. She went to a café at one of the malls with a couple of friends, according to her they were seated nicely and given menus to look at. In a few minutes the waiter came back and took their orders. The sat for thirty minutes and just when thought their food was ready the waiter came back and told two of the ladies that what they had ordered was not available on the menu that day. Surely!! Totally unacceptable!

Now back to my incident. I was attending an all day meeting at one of the five star hotels in Lusaka, and as we broke for lunch and seated by the waiters, another waiter came and took our drinks order. I politely asked  what juices they had, I was given the variety and settled for a pineapple juice. In a few minutes a young waitress came to our table, gave my colleague his drink and put a coca cola in front of me, I politely told the waitress that I did not order a coke, I felt the need to tell her the gentleman waiter had taken our orders, the young waitress quickly informed that the same gentleman is the one that had given her our drinks order. So the young waitress went back to change my drink order and this time returns only to bring me an apple juice. Honestly I was shocked I asked the waitress again, what my drink order was and she correctly said pineapple juice. So again I politely asked her why she brought me an apple juice, she was quite and then I took the trouble to find out why she what was wrong with her. I asked her if that was her first day at work, she said no she had been with the hotel for about eight months. I asked her then why she was trembling, she apologized. I said it was okay and thought …well she could be tired hence her mistakes. She took away the apple juice and this time (you will not believe this) she returned with a tropical juice. Just to make sure I asked my colleague if there was something that I had said that was not clear, he said all was clear. The waitress’ explanation was that there was not pineapple juice. Whatever happened to simply asking, what about being courteous and letting me know what other options there are instead of assuming I want a tropical juice.

The fact that it was a five star hotel riled me even more, now my question is, if you are faced with such an incident happened to you, would I be accused of being a difficult customer? My answer is an emphatic NO! I’m not asking for a free drink, so kindly give me the drink I ordered and if that is not available please let me know what other options there are and not make assumptions on what I would like to have-period!

Often times, we as customers are taken for granted when we are getting a service in most places. Most service providers tend to think they are doing us a favour when we are getting something forgetting that they would not be in business in the first place if me and many people do not give it to them.

My advice to all is that let us demand to get a service that we deserve, after all you are paying for it with your hard earned money!!

Till next time!

 Note* This column appeared in the Zambia Institute if Marketing (ZIM) Magazine in 2012.  

WELCOME

Hey all,

My name is Sally Chiwama. Am a Zambian Journalist, a lover of social media. I believe social media can change the world but also creating networks with like minded people.  The idea of starting this blog came about from friends who encouraged me because of my vigilant posts on my face book page regarding consumer issues in Zambia.

Aptly put, this blog discusses matters relating customer care, service delivery and consumer issues in my day to day life  activities .

There is an abundance of issues on customer care and consumer issues but I will pick the basic ones that are key to the development of service delivery and consumer rights in Zambia.

This blog will talk about the day to day issues that people face as they go around their business. Will talk about serious issues but in a fun way. 

My objective of this blog is simple to create awareness to the masses out there that when you pay for a service or something, you must be satisfied with your purchase or service. 

This is an interactive blog, and hope that we can learn and share experiences from each other. Your views and contributions are most welcome, 

Enjoy reading my blog :-)

Asante sana....