Constant Spring

It is now abundantly clear to me why the chances of improvements in customer service in Jamaica are slim to none...

I made a trip to the Tax Office in Constant Spring yesterday morning. I got there before it opened so that I could be out of there as soon as possible. When I got there, there were already a good 20 to 30 people outside waiting. Now, The last time I turned up early to one of these places was a number of years ago, when I had to go to the Immigration Office. There's one significant difference in the systems they implement to deal with early-arriving customers- one institution has a system; the other does not.

At the Tax Office, there's no practical way for people to form a line and be comfortable outside at the same time, so what happens is that as people arrive, they find a comfortable spot on a wall, or a ledge, until it gets closer to opening time. It was quite amusing to me. I got there at about 7:40. Between then and opening time (8 O'clock), quite a large number of people arrived. At about 7:55, one of these persons started peering through the glass and aligned herself in front of the door as if it was about to be opened. Within 5 seconds, 90% of the waiting customers made a human garbage pile in front of the door. I stood back smiling, because after a little while it was apparent that nobody was coming to open the door.

But lucky them anyway- the ones in front were in a position to get in quickly.

At about 8, one of the three doors (the centre one) cracked open and a lady... a supervisor, it would seem... came up to the door. She said good morning, and outlined a few changes to the procedures inside. None of the changes translated to faster service, so I wasn't very interested. But as she outlined the changes, a customer - a bearer - blurted out, "We know all a dat already," as if we ALL were standing in front of the same doors the day before, or had made courtesy calls to each other in the morning to pass the information around. Dumbass. Anyway, the supervisor finished with the directives, and the door was opened.

Like flies trying to own a spot on a dying canine's body, the swarm of people rushed the doors. What was funny, and sad to me, is the story of this one woman- I presume she was probably the first person there in the morning, and while everybody had sat around waiting, she remained on her feet about a metre away from the doors for the whole time... unfortunately for her, she was in front of the door to the left... that door was opened last of the three.

We got inside, and it was obvious that any hope of organization was shot to hell. People who arrived last were at the front of the lines (and the front of the lines were all testosterone filled- chivalry is indeed dead); people who arrived first were at the back. After all these years, why can't this patty shop come up with a proper system?

Here's why. I'm standing in the main line, and the same supervisor is walking the floor. The line is quite long... maybe 30 or more people... yet, of the 8 or so Cashier stations, only 2 were occupied. "A lot of the cashiers live far you know. A number of people here live in Linstead. Even my old manager lives in Linstead. You know how traffic is, and things happen." 'Things happen'? 'THINGS HAPPEN'? I never thought I'd discriminate against my own out-of-town people, but if your cashiers can't make it from Linstead, or Yallahs, or Mocho, or wherever the hell they're from, maybe they need to find a job somewhere closer to home, or somewhere that has night shifts. How do you tell the people who've been waiting for whatever time in the morning sun, who made the effort to be there early, that your cashiers 'live far'???

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why customer service in Jamaica can't improve- because the people at the top are just as dense as the people below them.