21 July 2008

Zodiac Traits

Some say that the way people apologise and their style of saying
  sorry depends a lot on their personality and zodiac traits. No
  wonder Leos embarrass you when they say sorry while Arians
  will actually annoy you with their apology?. Below is an email from a friend and I would like to share to you.  See how you say sorry ;)
 
 
 Aries: For starters, Arians think they are so sweet, they could not have possibly said or done  things that need an apology. So in the unlikely possibility of them actually going down their knees to apologise, it will be a simple sorry. Nothing less, nothing more.
   
Taurus: They are so scared to face others when they make a mistake that by the time they resurface to tender an apology, the damage is done. So Taureans end up making foes out of friends because of their laxity in apologizing. 
  
Gemini: Geminis think they are infallible and therefore will never really apologise for anything. But once they realize, they prefer to act as if nothing happened, and behave normally with people who have a problem rather than remind others of the incident by tendering an apology.
  
 Cancer: Cancerians will make you feel sorry for demanding one when they make a mistake. They are the legendary characters that burn hands and slash their fingers! in order to display the quantum of their repentance. Their repentance is dangerous. 
 
 Leo: Leos are a delightful bunch even when they are trying to make up for their follies. They will  go down their knees, buy flowers, put up sorry posters.. do everything colorful to flatter you and make up for their mistakes. In fact it's fun to induce them to make a mistake and let them apologize for it. 
  
Virgo: Virgos will first formally set aside a time and date and inform them what they want to tell you. Then they will mentally prepare themselves to talk out the same things. They will finally draft the script and read out whatever they want to. In short, even their heartfelt apologies sound like well-drafted scripts. 
 
Libra: They are very vocal once they realize their folly. They never ever hesitate to come clean and admit their mistakes. In fact, they will go out of their way to convince you about how genuinely sorry they are. 

Scorpio: Scorpios are formal and think that tendering an apology is more of a formality. So instead of just saying sorry, they will send a formal mail or send a card, whatever it takes to avoid direct confrontation.

Sagittarius: Sagittarians don't believe in being sorry or apologizing. For them, it is human to err and therefore saying sorry is just redundant. Interestingly, even if others make mistakes, they are pretty cool and don't expect much from them.  

 Capricorn: They can't take a simple sorry. They need reasons, explanations, written letters and the works to get elicit an 'ok, you may go now' phrase. They are hard to please and even harder to appease.  
 
 Aquarius: They are sweet, genuine and innovative when they think they are wrong and need to undo the damage. Aquarians are easy on their mistakes and don't take too much time to do their sorrying. 
 
Pisces: Pisceans don't easily give in because they believe that everything is about perspective. So if somebody thinks they made a mistake! , it's because they have a wonky perspective. Pisceans and apologies? No chance!!!  
 

Customer Service

Most of my work including my previous job are inclined with customer service. I have been in an email support for a US based company wherein my task was to answer and respond to all customer enquiries by email. It was fun as I remember it. Every customer is different some are nice, some are rude, some are curious of the Customer Service whereabouts, some are talking nonsense things. I have learned a lot on how to deal with every kind of customers especially with the Americans. Next job was with the local government, as an administrative assistant in our local City Treasury Office. Again, I love the work there. There were lots of officemates to deal with and of course clients and local from every walks of life. At first it was difficult to adapt to the office environment. It was really different to work from the government offices. But, I managed to cope up with this in a short period of time. Its a matter of skills in customer service.

I strongly believed that efficient and good customer service is the lifeblood of a business. It is a vital part in the business that ensure the customer's level of satisfaction, whether the customer's expectations are met or achieved. Currently, I am working home based in an Australian company and I am proud that I am with the customer service again. I am always making sure that I am the best I can be with every customer. I am not perfect sometimes I have mistakes too but customer's satisfaction is what I put first. 

But sad to know and sometimes its a little irritating that some companies had a very poor customer service. I know it can not be avoided but as time goes by, there must be some room for improvements as well. But they are taking that for granted. One example is my ISP, Smartbro, there CSR are very polite and good mannered but lack of knowledge in their service offered. I tried to call them several times regarding my problem, but I think they are just reading a manual to me. The problem is not resolved by that. One of my task in my current job is to follow up the deliveries. There are instances that I have to ring TNT and ask for the shipment. I find their Customer Service good although you have to wait for 20-30 minutes before someone attends to you. But your concern is well attended. And the worst of all is the Customer Service of Cebu Pacific Airlines. I have been following up my boss' refund for the ticket after being turned away upon boarding because it was over booked. Its been a month already and the refund is still in processing. The CSR I talked to, Elle, said that almost everyday she was following it up with their Singapore Office but till now no response. I really can't imagine that an email can not be responded within a month. I have been contacting almost Cebu Pacific contact details but still I can not go through. I even sent them several emails. 

I really can not imagine why there are some like that. Maybe they do not value the customer after all I am just one against there thousands of customer. But for me its really unfair. They should listen to every customer and deals with their complaints. Help them out whenever is possible. And for the company, be sure that all your staff are well trained to be helpful always, courteous and the most important, knowledgeable enough of the services you offered.



16 July 2008

Perspective on Life

Perspective on life
 
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked. "Oh yeah," said the son. "So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered:
"I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night... Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them." The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are." 

Above is an email from a dear friend. It is short yet full of meaning. The child innocence shows us the perspective on life. You can see it in the way he responded when he was asked about their trip to the country. Here’s my simple perspective on life. Life is easy if you make it easy. It will be complicated if you allow complications. We need not to complain over things that happened to us nor do we have. We should appreciate everything we have no matter how small it is. We can be living happy if we want to because it always starts within ourselves. And always remember that sometimes, great things come in small packages. I am lucky not because of what I have, it’s who I have. It’s not the things that surround me, it’s the people who loves and stays with me..