6/28/2007

Locals Not Welcome

From ST: June 28, 2007 Is it the colonial mentality or just plain rudeness? I WAS waiting to go into the fitting room at Zara Marina Square on June 22 during lunchtime. A Caucasian lady emerged from one of the fitting rooms with an armful of clothes, none of which she wanted to buy. As the Zara salesgirl took them from the Caucasian lady, she was all smiles and politeness. The salesgirl thanked the lady brightly and wished her a good day. I was next up. Immediately the smile vanished. As she took the one piece of clothing I was holding to remove the hanger, she looked almost annoyed with me for taking up her time. Her face was 'black'. I wouldn't have felt it if she had not treated the person immediately before me so well. Is it because that lady was Caucasian? Zara's clothes are nice, but the service is nowhere close. Veronica Chan Miao Hua I chance to see this letter. Some may feel irated by the behavior of the salesgirl. I suggest that since we are so cosmopolitan and encouraging more foreigners to be here, we should take such an attitude in our stride. Perhaps for shops that would like to cater for foreigners only, they should hang out a sign on their shop windows, 'Locals Not Welcome' or 'Expats Are Welcome'. That would make it very clear to the locals and the locals can avoid them and not become an irritant in the shop.

21 comments:

Lost4ever said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Which hole did this idiot live all her life in ? Ang moh getting better service than locals is news to her ? The joke's actually on her, if she only knew.

Anonymous said...

Say, Red beanie, how come some comments are deleted? What r yr criteria before U remove the comments? Thks. :)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

oh dear,

i don't delete anyone's comment unless it is really offensive. so far i have not done this.

some of the deleted post were deleted by the bloggers themselves.

it is my policy not to delete any posts.

cheers

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

This is great—tell the whole world that service at ZARA (to locals) sucks. Spread the word—punish them the free-market way.

The sales woman is silly — a sale is a sale no matter who is exchanging their money for your goods.

Zara's management: they need to wake up and train or screen their staff properly.

Anonymous said...

how to delete a post by oneself redbean? write to you??

Anonymous said...

Thks for explaining, Red beanie. :)

I too, hv miserable experiences with Ikea (Alexandra) cashier. Mine is not "bad service for local" issue however. Equally sucks..
For last 6 mths, I went Ikea abt 5 times in total. Each time @ payout, I was not said "Thanks" for my purchases. In case U were wondering, each time I was smily n said my thks!!

Thks for yr store & products.
Thks for taking my money.
Thks for not saying thks!

Umbalacheechee! ;P

Anonymous said...

Obviously the writer have done something to make the salesgirl unhappy with her, like talk too much. Zara's clothes are nice, the service is nice, therefore customers must learnt to be nice period

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

if you under a registered nick with googles, you should be able to delete your own post. i have posted in other blogs and can do likewise.

ha, that is the advantage of a nick: )

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i think all these stores that are not careful, their bad names will spread like wild fire. thanks to the net, it is so easy to pass the news around.

there is this chin yong durian stall in geylang. stay far far away. in fact the police or case should clean them up. they are not doing business. it is thug operation.

Anonymous said...

redbean, you just identified a niche blog, a complaint resource bulletin to capture eyeballs.

Anonymous said...

no i think zara did not pay the salesgirl enough otherwise she wudnt dare to ill treat her customers.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

when i deleted a post there is no trace left. cheers

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i tried a niche topic in redbeanforum to post quality of goods and services but it didn't take off.

a thread here is a bit difficult as it will disappear over time. it cannot be kept where it is at the top of the blog.

Anonymous said...

Like I said it is either the customer was demanding, mean or rude to invoke the reaction from the salesgirl or Zara did not pay the girl enough, which is which?

Why should a salesgirl treat a person differently if she sensed something wrong with that person during the encounter. If a customer is rude and low-class, what can he expect, first class service? If you open your eyes big big, you will notice how rude Singaporeans have become and this is not a joke.

Anonymous said...

sorry, should be ....

why WOULDNT a salesgirl treat a person differently if she sensed something wrong with that person during the encounter.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

sometimes these sales staff deserved to be slapped. i have seen how they bullied the customers. and very rude too.

Anonymous said...

When a country is poor people are more down to earth and friendly to engage. When a society climbs up the income rung personal attention tends to be compromised due to the preoccupation of work.

When a country like singapore has arrived and everyone is at least middle class, the newly arrived tends to be obnoxious, loud and rude depending on their upbringing.

Anonymous said...

sometimes these sales staff deserved to be slapped. i have seen how they bullied the customers. and very rude too.

Hey redbean you should complain to the boss when you are bullied!

Anonymous said...

If you are observant you would notice the clear distinctions between a junior singaporean worker and the rest.

The Malaysians and Filippinos make better salestaff anyday. Perhaps it is inherent in their culture to serve and do well. Whenever a singaporean receptionist picks up the phone, I would almost always get a smart alex type and indifferent service.

Bad attitude and wrong job fit are the reasons I think singapore workers are not highly prized. Good singapore workers are mainly found in the management ranks.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

sometimes i complained to the boss. sometimes i gave them a piece of my mind on the spot.