A tale of two b*tches

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You’d have to be living in some remote kampung with no internet access of any kind if you’ve not heard of a certain patisserie in Bangsar that has managed to irritate probably half the world by calling its customer a bitch. Heck, if there was a devil who wanted to corrupt mankind by influencing them into thinking negative thoughts against its fellow humans, then this shop’s Facebook admin would almost certainly earned a special place in hell for being so successful. Then, out of nowhere, came a fellow chef who claims to not know any parties involved wrote an article/letter to a local news portal and it got published here:-

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Isadora Chai’s The Customer is Not Always Right

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To summarize what chef Isadora Chai wrote, she explained that:-

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• The customer is not always right
• People who condemn that restaurant knows jack shit about running a restaurant
• Restauranteurs gets criticized more often than any other business
• Restauranteurs focus on quality food first, service second
• Claims there is double standards of customers where they tolerate abuse from chinese hawkers while cannot accept a western restaurant’s sudden lapse of judgement
• does not believe she owes their customers preferential treatment if her customer does not show her the respect due to her as a professional chef
• some chefs deliberately contaminate food of “black listed” clients of theirs whom they find distasteful serving them.

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Now, in case you’re wondering what on earth has food got to do with an automotive review site, the answer is none at all. But if we’re talking about the service industry, then kensomuse would like to offer its share of opinion concerning the recent developments centering around this episode. Chef Chai obviously does not know how tough it is to be a sales advisor in the automotive world. I mean, think about this:-

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• Client orders a red model then changes his/her mind on the color a couple of times … most of the time after the documents are submitted, resulting in delays to change those documents. The customer then bitches about the SA’s super slow delivery of the car and goes online to badmouth the SA and the dealership
• Client comes for test drive a few times. Then couple of weeks later, drives a competitor car to the showroom, bitches about how close he was at deciding on buying the SA’s car but decided against it because of some inane reason like feng shui master said this year must buy car from showroom facing East for good ONG
• SA almost close the deal …. then another SA from another branch offer lower price, starting a price war. After negotiating with his boss for a super low price, client decides to postpone his purchase
• SA wanted to help client to get sell his car to 2nd hand dealer. Few days later, client car got scratched, 2nd hand dealer said trade in price not so high. Client pissed off and bitches about how his SA conned him by promising high trade in value but amount changed last minute.

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I can think of a myriad number of challenges an SA faces in his day to day job. The fact is, NOTHING is ever easy in this world … especially so in any service related industry. In the years of me visiting more than my fair share of showrooms, I’ve encountered good SAs …… and SAs who’s sole purpose in existing is to bring new meaning to the word stupidity. And when you give feedback to these “spill-blood” SAs, they justify their actions, goes online with a just-registered-today account and attempt to discredit you for your actions in educating the general public of the poor service he/she received. These people always feel they’re right …. probably smiling at you all the time while thinking can you be any more bitchier than this? Sad because these people will never grow without the ability to self reflect ….. but as the saying goes, some people have good fate with another while some just brings out the worse in us. Clearly the client in the restaurant’s case presented herself as such an annoying customer, the admin (who’s probably the owner) just couldn’t care less by insulting her … in a public webpage no less. Had there not been any screenshot, the admin probably got away scot-free while satisfying his own anal jusfiication.

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As the Malaysian Insider administrator has blocked comments to Chef Chai, I’d like to dedicate this reply to her in response to her article:-

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Dear Isadora,

I wish to share one quote which has changed my views about customer service

“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises.
He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption in our work – he is the purpose of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to serve him.
– Mahatma Gandhi”
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While I can see your point about being passionate about producing quality food, you are forgetting that as a restauranteur, it is also a business entity, with salaries to pay and bills to settle. And, with any business, the quality of service is as, if not more important than the food itself.
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The impression I get from reading your opinion is that you are providing justification for an act that is very unbecoming for a restaurant, a business in serving food for its patrons. As the saying goes, society loves negative news. For every satisfied client, you may get 2-3 referrals, but for every dissatisfaction, you’d get 7-10 … with the rise of the internet, that number swells to incredible proportions. To have the owners themselves rudely criticizing a customer who provided feedback, however unsavory it was is just plain dumb. Which is why if you intend to start a Facebook page where its reach cannot be measured, you’d be wise to be careful what gets posted. Calling customers who disagree with their own opinion of their own food and service bitches almost guarantees entrepreneur suicide. Imagine all the effort, time and money gone to create an alternative channel of reach to its target audience wasted for a split second of “breaking down and losing it”. Was it worth it? You be the judge.
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I have a belief;- “There is no right or wrong in business, only cause and consequences”.
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We can all justify what we want …. maybe their pet cockroach died, the toilet got stuck thanks to some idiot dumping their sanitary pad inside, that last wagyu steak came out like some bak kua from Loong Kee thanks to a chef who didn’t pay enough attention at the kitchen …. whatever it is, if you’re not prepared to face the consequences of your actions, don’t make them! There is absolutely no justification whatsoever to insult your customers unless you’re prepared to lose them. If you do not see the need to have continuous expansion of your customer base, by all means, don’t just stop at calling them derogatory canine names. I am sure a lot more rude expletive remarks can be used.
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No, Isadora, I do not believe there is double standards between chinese hawkers and western restaurants …. the key difference is one uses the internet to build awareness and assist in positioning his/her restaurant in a light that is favorable to (hopefully) garner more patrons. The other uses plain word of mouth. If you believe that the same response is warranted on two completely different approach in expanding their customer base and presenting their cuisines, then I have to say it’s best you stay in the kitchen where you can focus on doing what you do best; making quality food for the enjoyment of your guests. Leave the business planning to someone else.
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The customer may not always be right ….. but they deserve to be treated as though they are.

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Good evening, folks!

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