You Got Served

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I usually try not to compare my beloved Malaysia with other countries that I had traveled to, because I believe every country has its good and bad points. However, sometimes I feel that there are certain aspects that need to be highlighted so that we can improve. Not because Malaysia is a bad country, but to become better. I have not been to many countries, but I had the chance of visiting two developed countries for work purpose and had lived in one developed country for three years. The aspect that I am impressed most is their customer service quality. 

It was a very satisfying experience to deal with customer service staffs who are very friendly and radiant, eager to answer questions and entertain my requests. Japan in particular tops this aspect. There was one instance that made me speechless. It happened after I came out of toilet while riding on shinkansen (bullet train). I was heading to my coach when I saw a female officer did a 90 degree -bow at the coach entrance, at the back of the passenger seats. No passenger could see her bowing as the seats are facing forward. I remember being so in awe with the scene that I could not utter a word. She bowed gracefully and left the coach without anyone noticing. Subhanallah!

That beautiful scene has been etched in my mind to this day. It reminds me of the concept of doing something just for the sake of pleasing God, only God. It doesn't matter if no one is watching, because only His Pleasure matters. I don't know what is her faith, but Japan is known for not being religious. Why can't we Muslims do better than them? What's wrong with doing our work in serving people by giving our fullest effort? It has been such a norm in Malaysia for our requests to be ignored or handled carelessly. Not to mention being greeted with sullen face, and worse, the customer service staffs are more occupied with their phones rather than serving the customers. I agree that customer is not always right, but serving people with our fullest effort is definitely the right thing to do! I really wish we could change this, everyone needs to change, including me. There's no other way.