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| The customer experience |
Getting lost in a crowd feels so mysterious like a secret kept in the public. Accustomed to taking evening walks,I found myself down the street in the
calmness of the sun where I could easily fuse into my head and feel unnoticeable in the crowd. There is so much peace in solitude especially in the middle of the chaos on the streets with the lights flashing in, cars hooting, boda bodas rushing and vendors pulling everyone from everywhere. On this particular evening, as I approached a kiosk along Makerere Hill Road in a bid to purchase airtime, this one lady excitedly wooed me to her corner and she didn't mind showing it at a distance. I made my request known to her and the airtime was sent directly to my mobile phone. All was well until I gave her a 50 thousand note to deduct 10 thousand (Uganda shillings). She first ignored me for a minute but to her realization, I wasn't going anywhere especially after I had fulfilled my part of the bargain. "If I knew, she bubbled, I would not have bothered to give you my airtime." I honestly was bewildered by this young lady's statement but well, I imagined she must have had a stressful day, like any young person trying to make ends meet in this tough Kampala. It took me about 30 minutes to leave her presence in an attempt to get my change. I left her fuming as if a piece of her heart had been crushed. But as I disappeared in oblivion, many incidents reflected back in question.
Is Customer Care a Nicety or a Necessity in business?
Do people even care about the Customer Experience?
Many a times we hold people dear, so much until we get what we want from them. There are these small small habits people grow into or out of that break or make an entire business. We all have those "ex-moments" that probably draw us back into the arms of the people we have transacted with before, starting with how they treated us when we mattered most to them, to their actions and the words they said or didn't say when it was all over. Sometimes it's not enough that the products are user-friendly, cheaper, luxurious, or with good quality. Our experiences will take us back to some place for less quality just because the attendant made us feel like we mattered. It's good that we get to be welcomed nicely but what sticks with us is how we feel when that goodbye knocks at the door.
Human beings have a natural yearning for the VIP treatment that digs more into their details. I remember in the early days of my leadership, the hardest thing to practice was to treat people after being elected as fragile and affectionate as I treated them during my campaign. In my defense, I thought to myself, "who campaigns after an election anyway?". However, this always left me restless, guilty, and sometimes I felt manipulative. Upon the realization of this emptiness, I worked even harder to put myself in a better accountable state, with reasons (excuses) to go back to the people who had trusted me with their vote. It could be the same case in a dating relationship where the roses and other pleasantries may never see another day after marriage. We are innately selfish I may say, always going after our personal needs first yet it's very hard to serve if we don't appreciate what's in it for the other person.
The very first time I got born anew, it felt like I had made it to heaven literally. My heart was at peace instantly, the storm around me was calmed, family was amazing, friends receptive, school was all perfect, to mention but a few. However, the more I got deeper in relationship with God the more I saw things shift as though the world was literally waging war against me. I remember it was so appropriate, at the time, to quote the words, "this world is not my home, I am just passing through." It felt like God had set me up so high only to expose my insecurities and then drop me. The shame came crushing in, the anger, bitterness and confusion that I started to question my decision. I remember thinking to myself, that I was safer loving God at a distance, to keep myself from all the disappointments.
We have built walls of expectations around us that disappointments take pleasure in wrecking down. Being expectant is good, it feeds our optimistic selves but it also limits our experiences in life. When we get to the end of the tunnel and realize that the light we saw at a distance was in the arms of the last person we may have wanted to see, may we have the grace to be grateful and trust in the process. May we learn to handle our disappointments with content. May each moment we live in our term of service get the same energies like that last campaign day. May each day of our marriage have a one night stand impact. May that wondering soul find peace in the goodness of the Lord, because He may seem unfair but always faithful and just.
