Look, I don’t want to get a reputation for being negative towards life in South Africa because honestly, I dig it here. I love seeing the impossibly huge, blood-red sun rise every morning on my way to work, burning the dark into cinders. I adore the people here- if somebody isn’t going to kill or rob you, chances are very likely you’ll find yourself at their house for a braai. The weather is full of glorious sunshine that wraps itself around you like your favourite blanket and terribly beautiful thunderstorms that make it easy to understand where legends come from. And the customer service is…well, they try. Sometimes.
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| A fitting metaphor for South African customer service. They will screw you. Very slowly. |
There are countless stories of endless frustration with South African government agencies floating all over the internet. And to be honest, I still have nightmares from when I had to get my Traffic Registration Number, so I’m not in the mental state to be able to write about that yet. If you’re so inclined, you can read a couple great blogs about that sort of thing by some of my favourite bloggers, Joburg Expat and 2Summers.
Instead, here’s a simple post about the mundane task of everyday shopping.
As I’ve mentioned, the weather here is absolutely mind-blowing, so we tend to spend much more time outside than we did in Canada. We sorely needed some new lawn chairs, so we picked a couple up from Game, which is a store here that’s very similar to Wal-Mart, except instead of blue, all the branding is a delightful Pepto-Bismal pink, which should have been foreshadowing, because even a simple purchase there will smite you with immediate heartburn, nausea, and explosive diarrhea.
We found 2 lawn chairs that we decided we actually really liked. And when we got home, we decided we liked them even more, so I went back a few days later to buy 2 more. One thing about stores in South Africa is that there is rarely consistency. Even though it’s the same company, stock from store to store varies widely, and when something runs out (which is often), nobody seems to know when the next shipment will arrive. Needless to say, I considered myself extremely fortunate to find 2 of the same chairs, just sitting there, waiting for me to buy them!
However, right away, I knew there was going to be a problem. For whatever reason, there were no tags to scan on the chairs. And worse yet, there was no barcode on the shelving. Because I anticipated this minor glitch would become a massive issue, I pulled up the Game website on my phone and found the chairs. Cool. It very clearly had a picture of the exact same product with the item number (007404496) and the model number (LF60040-P) right there! No problem.
I confidently sauntered up to the cashier and said, “look, I know these don’t have the prices on them, but here’s all the info you need to punch them in on your computer” and reached out to hand her my phone. She studiously ignored the crap out the phone I was thrusting towards her and said:
“Eish.”
Me: “Eish?”
Lady: “There’s no tag on the chairs.”
Me: “Yes, I know there’s no tag. I already mentioned that. Here’s what you need right here.”
Lady: “But I must have a tag.”
Me: “OK, I know usually you would scan a tag, but in this case, there is no tag. The item number is 007404496. You can enter that in your system and the pricing will come up.”
Lady: “But….there’s no tag.”
Me: “Are…are you kidding me? I thought we went over this.”
Lady: “You must bring me the tag from the shelf.”
Me: “There isn’t a tag on the shelf. Or anywhere else. Trust me, I looked. That’s why I have the item number here. It’s 007404496.”
At this point, I was beginning to feel desperate. I looked around me frantically, much like someone on a deserted island feverishly scanning the horizon for a life-saving helicopter. I managed to make eye contact with a nearby cashier who was uninterestedly watching this whole thing go down. I asked if maybe she could help out.
“Themba works in that department. I’ll call him,” she said.
About 2.7 seconds after he was summoned on the store’s speakers, Themba came racing into view. I’m not making this up- he wasn’t walking casually, he wasn’t walking briskly, he wasn’t trotting. Themba SPRINTED to the front and offered me a massive smile:
“Can I help you, sir?”
“Yes, Themba, I love you more than words can describe. You’re my knight in shining armour. Please come home with me. Bring everyone you care about. Let’s become one big, happy, efficient family. You’ve completely restored my faith in humanity!”
Is what I wanted to say.
Instead, we explained the situation. Themba went racing off with my hopes and dreams in his hands. I was confident Themba would solve my problems. He worked in that department, after all, and he seemed to really GET customer service. At this point, a smile had begun to creep onto my face. My ordeal was almost over! After a few short minutes, Themba came running back and looked at me, the 2 cashiers, the long line of people that were now waiting for their chance to not get served, and confidently declared:
“There’s no tag.”
Themba, Themba, Themba. The offer is off. You’re no longer welcome to replace my real family members.
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| The elephant is Themba. The road is my hopes and dreams. |
The second cashier at this point, and only at this point, thought it would be a wise choice to call the manager to help. After several long minutes, the very visibly annoyed manager strolled up. After a brief description of our problems, she grabbed my phone, punched in the product number (007404496) and walked away without uttering a word.
The cashier acted like this wasn’t what I had been telling her the entire time, that she hadn’t burned a good part of my day away, and that there wasn’t a huge line behind me as a result of her refusal to accept that there may have been an alternative solution to having a physical tag. Her ability to completely ignore the utter cock-up that had just happened was impressive. All she did was tell me the total, take my card, and hand me my receipt. No big deal.
I’m happy to say I kept my cool the entire time and was nothing but polite, but believe me when I say I pictured in my mind all kinds of scenarios that would have earned me a visit to the police station. Which would have been no big deal, cause I probably could have bribed my way out of it anyway (you’ll understand if you’ve been reading my last few blog posts).
To end a long story, I now have 4 of those fantastic lawn chairs. And I will never own more because the cost of obtaining them is far higher than the non-existant sticker price alone. What I’m saying here is, don’t count on enjoying them when you come visit me. They’re going to remain unsitten in, because if they break, my mental health can’t suffer another visit to Game to replace them. And I really really like them, so I don’t want to risk ruining them. You can sit on the ground and look at them with the rest of us.
*Update- Valerie (and others) have asked to see these fabled chairs. Behold:
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| OK, maybe I oversold them. Still, they’re mega comfortable. |
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When do we get to see the chairs?
OK, Valerie, I updated the post with a picture for your viewing pleasure. I guess I should have done that to start with…
LOVE that post. I lived in Toronto for a year in '71/2 then in 1980 moved to Africa with my hubby and three kids. We stayed in Africa for 31 years, the latter 22 being in South Africa so I appreciate the differences in the two countries. One can acquire quite a few 'special experiences' in SA. One memorable occasion for me was with a claim against my insurance company. Please feel free to check it out. It is titled "The Pain of Paperless" in the Crazy Tales drop down menu of my blog, The Crazy World of Ann Patras –
http://www.annpatrasauthor.com
Thanks for the entertainment here Phil. Cheers, Ann
LOL. LOVE this post. Could have been me. But you were better at curating the right pictures to go with them. As always, will be sharing. Oh, and thanks for the shout-out for Joburg Expat!
I'm glad I finally have a reason to use those pictures! And I'm also a little ashamed of myself that I took them without knowing I'd be able to use them productively…
Haha! Oh man- that post had me laughing. And now I need to find your book! I have a strong feeling I'm going to really enjoy it. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!
I love this too. Thanks for the shoutout!
Thanks for taking the time to read this, Heather!
Hahaha, this is so true! I get infuriated by the lack of customer service here and I have told more than one company that if they tried to do business in the US they would fold in a week because no one would put up with such lousy service. Not sure if that has any effect on them, but it makes me feel better.
I feel your pain, Deirdre- but most people here don't know anything different, so trying to change anything is about as worthwhile as wrestling a pig in a mudpit. I've just given up entirely and have learned to budget WAY more time that I think should be necessary to do anything. Lowering my expectations keeps me from losing my mind!
My hubby and I are South Africans. We moved to California a year ago. This article had us both rolling on the floor with laughter. We have experienced going from that to the AMAZING customer service the US offers. You know and experience the dreadful customer service in SA and there’s nothing you can do about it. Don’t get me started on my experiences with the banks.m there. My husband started to hyperventilate before he’d even entered the doors. Now he pops in at the bank with a big smile on his face. I guess if you don’t laugh about it, you’ll cry! Thanks for a great blog.
Haha! I feel his pain for sure! I’m very “type A,” and my first few months here were challenging, to say the least! I’ve become a lot more relaxed, but I still have my moments! You’re lucky to be in California- we used to love doing the drive down the 101 from Oregon- some beautiful views for sure!
I can relate to most of your stories here, but I can also tell you that not all customer services are as bad as you make it out to be down here. Some stores are though and you should just try to avoid those ones, Game is a good example as I also have a few stories I could share about them.. However, I have tons of amazing stories I can share with you about lots of other stores, 1 of my favourites happened in Woolworths. We were buying some groceries and didn’t happen to spot a rotten potato in the bag, so this diva of a lady at the cashier noticed it and she brought it to our attention, so she said “Don’t worry, I’ll go get you another bag!” And she ran with her red high heels in a very awkwardly and uncomfortable manner (I wasn’t even sure if she could walk properly in those stilettos) while there were loads of people standing in line. I thought she deserved an Oscar or something, that was so awesome! And she and a few other scenarios changed the way I saw customer care in different places.
I guess as a local, you do get used to being treated badly and as if you owe them the world, where it should be the other way around, being the customer. But I tend to focus on the positive and try not to let the bad “potatoes” get to me.
I enjoy reading your blogs, keep it rolling!
P.s. I’m also glad to hear that you enjoy it here in SA 🙂
Haha- great story, Elreza, and so relatable! I have for sure experienced great service here, but it’s definitely not the norm! I’ve become used to the “interesting” customer service here though, and if nothing else, it gives me something to write about!
I find your stories very amusing, thanks for sharing. Don’t worry, eventually you figure out which stores to avoid and which ones are really amazing. Also, it helps if the person assisting you understands and speaks English very well. Just say 🙂
Dying. I’m dying inside. I’m a Canadian who lived in SA for 4 years. The exact same thing happened to me at Mr. Price Home, but with a pillow. A glorious yellow pillow with no tag. But I was holding THE EXACT SAME PILLOW, which did have a tag. Could we just scan the pillow with the tag twice? NO, of course not. That would be too easy. 20 minutes later and after 3 cashiers and the manager got involved, I finally walked out, having paid for my tag-less pillow.
Haha- oh man. This sounds all too familiar. It could be any store anywhere in South Africa!
You would think that professional places like universities would be better. Try getting travel expenses reimbursed. It takes a long time and when things don’t go right, you are never informed of the hiccups until you are sick of waiting and initiate an inquiry from your end. Then there are laughable demands like paper copies for receipts (so-called “originals” in SA). Lots of first-world countries no longer issue paper copies for receipts, for example, train or plane tickets. I have had to escalate this issue to the upper management and explain to them that it is no longer reasonable to demand paper copies as “originals” for my reimbursements to be processed. The whole thing took only about 6 months.
I would have liked to say that this was only for reimbursements, but having accumulated enough experience, I can confidently say that this is the norm for everything service-related, at every level, from your local Game to the most prestigious institutions.
It seems to be rampant here. They love burning through trees. Before any sort of invoice, there’s a pro-forma invoice. Even things that seems like no-brainers aren’t so. I’ve given up trying to get my payslips electronically. They insist on giving me paper copies, which is a hassle, because then I need to scan them anyway because every business here seems to want copies of the last 3 months of my pay slips. It seems incredibly inefficient. So I guess it seems pretty standard South African…