Service. Please. TK.
In the past month I’ve had some encounters with the service industry in Mumbai that have left me “deflated”. In the end, I always walk away unclear of whether a waiter, cab driver, or clerk was doing the best they could, showing immense apathy, or whether I was just responding to how I think things are supposed to work back home.
As a foreigner, you have to stay on your toes here to get what you want, get a fair price, and get what you want in a timely fashion. I haven’t yet figured out how to negotiate a day where I don’t use a “don’t mess with me” tone of voice and for this I feel at a loss.
Someone recently suggested to me that these personel actually want to solve the problem and the best response I can have is one in which I negotiate for a solution. In this role, I focus on helping them to think of a solution to the scenario, rather than demanding this or that where I will meet the undesirable, “No Mad’am”. Smart advice I say…something to be ingested with a spoon full of sugar.
I hope I get some sort of merit badge in the end.
