Chinadaily.com.cn sharing the Olympic spirit
Training for the feeling business
By Gu Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-02 14:12
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How should Beijing's cops, cabbies, bus conductors, salespeople,
waitresses and bank tellers improve their services during next year's
Olympic Games?
Under an ambitious training program, all of those who work at
restaurants, parks, banks, the police force, and the transportation and
other service sectors, which are seen as "windows on the city," have been
taking crash courses in occupational skills and ethics, as well as
brushing up on their knowledge of the Olympics.
By the end of this year, 810,000 workers are expected to have received a
certificate that will qualify them for work during the Games.
That's why the government has published a textbook to train employees in
these "window sectors" as a way of providing improved services to build
up a nice new image for the capital.
For example, the book offers an exacting set of appearance rules for taxi
drivers. They are not allowed to don sleeveless shirts, have tattoos or
shave their heads. Women drivers should not apply heavy makeup or wear
mini-skirts. They ought to bathe and brush their teeth more diligently.
The neat-looking and English-speaking drivers are intended to impress
visitors right from their arrival in the city.
The training textbook covers all major "window sectors" except for the
police force. But according to local media reports, officers in the
Tian'anmen Square area were among the first to have obtained these
certificates recently. As an indication of their readiness, 323 officers
or 76.9 percent of the total in the police sub-bureau, can speak
rudimentary to advanced English.
No doubt, being trained in how to present a positive face and
job-specific skills will better prepare people for their Olympic roles.
However, the city might also take it to a higher level, such as eliciting
from employees a sense of moral obligation and personal responsibility,
as well as teaching them a list of do's and don'ts.
Last week I had lunch with two professors from Britain at a restaurant
serving Yunnan noodles on the bank of Houhai, a lake downtown known for
its stretches of lotus flowers, light breezes and lapping waters.
Despite the fact that the restaurant was half empty, its service was far
from flawless. The noodles were served in clay bowls. Normally a waiter
would add thin slices of meat and vegetables and noodles into the hot
chicken soup, in front of guests, as part of a ritualized way of serving
the famous delicacy from southwestern China.
As if to add insult to injury, in the middle of our lunch, a couple of
cleaners started sweeping the Lotus Lane not far from our open-air table,
causing puffs of dust to spiral up off the ground.
Before we left, I asked a waitress the name of the birds that had perched
on the railings outside the restaurant.
"I don't know," she said, looking away.
"Why don't you know? Surely I can't be the first guest to ask this
question?"
"Yeah, many people have asked. But we are from Yunnan, how can we know?"
I think the restaurant should add to their staff training manual: "Always
make noodles in front of guests" and "Don't sweep while guests are
dining." But it would be better if the employees were to learn trust,
integrity and civility, cornerstones of occupational ethics, so they
could guide themselves in these matters.
And it would take a happy person who really loves their job to delight
customers, like finding out the name of the birds that settle on the
premises every day.
Services are basically a "feeling business," as Disneyland often
describes itself. I would prefer a caring service man or woman with
minimum skills to someone who knows the business, but is bored and
indifferent to other people's feelings.
E-mail: yuanzhou@chinadaily.com.cn
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