I lost my personal organizer last Saturday. I still have not come to terms with it. Firstly, I cannot believe I left it in a cab! It's just so unlike me. I always nag Jamie about his forgetfulness, and here I am – misplacing such an important item. I was quite confident that I was going to get it back since it's not an electrical device i.e. PDA, hand phone etc., but an old-school personal organizer. I called up the cab companies to lodge a lost item report. I waited for the Good Samaritan's call, but somehow, the call never came.

So today, I finally gave up, and decided to purchase a new organizer. So – I set out for a search. First stop – Bookstore @ Wheelock. I knew that they have a display of Filofax. Went to the counter and attempted to get assistance. 1st staff I approached – he was like "ya ok, wait" and went on to talk on the phone". I waited. Saw 2nd person. Went up to him to get some help. He said, "oh ok, wait" and proceeded to speak on the phone too. I am a willing customer here, who would most probably buy something, yet nobody would help me. I left the shop in a huff, not before I lodged a complaint.

I headed over to Bookstore @ Takashimaya. Was delighted to see that they have a much larger collection of Filofax. On top of that, I received almost instant service. The lady that I approached came over immediately to unlock the display shelf for me to browse through the organizers. And when I commented that I like a particular design in turquoise, she called up the supplier to ask if they have one in stock. Then she came back to inform me that it would be arriving in 3-4 days time. On top of that, she even offered to call me when it arrives! I was like WOW! The customer service here was on par with most of the fortune 500 companies I’ve come across. My best guess is that they probably implemented a Field Service Management software, of which I was reading the other day on https://www.salesforce.com/products/field-service/resources/what-is-field-service-management/. For an organizer which only cost $40, she was willing to go through such efforts – that's what I call outstanding customer service.

I cannot help but compare the level of service to of course Bookstore @ Wheelock, and the travel agency that I went to earlier this morning. Was there to find out more about the free & easy packages that they have. Was particularly interested in one package, but after the lady checked out the details, turned out that the dates that I have in mind for departure, the air ticket pricing is not out. I asked, "When would the pricing be out?" She's not sure. "Do you think you can call me when you receive the pricing?" Guess what she said?

"No, I can't. But you can always call us back to check. Because we like you do not know when the pricing would be out too." I was thinking to myself… "Hello? Obviously you would know when the pricing would be out, because you will be the one receiving it from the airlines." I just find the situation funny. Here we are – 2 sales people. One who can make approximately $1,000 in sales, and the other $40 in sales. Yet – it's the person who can make $40 in sales who works harder to close the sale and provides outstanding customer service.

Amazing isn't it? Which helps me reaffirm my belief – some people are cut out for customer service, and some people just aren't.

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, AS A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO i HAD GONE THROUGH