MY PASSPORT had to be renewed recently so I had to embark on the tedious journey of queuing, endless form accomplishments, tons of procedures, and more queuing. In the midst of this one-day process, I had these realizations and re-realizations about the run-of-the-mill drabness which we encounter countless times in processing documents such as this.
First, availing documents, whatever sort of document that is, can be such a tedious and stressful procedure. I honestly don’t understand why one has to cross a river and traverse a mountain to be able to complete such an undertaking. It took me almost the whole day to fill up forms, queue with hundreds of people, pay fees, queue again before finally being told to wait for eight weeks for the release of my passport (not to mention the two month duration I had to stand by after making my appointment).
First, availing documents, whatever sort of document that is, can be such a tedious and stressful procedure. I honestly don’t understand why one has to cross a river and traverse a mountain to be able to complete such an undertaking. It took me almost the whole day to fill up forms, queue with hundreds of people, pay fees, queue again before finally being told to wait for eight weeks for the release of my passport (not to mention the two month duration I had to stand by after making my appointment).
We get it. We conform to protocols and we must follow procedures. The idea is to be systematic. The existence of these steps, schemes and flowcharts is meant to make transactions more efficient. But if being systematic means undergoing an unreasonably exhausting process, then maybe it’s high time to review these procedural diagrams and come up with new strategies to lessen the long hours and even longer lines.
Second, either the procedure was not designed to be efficient in the first place or it’s just a case of service mismanagement. The latter could be more like it. You see three service windows there but only one is open to entertain the clients. It doesn’t help that the personnel in charge is like a juggling platypus with a third hand that’s busy with a cellular device. Too much tasks and/or clients to attend to, not enough personnel.
Next, the monotony of work can leave one totally bushed. Understandably, the humdrum and ho-hum of work tests a person’s patience. We reach our limits and we break. This is when we tend to leave the humane aspect of the work and act like machines programmed by timings and ‘buttons’. We become unfriendly, kind responses become alien language and even cracking a hint of a smile becomes too much of an effort.
For instance, having your passport photo taken can be a little nightmare. As the one in charge, you know there are throngs of all these faces you have to capture and their signatures and prints to take. You then condition your mind to just absentmindedly click so you could get the job done the soonest. You don’t have time for second shots. The results: mug shot-like photos that one’s supposed to utilize for the next five years or so. No wonder check-up and security do double takes when they compare your photo with your up-close and personal face. All because we forget to take time to be empathic. To think about how we want to be attended to if it was us needing the same kind of service.
These are only a few examples of a service center that’s just a microcosm of a more exhausting, less responsive, and ruder world of customer relations that we get to deal with everyday. We try to see things from the perspective of these service providers and be more understanding and reasonable. We rationalize that the bulk of work these people have and the countless clients they attend is no mean feat. It can be demanding and exhausting hence their dispirited attitude when facing customers. But at the same time, they should see things from the clients’ perspectives as well. They are there for a reason and that reason is us.
It is frustrating to think that we spend our hard earned money on service centers that provide substandard quality services. Poor treatment should not be tolerated because if we let this happen, we somehow indulge them—what we permit is what we promote. It’s important to be smart in our efforts to counteract these lousy services that we have grown accustomed to. But that’s another story. Let me end with a personal re-realization from this experience. After braving a tiresome and dissatisfactory document processing, you end up with the ugliest possible version of your face for your passport ID. That’s the biggest reward of the whole experience by far.
Second, either the procedure was not designed to be efficient in the first place or it’s just a case of service mismanagement. The latter could be more like it. You see three service windows there but only one is open to entertain the clients. It doesn’t help that the personnel in charge is like a juggling platypus with a third hand that’s busy with a cellular device. Too much tasks and/or clients to attend to, not enough personnel.
Next, the monotony of work can leave one totally bushed. Understandably, the humdrum and ho-hum of work tests a person’s patience. We reach our limits and we break. This is when we tend to leave the humane aspect of the work and act like machines programmed by timings and ‘buttons’. We become unfriendly, kind responses become alien language and even cracking a hint of a smile becomes too much of an effort.
For instance, having your passport photo taken can be a little nightmare. As the one in charge, you know there are throngs of all these faces you have to capture and their signatures and prints to take. You then condition your mind to just absentmindedly click so you could get the job done the soonest. You don’t have time for second shots. The results: mug shot-like photos that one’s supposed to utilize for the next five years or so. No wonder check-up and security do double takes when they compare your photo with your up-close and personal face. All because we forget to take time to be empathic. To think about how we want to be attended to if it was us needing the same kind of service.
These are only a few examples of a service center that’s just a microcosm of a more exhausting, less responsive, and ruder world of customer relations that we get to deal with everyday. We try to see things from the perspective of these service providers and be more understanding and reasonable. We rationalize that the bulk of work these people have and the countless clients they attend is no mean feat. It can be demanding and exhausting hence their dispirited attitude when facing customers. But at the same time, they should see things from the clients’ perspectives as well. They are there for a reason and that reason is us.
It is frustrating to think that we spend our hard earned money on service centers that provide substandard quality services. Poor treatment should not be tolerated because if we let this happen, we somehow indulge them—what we permit is what we promote. It’s important to be smart in our efforts to counteract these lousy services that we have grown accustomed to. But that’s another story. Let me end with a personal re-realization from this experience. After braving a tiresome and dissatisfactory document processing, you end up with the ugliest possible version of your face for your passport ID. That’s the biggest reward of the whole experience by far.