State of the Services Address - Ghana - Episode 1

This is a rant I did a while back but shelved ....

I choose to release it now because its still relevant..

It's been a while since I have decided to say much or anything here for that matter because, I have been organizing a lot of content and actually am on a little holiday , away from work and stresses of our beloved Ghana.

It's been an eventful day and couple of weeks as I have been trying new things expanding my palate and relaxing at every moment that I get with constant electricity  .. Yay...

Through all of this I could only reflect at the state of the food and services industry and how far back we are and how laissez-faire both the service and consumers have become in Ghana.

We have become complacent and easily accepting of sub standard food , beverages etc whilst paying high end prices for such products.

It saddens me that despite the industry is there to make a profit, majority do not really care about the customers satisfaction or if what they are providing is even standard. 

I wouldn't blame all but most are below par but because the society is accepting of such substandard services they carry on unbothered. 

 

One thing I have learnt from years ago is to always demand what is right. And it works. 

From poorly trained staff to less than passable foods many restaurants and bars keep sliding through without being called to book for anything.

This is why I do what I do to light that fire under them to make them sweat for the hard earned money customers work hard to come spend at their establishments. 

Am just furious so, so, so furious , this fury is not misdirected, this anger actually saddens me.. The blame lies in us who patronize and support such places. It's about time we all let our voices be heard.

Am just an individual and the only time change will come our way is if we all partake in demanding what is right, what is due to you as a customer.
Quality with an acceptable quantity.

I created this platform not for me to come and rant and rave and post awesome pictures of food or to promote anyplace for that matter. It was for you the reader, who thinks has no voice, no power , no control, little did you know you control whether a food or hospitality service survives or not. Without your patronage without your money they may survive as some may blindly patronize, but we living in a global world now and what matters most is your voice, your opinion , your review of these establishments be it positive or negative it's freedom of speech and as honest as it gets.
 

I sometimes get a lot of people DM me about where to go etc and screenshots from other sites that have listed top 10, top 20 , etc  restaurants and places to go and am shocked to see some places up on the list.

Until the Story of the hunt is told by the Lion, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

It's about time we all sit up from our slumber and start demanding what our hard earned money is truly worth. 

THIS brings us to our 1st Scenario of the day by our TasteGhana correspondent

On Wednesday, May 21st I went to Smoothy’s in East Legon, Accra. I  don’t even know why I ended up there, because I’m constantly  aggravated every time I go there for a simple smoothie. When I enter  the building, I stand in front of the cash register.

 

No one attends to me or the man who enters the small shop after me. We stand in front of
the cash register for about 2 minutes, while the ladies (about four of  them) behind the counter perform miscellaneous activities: counting  money, staring out of the window, watching the television that is  positioned opposite the cash register – behind where customers stand,
etc.

 

After about 3 minutes of studying the four ladies perform these  activities, blatantly ignoring me and the strangely patient man behind  me in line, I asked them, “I’m confused… should we leave? What’s going  on?” One of the ladies replied nonchalantly to the air while she  counted money (and the other three ladies continued to ignore us),

“Oh, one of the ladies is coming eh”.

I told one of the ladies who slowly walked to the cash register my  order and she proceeded to make my smoothie. Thankfully this time  around, I didn’t have to wait 20 minutes for a simple smoothie - on  this trip, my smoothie was done in about 12 minutes (no difference,
really).

We were all pretty excited when Smoothy’s from Osu opened their new  branch at East Legon. Their tuna/chicken paninis and wraps are decent;  their wide selection of smoothie options are impressive; the ambiance  of their Osu branch is cool. BUT the customer service at the East  Legon branch constantly irritates me. The ladies who run the shop  don’t give a damn about customers, especially those who faithfully  patronize their business every month. When you ask them what  ingredients they will use in the wraps or paninis they prepare, they  easily get irritated and roll their eyes at you.

 

Do they know some  customers are allergic to certain foods and consuming them could be
deadly?

Do they know it’s the customers’ right to be informed on what  they are purchasing/putting into their bodies?

Were these ladies even  trained on good customer service?

I’m officially done with Smoothy’s.  I restrained myself from demanding to see the manager on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, I decided to just let it go and never return. The mediocre  smoothies and sandwiches they serve are not worth the stress.

 

Good  riddance.