The Way I See It

The way I see it, when a person gets into business, that individual’s overriding goal, should be, to be the best businessman or businesswoman, ever.
One of the ways to ensure that you stay ahead of the game, must be the fact, that the person needs to exhibit good customer service skills; be extremely courteous and friendly with his/her customers and potential customers and operate a reliable and trustworthy business.
During the week, I was appalled at an incident that occurred in the vicinity of tu Charlestown pier.
Now, for those of you who are much younger, you would have heard about the infamous Christena disaster, which occurred on the 1st of August 1970, but you may not be aware that at that time in our history, that was the main ferry operating between St. Kitts and Nevis.
Nowadays, we have so many choices- from privately owned ferries, to the latest craze—SEA TAXIS!
It’s like catching a bus from Gingerland to town—Ah mean we now have so many choices.
Well I newa!
So, on this day, I had taken a vacation day to assist with the movement of some folks who were visiting the island for the very first time, as part of a family reunion.
The reason why I was asked to assist, was because it was emphasized that they were very important visitors and must be given the ‘royal treatment.’
I was up to the challenge and I made several arrangements prior to their arrival.
That included, even ordering their lunches for a specific time, so that when they arrived at the place, their table was set and their food was ready.
Also included in the planning, was the arrangement for their ferry ride back to St. Kitts, where they were set to engage in another tour, prior to reboarding their cruise ship.
So, I made early arrangements for their return tickets and was told to come and collect them at a specific time, to avoid the expected rush.
The assigned young man met me at the pier and gave me the tickets and I duly paid the required amount.
The transaction was obviously observed by another individual who deals with a different boat, which was about to make its departure to St. Kitts.
The guy approached me with an attitude and told me that I should be buying the tickets for that particular boat, as it was about to leave.
I tried to explain to him that my arrangements was something established since earlier in the day and the guests would be leaving later.
He eventually left but was obviously unhappy.
He also left me wondering if this was a bus service, what was he really telling me –that I cannot catch whichever bus I so desire to catch?
Ah mean, I have seen people catching buses in Gingerland and one bus would pass and slow down and they would either turn their face or signal to the bus to go on but when the right bus that they want arrives, they hop in.
I got in trouble one day for that you know.
I like to help people and more times than not, I would be giving people a lift in my bus, as I head to town on a daily basis.
On this particular day, I picked up two persons and dropped them off in town. They work in town.
Later that same day, a particular busman approached me and accused me of doing him an injustice, because ‘I picked up two of his passengers,’ that morning.
Apparently he was driving behind me and saw when I picked up the two persons and was upset at me for putting him ‘out of bread.’
So, back to the pier incident.
To my horror, a little later when I brought the guests to catch the return trip to St. Kitts, I was informed that the good gentleman for the boat and one of his cohorts, had the young man nicely dressed down, with a lot of expletives, virtually accusing him of underhand methods in getting passengers for his boat.
So intense was the scolding that the young man was minded to make a report at the Charlestown Police Station.
Someone also remarked that the same gentleman, also gave some tourists some expletives about a week earlier, because they opted to go on another boat.
When I was referring to the incident to two Taxi drivers, one of them said something quite instructive.
He said that that very same day, he had driven some passengers, who had taken tickets for the same guy’s boat, since in the morning, for the afternoon’s return trip.
Well I newa!
So, such nasty attitudes will not get people anywhere meaningful.
I may have more to say on the issue in my next edition, but for now, I would like to advise people in business to make their customers and potential customers as happy as possible with their bustiness and one good way to start is by treating them nicely.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?