Funny because it is true
Posted on May 1st, 2008 by Jackie Danicki
Alice Bachini-Smith, just back from another trip back to the UK, says:
Now there are no British service staff except on public transport, the general standard of service has dramatically improved! This is excellent.
A few years ago, we had a weekend break a few miles from our house and stayed at a posh hotel near Regent’s Park. I was deeply puzzled by how splendid the service was - polite, friendly, helpful - until Antoine pointed out to me that they were all Spanish or Polish. That explained everything.
(To be fair, dreadful service from Brits is more of a London/southern thing. People really are more friendly oop north.)
Filed under: Life
Jackie:
As I mentioned on Alice’s blog, our ‘migrants’ are going native and I do not mean it in an RP-accent-acquiring way either. Now we have rogue builders, awful cleaners and unreliable house help that additionally speak none to poor English. Many also take advance money and go AWOL never to return as some of my friends found out recently :-/
Ah, so they’re learning from the British pioneers, then!
To be harsh (if fair), I think part of the problem is that Brits are too wet. You don’t give someone advance money to do a job without proper references, documentation, etc. You don’t hire someone who can’t communicate. Or at least you don’t if you know how to look out for yourself in this world. (I had a series of Slovak cleaners who came highly recommended from friends for whom they also worked. The English was tricky, but they were in London to learn, so it helped them and I got a fantastic deal on domestic help. Swings and roundabouts etc.)
Frankly, while it’s sad if someone gets ripped off, it’s all part of learning and growing. People need to wake up and see that they cannot expect the state to take care of them. The problem? Those same people will demand ever more laws to protect the daft from the consequences of their poor choices, when what they need is to learn to be responsible for themselves.
I agree with you about the mismanagement of hiring somebody without references, etc, Jackie. Let the buyer beware! No law can protect you if you’re a complete fool.
On the good service front, it seems to me that ‘anywhere aside from London’ is better! The best restaurant service I’ve had in recent years is in a place in the next town along from us in Hertfordshire - everybody working there is British (and the owner is there as well most of the time), and the service is impeccable. I think the owner being there is the big factor, actually - too many London businesses have become very big and faceless, and unless you live in a society where good service is taken as read (ie, not England), things will always suffer.
Oh, absolutely! :-)
I think however that the difference can be seen even between Scotland and England. I had the most wonderful Scottish housekeeper in Edinburgh, who worked with great professional pride at her job. She was reliable and never knowingly under-performed. Having moved to London a year ago, I am struggling to find a cleaner, who does not come in reeking of smoke, comes on time, cleans reliably without chattering on the mobile and does not break things (and indeed replaces things where she found them). I have tried and fired 7 and now I have no bandwidth left for them. Even my Amex concierge apologised to me this time and said he was out of options…
Your first paragraph is why - despite having no cleaner or housekeeper yet - I have a builder referred by my homebuyer. He lives locally, works locally and about 1/3 of his work is repeat business so I never have to pay him advance. I know he will do the work and he knows I will pay.
By the way, I think documents are of little use if the builder leaves for some country abroad. Somewhere a tad of trust is needed if one is to allow access to one’s home to a bunch of people. If trust is broken at the first step, people learn and move on. This is happening with alarming regularity now so warily and wearily, we are all keeping our builders local and English and of an age, when Costa del Sol is far from their minds…
PS: I should have added. I am an immigrant in the UK too but as an aware consumer, not bothered by British politeness of ‘mustn’t grumble’, I do not think my own experience even counts as ‘representative’.
Jacq: I don’t think the problem with the service from many large businesses is the largeness or the facelessness. As you correctly point out, those who have a stake in the company for whom they work (such as proprietors) tend to give better service. Think of John Lewis, a big brand which is renowned for its helpful, friendly, polite, knowledgeable staff. I don’t think it is any coincidence that those same employees all own a piece of the company. Another reason why I am gung ho for property rights and ownership in all areas, rather than truly faceless, “public” entities which are supposedly “owned by everybody” and thus owned by no one.