I believe the Americans invented the phrase ‘‘The customer is king’’. I walked to the cashier’s counter in a store in New York. The lady asked to me to find myself another counter. I went over to two other counters and got the same reply. I asked to see the store manager. The cashier and the manager went into a heated debate. The lady was packing up because her duties were about to end in an hour. ‘‘Unless you pay me extra dollars to stay longer, I am gone!’’ I settled my dues on the fourth counter.In India, mercifully, we have not embraced this concept. Else, our sudden expectations of service would have constantly frustrated us. A common man has to rely for most services on the state. He makes three trips to the ration store. He needs to queue up for about an hour a week. He queues up to settle his electricity bill. He rushes into the bus because the conductor never takes his hands off the bell. He has learnt to cope with rude behaviour of people whom he has pay for their services.One day, my wife bought herself an ordinary top from a designer store. And I bought a wall clock for the bedroom. After the first wash, my wife’s top had changed colours and also shrunk. We had studied the label, which read ‘‘Wash in cold water’’. The store’s response, ‘‘You should not have washed it; now we can do nothing’’. My clock stopped. The shopkeeper’s defence, ‘‘this clock is not covered by any guarantees from the manufacturers.’’Friends enticed by an advertisement from a reputed travel agency, said to me, ‘‘it is cheaper to go to Malaysia and Thailand than to Goa!’’ On their return, their final cost was 40 per cent higher than was quoted.Hotels, airlines and banks all run loyalty programmes to retain their customers. I was sent a two-nights-free-stay voucher from a hotel chain for being loyal for two years. The offer was valid only in off-season, when no paying customer would come. My room was on a floor where structural repairs were being undertaken. The noise continued until 10 pm on both nights.When asked for my entitlement to a free ticket from a domestic airliner I was told that particular flight was full. I needed to go and the smart girl at the booking counter suggested I buy the ticket. I got the seat.Another friend bought a new car. She drove out of the showroom some 30 kms to suddenly face the fierce onslaught of rains. Her wipers did not work. She called them from her mobile. ‘‘Today is Saturday. Please call us on Monday’’.We Indians have created our own definition of service. ‘‘You pay me for what I give you. No complaints afterwards — please’’, reads a notice in a store.
