Dear Editor,
On Wednesday, June13, 2012 at approximately 1.30pm I drove in my diesel vehicle to be refuelled at the Guy-oil Providence filling and service station. As I approached the diesel pump I observed a motor car left unattended in front of me, preventing other vehicles from using the pump. A male employee in company uniform was close by shuffling gas cylinders inside the cage from outside, and I waited about three minutes before honking my horn. It attracted no one’s attention, so I began honking repeatedly before someone came and sat in the driver’s seat of the parked car. I waited another two minutes hoping that was the end of my long wait for service, but that was not the case, so I began honking my horn a second time repeatedly for about a minute, but still went unnoticed.
Then I got out of my vehicle and asked the man shuffling the gas cylinders why he did not stop what he was doing and have some control at the pump. He immediately got into a rage, and started speaking aggressively, furiously gesticulating as he expressed his anger. I recall him saying to me that he does not work there and who am I to tell him what to do; I must go and give orders to my wife and children at home.
All of this went on before a female pump attendant came and handed something over to the person waiting in the car after which he proceeded to drive off. That gave me the opportunity to drive my vehicle to the pump and purchase my diesel.
During this confrontation no senior staff member came to investigate until the car that was blocking the pump drove off, and then someone appeared who said something to the confrontational male employee who disappeared. I tried getting his name from the salesperson attending to my vehicle and she refused to give it. I persisted with a visit to the office and asked for the manager. I was pointed in the direction of a female sitting at a desk attending to a computer. She too refused to give his name. I left without getting the name of that employee.
I would like to recommend that all public company employees be issued with name tags on their uniforms.
Secondly, the belief of some employees that they are separate from customer service because their job title may say something else is misconceived, because in fact they are dealing with customers. This misconception needs to be corrected, and it can only be done through company training sessions.
I spent seventeen minutes waiting for service not because of a back-up of vehicles waiting for petrol service, but because of an employee who failed to exercise his authority when required to do so.
Yours faithfully,
Herbie Barnwell
