Waste of man-hours paying the light bill

Dear Editor,

I wish to bring to the attention of the authorities the waste of man hours caused by people lining up to pay their light bill. Yesterday, at Middle Street, I went in to pay a bill for $9,819.00. There were 28 to 30 persons in line. There are five cashier stations, and only one was manned. At the best this would be about an hour and forty minutes wait. One woman complained of being in line for over 2 hours.

GPL has a slogan, We are here to serve you. If the service is lousy can we fire them?

Of course, the management will say that at times there are cashiers with nothing to do. This is true; however, any good management team should be able to find solutions such as part-time employees from 11am to 2 pm, or whatever. Other consumer friendly systems may be the introduction of a date and time stamp at the door when you enter to show you tried to pay. With that stamp bill they cannot cut you off.

I have been there three times and turned away when I saw the line, or the service being offered. If all the cashier booths were manned, at 28 you would be around 5 or 6 in line not 29th. Perhaps the Public Utilities Commission may look at this. It is a matter in which that Commission may help the public.

Having written the above I went over to the GTT outlet. It would be unfair to say they were much better. There was a long line with 2 operational windows. While waiting an elderly man in the line collapsed and was given help. The staff called his home and his son eventually came for him. Basically, we have to look after our senior citizens. They used to have a line for seniors at GTT, Church Street, but since that branch closed, the new outlet doesn’t seem to offer the same service. Is this a backward or forward movement of care for our elderly?

Yours faithfully,

John Willems