Saturday, May 23, 2009

Gonga – A Short Story

Last week was in India for a short three day visit and was travelling from Mumbai to a small dusty village in south east part of Maharashtra. The journey was long but thank fully we had company of relatives along with their kids so everyone was occupied.

We stopped by a small restaurant for lunch. Being vegans most of the Indians prefer home food and we are one of them. We requested the restaurant owner to permit us to use their space and maybe it’s the good Samaritan in him or the winning congress for the federal elections that day he was happy to accommodate.

We requested for water and kids and women had their set of tantrums at the restaurant. We happened to be served by Gonga – a very happy smiling young lad who could not speak or could not understand our requests and hence we relied on sign language for water and spoons etc.,

What is remarkable is at the 2:45 pm on a hot summer day without the so called air conditioners and fans; Gonga was sporting his trade mark smile. He was yet to have his lunch too. Cheerful at every request he ensured there was no room for complaint. He was entertaining our kids and was serving us with passion – he lives across the road with his family and he supports his parents.

What is remarkable is the passion with which he was at his work under difficult work environments and sporting a positive smile and serving patrons who vary from a truck driver to a farmer to uninvited guests like us.

Most of the consumer research points out to service as a key differentiator and attribute for consumer behavior in service industry and Gonga’s dedication and his passion at work would definitely be a good case study for many of us who complain about everything from operations to sales to competition for our very own lack of service

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