Change

I often debate with friends/family/colleagues that the reason why service in India (any and every kind) sucks is due to the Demand Supply equation. In a country of more than a billion consumers we dont need after sales service or logic to run a business. This is of-course a short term strategy but Indians hardly ever look at anything long term. The "tu nahi to koi aur sahi" phase will last for at least 5 more years. The Demand is so high and well its hard to decide if Idea or Airtel is a bigger asshole that we go with what we have. This belief was put to the test on Diwali night.

Post puja, dinner and the cracker session we we sitting and chatting. Folks, wife, a friend(JK) and I. The doorbell rang and the daughter of a neighbor told us her dad slipped in the house, cut himself and was bleeding profusely. We rushed to his house, bundled him in the car and rushed him to Joshi Hospital. The man was not yelling cause he was in shock but the amount of blood loss was insane. My kurta was soaked, dad had a bit on him, JK too, the driver and not to mention the floor of their house. We lay him down and the drama began. I had bitched about Joshi hospital here when I broke my leg. The man is on the hospital bed bleeding and the attendant who was an intern told me the doctor on call was out of town. I asked if he were out of town how could he be the doctor on call. Well, she repeated what she said earlier. The GP told her to talk to the plastic surgeon who told her to talk to an ortho who told her to talk to the doctor on call and ALL of them asked if he was a "Paying" patient. Finally after 35 mins I walked into her office and said " Madame, I am not trying to tell you how to do you job but it would be a good idea to stop the bleeding wont it". The lady got her act together and did arrest the bleeding. All the rooms were full at Joshi so after and hour or so we shifted him to Ratna Memorial Hospital. Everybody told me that its the same case at most hospitals. But the experience at Ratna was awesome. The doctor on call was there in 15 mins. Explained to us the further course of action and moved on. He or his staff never asked us if we were a paid patient btw.

It struck me right there---the real reason we dont give customer service is because we dont give a FUCK. Apathy. As clear as day. I feel better already cause now I know I dont need to put my head through a wall to try and understand why service is not being delivered.