(LI SHIGONG)

"Please fasten your seatbelt, sir."

"Would you like tea or coffee?"

"Tell me your seat number and I'll see if I can find a China Daily or Morning Post newspaper for you."

On the airlines, I am happy to comply with minor inconveniences, despite the periodic danger or unrealized fears, because I know that these personnel are dedicated to providing top quality service for customer safety and comfort. Even in most top quality hotels you can count on people making a real effort to see satisfied customers, and all with a genuine smile. You feel their confidence, competence and care. Yet, these elements are clearly absent in most service industries that exclude airlines, automobile sales, top-end hotels, or certain merchandise brand chain stores.

Will it take a Master's or Ph.D degree for workers to provide quality goods and good service? I wonder. Yet, recently a tour guide looked at me with his determined hand outstretching unashamed. "Do you have a tip for me?" Now, he was speaking English at the end of our Shanghai and watertown vicinity tour. We stood in the crowded airport terminal, up to this point he had only said four or five English sentences all day long. The travel agency had assured us that we would have an English-speaking guide, but this promise had not materialized. Perhaps he was a college graduate "English major" who had fallen through the cracks. Or, perhaps this person had merely told the agency that he could speak English.

In any event, we had not been satisfied with our tour, but did we have right to complain?

Across the waters, however, some colleges and universities have started quality service and degree programs and initiated what some are calling "new" vocational majors. These actions have been met with a storm of controversy and disdain. They have been viewed as "non-academic and ill-placed" in college learning contexts. However, in China, we are well aware that the little man needs protection in the goods and services areas, and the government has recently taken steps to support service and quality assurance efforts via consumer watchdog groups.

Still, I wonder how long it will take for help to filter down to the postal workers who cannot name Chinese cities, locations and costs of envelopes? How long will it take for ink pens that actually write, not be the one mystery reward found in a box of a dozen?

Recently, I excitedly purchased a bicycle at a reputable international superstore. Thinking it safe and practical, I attempted to ride my new purchase home. Unfortunately, my source of transportation broke down twice: once before arriving to my destination, and again after being taken in for repair. No one apologized for this inconvenience. After all, this was my purchase and my problem, not the store's.

And then there are banks. My ATM bank card was eaten by machines on three different occasions. I was tempted to sign up with another bank, especially after being told, "These cards have been defective, but we cannot do anything about them." Unfortunately for me, this bank is one of few dealing with international accounts in China. But, I was happy to at least have a short chat with the teller behind the glass wall, unlike at another branch where the worker went outside and continued chatting with a customer while the line of customers steadily grew.

Or how about when purchasing a new pair of eyeglasses. Once a sales clerk did not accept the fact that the so-called case that came with the glasses was too small, so the glasses would not fit inside. "Sorry, that's the way they came…now they're yours." Luckily for us, her co-worker thought differently and found an eyeglass case of the proper size. He didn't know that my girlfriend was now limping from wearing a new pair of expensive shoes, purchased at another superstore this same day. Her shoe heel had broken, but they were her problem now. She had been told the repair cost would be on her shoulders.

But at least somebody talks. This may not be the case when asking some bus drivers for the correct bus, or directions. Or, the information may be inaccurate about the location of products even in the very store where a person works. "Sorry, we don't carry battery rechargers for your camera…" only to find that two aisles away are a wide assortment of battery rechargers. Clearly, somebody needs to be trained, oriented with product knowledge, or general customer service responsibilities.

Perhaps the top service industries have personnel training elements that could be spread around with demanding new degrees or new training programs. These tips could be the ingredients to bring more business and prevent insolvency. Maybe somebody should spread these words: "Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed."

The author is an American living in Changchun