I always spare the many Ghanaian women selling by the road side when they disregard the all-important ‘concept of customer service’. But if I make an effort to enter a restaurant, I expect to see a little bit of the principles of customer service being put into use…
I will not bother with the several so called ‘High Class’ restaurants in Ghana—-simply because they do not have any to learn from and they’ve no real competitors to keep them on their toes.
From waiters/waitress digging out their noses thinking you aren’t aware while serving your food/drink to paying more attention to the TV on the wall than the paying customer, I’ve come to accept that most Ghanaian Restaurant operators have not heard of customer service at all…
When was the last time you entered a Ghanaian restaurant and received a good customer service which you can even compare to the lousy service they slap our faces with at McDonalds?
I used to wonder why Ghanaian restaurants in Europe and America do not last—-they pop up and vanish into thin air all the time. After several visits to various Ghanaian restaurants, I think I know the answer.
Over the last year, I took it upon myself to try dishes from Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Japan, India, Morocco, Jamaica and Poland. Dinning at restaurants operated by people of these countries confirmed my assertion; Ghanaian restaurant operators have not heard of customer service at all.
I’ve not walked into any restaurant where I will have to sit for 30 minutes without anyone attending to me, except when it is a Ghanaian restaurant. Most times, it is not that those in charge are busy serving other customers. It is either they are on their phones yapping away, messaging or watching the TV on the wall.
Eventually if they attend to you, your food will take an hour or so to show up, that is if you have some luck on your side.
On a normal day, you can wait for over an hour and when you pull the waiter/waitress over to find out what has happened to your food, you shouldn’t be shocked if you are told; can I take your order again?
After having waited for over an hour for your food, you may still have to ask them for cutlery—and that will come to you in another 15 minutes.
When they finally arrive, do not bother to look on them because the dust or marks you will find on them will kill your already messed up appetite…
Try and call the waiter/waitress again and at this point, he or she will be pissed. If you do not get shouted at, you will surely get that dirty look.
I’ve observed that Ghanaians spend a lot of time decorating restaurants, forgetting to decorate their attitude—customer service.
As much as Chinese restaurant workers/operators struggle to speak English, they seem to understand the power of customer service—-the reason why they are able to attract individuals from different ethnic backgrounds to their restaurants.
When was the last time you walked into an Ghanaian restaurant and saw an Indian or European enjoying some Banku or Waakye ?
It is not mostly about the food, it is about what comes before and after the food.
Over the years, my experience at Ghanaian restaurants especially the so called posh ones (both home and abroad) has been awful.
Until we begin to appreciate the idea behind customer service, we will continue to struggle in attracting other nationals to our restaurants. And eventually shut them down as we continue to do.
Banks, Airports, Hospitals….(worse), customer service in Ghana has always been bad in every sector. It’s such a big turn off. Such brings the true identity of a persons character. Personality issues and the sluggish walk….dirty and sweaty selves. The markets are so dirty, no decent public restrooms in our so called “modern Ghana”. Everyone must start a garden and learn to cook. I would not even employ a maid to be in charge of the cooking. Papaya-on spintex rd, many at times they are out of water, the bathrooms so dirty, club sandwich sometimes taste like toilet, have to carry water from the kitchen for the toilets. lack of proper hygiene.
l thought it was just down here. i live in ksi and i can say Sanbra Restaurant is the worse of the bunch. their food can actually take upto 90mis to be served. i ve told my friends never to go there when they are hungry cos they might collpse before the food is ready
sometimes, there are hair, some stone/sand particles in food…gutter* gutter*
thats ghanaian restaurants for you…..
In fact all these comments scare me. So gh has refused to improve. I better sit my butt in US here. Bad attitude cannot take u anywhere
Chris, the fact of the matter is most of these restaurants think you will die of hunger if not because of them. Their staff are either rude or slow. They don’t clean their glasses well and it seems they employ their family members to work as the waiters since most of them serving there do not have a glue about what is expected of them.
As for my experience it was at a bank in Ghana.i was going to receive money and I was told to leave my identity docs which included my passport on the counter and take a seat. This was from the bank teller who passed me onto another counter with nobody available. I sat for ages with no one attending to the point where other customers went to the counter and started looking through my docs. I just grabbed my stuff and said never again will I receive money at banks in Gh. Very terrible customer service!
My experience was when I visited gh and wanted to buy a treasure in baclays bank. . After asking me the amount I wanted to deposit and my answer was 1000ghc, the manager or whoever he is, told me that 1000ghc is small that I should try and make it 1500ghc and I was like wow, lyke seriously? ? I spent my money and returned back to europe.. I don’t know when we ghanaians are going to change..
Chris..is soo true what u just said.. I always end up angry n thinking do they really want to make money or dragging customer away.. Most workers in Ghana r very rude n is not only in restaurants but every were
well wat do u expect? when sluggish ppl rule sluggish ppl wrk . u can imagine da outcome. but i’ll hve to say that saying dat every. ghanaian restaurant ( bank, hospital) is bad is a tad bit exagerated.
@jazzi,he is nt exegerating. Very true. I live in accra n frm the various restaurants to bank,hosp,even churches customer service is terrible. I had an experience wen I went to a bank to open a biz account. The customer service gal was so rude to me,started demanding my biz registration documents n other supporting docs as if to say u can’t own a biz. I had every doc she asked n guess wat,she was like ‘madam we re nt fightin here’ .I replied ‘excuse me, do I look like am here to fight or do u knw me frm sm where. Its stupid 4 u to even make dat useless statement’ she was taken aback n she quitely handed me the forms to fill amist apologies. Where in the world ll dis happen if not GH.customer service here is nt just bad but terrible
We all know about the dirty and non-existent toilets, rude customer services, lack of hygiene etc, but one of my unpleasant experiences takes the cake. On one of my trips back to the US from Ghana I wanted to buy and bring back to some of my American friends “true” chocolate bar candy because I was bragging to the Americans the great quality of Ghana chocolate (with us being the heartland of cocoa and all) since we don’t have much artificial substances and preservatives in them like the American ones. Anyway the rude person at the store where I wanted to buy these chocolate bars refused to sell me all the green-wrapped ones along with the reds I wanted to buy because she wanted some of the green wrapped ones left for the next customers. Yes, refusing to sell and turning away a paying customer willing to spend over $100. Needless to say, I left without buying anything at all.
@KK, na true talk ooo. Customer service is really poor. No wonder businesses collapse
@KK, u shud hve tried another shop, or was dat da only shop wer ur chocolates cud be found?
@KK, u shud hve tried. another shop, or was dat da only plce where ur chocolates cud be found?
@jazzi, I was running short for time, as I was leaving that very same day but yes I tried multiple other shops to be able to get the large amount that I needed.
OH BOI… PLEASE I NEED ADVICE, AM GOING BACK IN 2WEEKS TIME. THANKS!
yes there are a lot of restaurant with terrible customer service,however i believe the situation isnt that bleak.
Places such as Santoku,African Regeant,Tante Marie,Buka,Mama Mia, Azmera and even the eatery at living Room offer some excellent customer service and the food too is always delicious,never a disappointment!
Now you know where to go if u looking for good food that worth your money,stop patronizing rubbish places.
Heck the fried yam sold at ‘Bayire Junction inside Dzorwulu got real friendly girls…..
@Abby, lol
This beats my understnding, ..I mean this is not hard to do. I just get emotional wheneva this topic is raised. Just enter any organization anywhere and u r sure to get some poor service. It is not just the restaurants , Banks, receptionists at frontdesks, sales pple at shops, help desk ppl(MTN). the sad part is they always think the r doing you a favour. seriously?… i am sure most of the things ppl r complaing about(poor hygiene poor food etc) wudnt even be an issue if they got a better attitude from waiters/waitresses. Enter any Bank at any tym and u R sure
to get SOM. Now, If i sense any form of rudness, I give it back in full force. #just too much#
I totally agree with you on this…..as if they are being forced to work….