Allergic reactions to customer feedback

One not so early morning when queueing at a supermarket, we all found ourselves at one till/counter that happened to be super slow. As usual, a card transaction was declined and the customer was told to try at the customer care desk. Meanwhile, the cashier just sits there and stares (probably staring at the "elephant in the room").

One customer complained, he was "giving feedback" (rather loudly), asking why this supermarket had one cashier counter operational in the morning, while they sold breakfast (meals), it was obvious a lot more people will end up at the counter wanting to check out. Everyone looked at him, the guy next to said we should tell him this is not his country!

The cashier did not say a word. It seemed too early in the morning to take such feedback. The manager was listening to all this while trying to casually blend in camouflaged by the large water bottles, pretending he didn't understand a word the guy saying. The customer walked out in protest. I asked the cashier and the manager why they did not respond, they explained how "customers can be quite rude at times". It was obvious, they were allergic to customer feedback.

I once complained that the bank took too long to serve me. One specific transaction used to take more than an hour because they had to send an email to my branch first. The branch has to first see the email (you know how long some people take just to see an email?) let alone respond to the email. They will not follow up with a phone call until an hour later. My friend Otumbo Vincent likes to say "feedback is the breakfast of champions", it was lunch time, my bank probably had enough feedback for breakfast. Every time I protested, I was told to write a letter and "hand" deliver it to my branch.

In most firms, you would see a sign saying how much they appreciate feedback. It is quote opposite actually, the staff echo very different sentiments. They probably had feedback for breakfast too. (Sorry Mr. Otumbo for over using your breakfast analogy, this is definitely not feedback that it has to change to "lunch for champions" :-)

Have you every been on a Kenyan supermarket queue and they decide to look for the "password"? Unlike your phone or computer, "password" in a Kenyan supermarket is an actual human being. For my friends in other countries, this is the guy who has the password to make changes to your bill. If the cashier erroneously enters the wrong item, the guy who is hardest to find, is the only one who has the mandate to correct it.

So two or three tills will be calling "password!, paswaaad!", it is too noisy for password to hear that the world is looking for him/her. They would probably show up after what seems like "a few moments later" as Sponge Bob Square pants puts it. My feedback that they should have a buzzer with a light totally landed on deaf ears. Sometimes "password" is trying to find who is calling his/her name of the ten plus supermarket tills. A buzzer with a light would have helped, but hey, who has feedback for lunch right?

Have you ever had an instance where you felt your feedback caused an "allergic" reaction? It is 4am, a few hours to breakfast for champions, guess what I am having? Hint: Is it feedback on this article? Common lets hear from you in the comments section below :-)

Note: It was Ken Blanchard who said "feedback was the breakfast of champions", If your feedback was to tell me that, save it, Mr Otumbo already did.