The bank is making us contravene
government directives. Has there been no
attempt to rework this process to create
space for the new queuing norm I try to
fathom?
I look at the ticketing machine and the
different menu options one is to press
to select the service of choice. I see a
hand sanitizer dispenser mounted on
the wall next to the machine. A note has
been pinned next to it that says ‘sanitize
your hands after using the machine and
obtaining your ticket’.
The three customers ahead of me have
done the exact opposite. They have
sanitized their hands first and then
proceeded to pick their tickets. From a
customer communication perspective I
wonder about the effectiveness of placing
the note on the wall next to the hand
sanitizer. The new Corona norm for the
country is for citizens to sanitize their
hands when they walk into facilities and
before conducting any business.
This is definitely Strike Two! That the
customer journey had not been mapped
with the customer in mind. This would
have informed the bank that to adequately
communicate with customers on the need
for the sanitization after and not before,
that the note would have been most
effective if placed on the actual ticketing
machine itself to provide guidelines on
what to do after use.
What previously was deemed as customer
comfort towards enhancing customer ex-
perience, has faced disruption like no oth-
er ever witnessed in eras past. The custom-
er journey needs to be urgently remapped.
Customer touch-points need to be urgent-
ly restructured. Customer experiences
need to be urgently redesigned with the
new ‘social distancing’ norm in place.
The
next
question
therefore
to
organizations big and small alike would
be - given what was, what is and what
most likely will be, has thought been given
to customer communication to enable
appropriate guidance towards ensuring
customer safety compromised by the use
of common facilities? We are about fifteen customers in the
banking hall. My temporal comfort soon
flies out of the window… The customer
relationship officer and the customer
being served are separated by a desk
whose width does not estimate as one and
a half meters across from the officer to the
customer seat.
I proceed to the waiting area. I am cautious
as I approach the waiting seats. They are
of the typical waiting area type that are
joined to one another on the side, very
close to each other. Thankfully notices
have been placed on every alternate seat
indicating ‘please do not sit here’. This
has allowed for spacing between waiting
customers. My heightened awareness of
the need for social distance has this effort
bring about some sense of comfort. The open desk arrangement which
hitherto allowed for a friendly and almost
intimate interaction, suddenly seems like
a 'bad' thing. To speak so close, and to
have the client and the officer almost in
each other's faces feels like a threat. My
hyperactive Coronified mind has visions of
droplets going either way and transmitting
the deadly virus from customer to officer
or vice versa.
I wonder if it would be offensive to pull my
seat as far away as was practically possible
but still maintain a talking distance when
my turn arrives. This seating arrangement
induces a level of apprehension.
When my turn arrives, all the cautionary
measures I had planned to put in place
come to naught as the officer requests
me to lean in to enable the photo being
taken using a tablet, be up close and clear.
I feel like a deer caught in the headlights,
wondering if to abandon this signatory
processing mission or work towards aiding
the online signature process that would
allow more seamless and contact free
business. I take a deep breath and follow
the instructions given.
This is without a shadow of a doubt
Strike Three! That the protection of both
the internal and external customer from
possible contact and as such health risk,
had not been taken into consideration and
a barrier of sorts erected, be it Perspex
or other light material that allows visible
28 MAL35/20 ISSUE