The Day I Exploded

One of the notorious habits of the Spaniards that I can never live with is the lack of service mind and customer orientation. Prove? Just pop up in some souvenir shops, boutiques, banks, hospitals or restaurants and you'll discover the truth. You may get a 50-50 percent chance of being ignored. Some salespersons show an obvious sign of upset while being called for some assistance. Of course, they prefer standing at the counter chatting with their colleagues than attending us and getting a comission. For some family-run small business, should any problem arise, they won't give a damn. Buy it or leave it.

I have been tolerating this tragic truth for almost 3 full years until now, the day I blew a fuse in Banco Santander over a simple matter that didn't actually matter. The day before yesterday I popped off to the bank to close my account and was asked by a male staff to come back the next day since the bank needed 24 hours to have my money readily prepared. And so I did.

Yesterday at midday, I returned to the branch and a girl in charged told me the bank could only give me some large denomination notes, but the rest of my savings must be paid in 20-euro notes... Ok, I can live with that, never mind, it's money anyway...

So she closed my account and told me to get the money at the counter. When I approached, the nerdy-looking staff looked at the screen and reiterated that since I hadn't informed the bank 24 hours before closing the account, it was impossible for the bank to arrange for well-prepared notes... Me cago en la leche!

That marked the historic point where I, for the first time in 3 fucking years, exploded in anger because of an unexpectedly ineffective service.

After a barrage of criticism, I filled in a complaint form (for the first time in my life!) that was supposed to be sent to a governmental office resposible for the matter. The assistant manager tried to calm me down and finally got me several notes of larger value. At that I was satisfied.

While I was leaving the bank, I saw the branch manager, the assistant manager and the guy whom I talked to the day before in the meeting room. Of course, he had screwed up and must face the consequence. Well, at least my efforts wouldn't go in vain. I couldn't help but wondering how they work here in Spain? Why there's always some kind of miscommunication or, from time to time, no communication at all? I believe that the problem stems from an individual's bad habit that will eventually, without any proper training or correction, affect the working structure of an organization.

All in all, most companies/shops tend to offer their services they way they like, not the way the customers prefer. And that is ONE BIG OBSTACLE for them to gain the upper hand in the international market.