After three grilling days of Neuro-leadership series coaching, jam-packed schedule, dinner with fellow participants at the airport, I looked forward to some quiet time then after.  Finally delayed flight took off. While listening to an audio -book on my iPod, I felt a little tap on my seat. The cabin crew stood there offering a sandwich.

I politely refused. “This is complimentary.” He clarified.I  refused again smilingly  though asked if I can get a cup of tea.

“Sorry, we do not serve hot beverages in this flight.” I went back to listening mode. Soon the crew came back with a smile. “Regular tea will do for you?” I acknowledged gleefully and thanked twice.

The tea came in and the crew member stood next to me introducing him with a shake hand. I did reciprocate though a bit surprised. “Listen, I have given you my tea so now you at least owe me a coffee in your city.”

I tried getting the context right. “Are you talking to me?” Shocked and bewilderment writ large on my face I asked.

“Yes Yaar! Now I can’t ask you for a drink in that boring city so let’s begin with coffee.” He smiled constantly bending down to talk.

I tried not to look strikingly zapped.“Have we met before?” I gave one chance to assure myself if its case of mistaken identity. “No, but now we can .I come to city every week. Are you married or dating anyone?”

I excused myself sternly now giving a clear stance that it may result in complain. He grinned at me. “It’s ok  …don’t worry. You look so charming. You talked nicely. No one thanks us politely. I thought you will make a good company. Chill now.”

This incident may look very normal though I am a bit shaken. The value system of our younger genre is different. Woman at all ages and strata are deemed as “available” or at least “give it a try”. Is being polite means  signal of any kinds?

This morning, I called a friend to ask that can it be a complaint in writing since I cannot prove the incident. He laughed, “Be happy! It’s a compliment from a male half your age. Don’t act like a sixty year old.”  I hung up even more awestruck.

Is my value system too ancient or have I not been able to catch up with changing times?

Air-conditioned classroom in a shipping container  fitted into a truck and parked outside shopping malls makes it easy to attend classes for an hour .Coupled with affordable fee Trrain sounds like a viable business model.

Rural India can be second possibility to groom talents from tier three cities and hence increasing employability.The next step can be to explore models of training  physically challenged people that can be employed anywhere, not only retail .

All dreamy, good stuff? Only if government works out on the decision to ease foreign investment in organized retail. Government has to wake up to the fact that FDI is going to increase jobs and the only person suffering in the process is the middle man or intermediaries. The kirana shopkeepers are rich community anyways. Most of them own shops worth crores . So, the friendly neighborhood Kirana guy will exist to make deliveries at home and get you that new coffee brand on demand with apologetic smile of storing your choice next time.

India will take another 100 years to grow up to online shopping of everyday FMCG consumption. Till then, it’s the capacity building process which is the need of the hour. Not banning the growth or revolution.

the question lies somewhere else..Are the small format shops caring enough to retain the customer. I wanted to buy a sweater so my trip to a local shop …

the gentle(?)man on the counter saw me as alien. clearly i disturbed his lunch hours. I had to gaffe through the stuff myself and he had the reluctance visible on his face.

I had to leave the store without buying..Did not get anyone who could serve me . the owner was not curious about my departure ..

I don’t mean that all big chains do serve but do small formats bother as much.

Is it time to shift customer service focus to 4 C’ instead 4p”? Product, Promotion, Price and Place needs to be redefined and become Customer value, Customer Costs, Customer Convenience and Customer communication.