30/11/08 : An article about our group has been published in
Sunday Times!
"Service Grouses Spill Over to Facebook" - Gracia Chang
They are irate customers and they have found a way to air their
grievances - on Facebook.
Some 2,000 people have joined a group called 'I am Singaporean and
tired of service staff who can only speak Mandarin' on the popular
social networking site.
At least 20 establishments - from big-name supermarkets and
foodcourts to retail shops - have been singled out by members who
have come forward to share frustrating experiences at these
outlets.
Started in August by undergraduate Kavita Devi Thamilselvam, 22,
the group has drawn many non-Chinese as well as Chinese who are not
fluent in Mandarin.
'It's as though non-Mandarin speaking customers are not valued. It
makes us feel like foreigners in our own country,' Ms Kavita told
The Sunday Times.
Another member of the group, Ms Nor Hafiza, 28, said she once had
to approach four different sales assistants at a supermarket before
a Singaporean employee was able to answer her queries.
The early childhood educator was surprised one of them even asked
if she could speak Mandarin.
'When you are serving a multiracial community, it's important to
have employees who can speak English,' she said.
Most members in the group said they are not against hiring
foreigners, but are frustrated at the lack of English training
given to them.
Ms Kavita said she had initially set up the group so that
like-minded customers would have an outlet to vent their
frustration.
But she now wants to take the group's feedback to the
establishments. Industry watchers empathised with such
sentiments.
'This sends a clear signal to the operators that it is important to
ensure the competency of their service staff,' said the president
of the Consumers Association of Singapore, Mr Yeo Guat Kwang.
Singapore Retailers Association executive director Lau Chuen Wei
felt that English tests may be a good idea to ensure a minimum
level of English proficiency.
'If such tests can be implemented for domestic helpers whose
contacts are largely confined to the families that they work with,
what more for those whose contacts are with the larger
community?'
First-time maids have to sit for an English entry test to ensure
that they have basic numeracy and literacy skills to do household
tasks and adapt to life here.
When The Sunday Times did its own tests on five big businesses
listed on the Facebook group, three - Giant, Kopitiam and Food
Republic - did not fare well, while two - Haagen-Dazs and
Takashimaya - passed with flying colours.
When contacted, all except Takashimaya said they have already been
conducting some form of English classes for staff.
Companies explained that recruiting English-speaking service staff
in both F&B and retail industries is already challenging
enough, as many people shun such jobs.
Most added that employees from China form barely 10 per cent of
their total staff strength. Service-sector companies are allowed to
employ foreign workers on work permits - up to 50 per cent of the
company's total workforce.
Said a spokesman from supermarket chain Giant: 'It will take some
time for them to learn a new language...We hope the Facebook group
can give our staff a bit more learning time.'
The article is so obviously and glaringly opiniated. Nothing
short of what I expected from a pro-English paper's article.
Lets pull out the key facts from the article:
1) 20 establishments have been singled out by the group. A group
of 2000 members.
2) The facebook listed 5 big businesses accused of having
service staff with bad English standards and these 5 were
tested. 3 Failed and 2 passed. (May I add that these were the
companies that were already accused of having bad English
standards. What of the thousands others who have not been accused?
The writer would want us to believe that 3 in 5 of companies
have failed the English standards.)
3) Most companies hire only 10 percent of their employees from
China. (The article added that the companies could hire up to 50%.
This point is irrelevant and seemed to be a way to have the reader
subconsciously believe that the PRC employees are higher than
10 percent.)
And despite all these facts, the article would have us believe
that the overall service staff's standard of English in Singapore
is poor.
The writer's comparison of personal experiences and
opinions against facts does not and should not cut it. I could
experience racism in the USA but does not mean that all Americans
are racist. In psychology, students learn that people remember
incidences that support their view and forget those that don't.
Maybe Singaporeans should start trying to keep in memory the
occasions where foreigners are trying hard to learn English
too.
