Where the customer is never right - Paula Manoli-Gray

Customer Service and Cyprus. Not a combination of words I personally would put together, and I have no doubt that every person who reads this on the island will have had their fair share of bad service experiences, ranging from the disappointing to the infuriating. And if it is slowly getting better, it is only marginally improving at best.

One of the worse things that occurs on the island is when the wrong price is on a label, ticket or shelf and the price at the till is higher. For most countries, it is not an issue; price on product is what the customer pays, after all, it is the shop's error and not the customer's…

…Not in Cyprus! You get told in no uncertain terms that someone made a mistake on the ticket, and what is displayed on the till/computer is what goes. Period. On so many occasions I have argued that it is not legal (from what I know), and that the customer pays the price displayed. After all, if this practice was allowed, then customers could take anything to a till only to be told an inflated made-up price by the cashier if they felt like it. Nope, this is a no brainer – price on ticket is price you pay – unless it is sale time and it has been marked down further! I have to note here that supermarkets are generally good and honour the price or special offer, even if it displays differently on the till (but I do say 'generally good' and not 'as a policy'!).

The other practice that I despise (and yes, that is a strong word but I really cannot stand it) is when you want to exchange something and are made to sign your name and write down your phone number on the receipt. This makes me feel as though the store is judging me and trying to ensure that I am not a criminal out to scam them. I also don't believe that they have the right to ask for my personal details, just because I have decided to return something (with receipt). Is this legal? Should they be able to ask for our personal details and claim this as a prerequisite for returning goods?

Which brings me on to receipts. No receipt, no exchange. In some cases, I can understand this - for example, if the goods can be purchased from multiple stores. But when the item has clearly come from a shop, displays their name, includes their ticket with the price and their name (again) then there is no excuse not to exchange it. Surely all that is needed is to scan the barcode to verify for the umpteenth time that said item cannot physically have come from any other shop! Apparently not. And don't even get me started on the 'no refund' and the 'can't use gift or credit vouchers during sale time' policies.

The reason why this topic came to mind is because for the first time in all my years living in Larnaca, the price on the ticket was honoured despite it being a Euro more at the till! To say I was shocked is an understatement! But I am not getting ahead of myself and thinking that there are big changes coming, because despite them begrudgingly fixing the issue, the manager did not make eye contact, smile or say a polite word to me the entire time!

First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 08/05/15

Fwd: Stop Learning, Start Thinking!

I cannot take credit for these extremely wise words.  They come from the mouth of a 14 year old ASD boy; Jacob Barnett.  But I tell you what, these words changed my life, because they changed my understanding of how my son learns, and what he needs in order to learn. 

How did I find out about this amazing child?  Well, a couple of years ago I became slightly obsessed with TED talks (a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks) using many of them as a teaching tool, mainly for my older classes (I am a Secondary school teacher).  Well, Jacob Barnett was in the news because he was doing a Masters in the field of condensed matter (at aged 14!).  His work was so original that he set a record, becoming the world's youngest astrophysics researcher.  Anyway, when I typed his name in Google,  I found he had done a TEDxTeen talk called "Forget what you know" (I highly recommend watching it).

So, what did I learn from this unique young man? 
Firstly that I had to allow my son to look at things in his own unique perspective.  To do this he had to "stop learning and start thinking".  At the time, the summer holidays were approaching and even though the therapists gave me a lot of material to practice, I decided to not really do too much.  The odd lesson here and there and one or two worksheets at the beginning of the holidays.  I decided to take a risk (as I was constantly being told that he had to be worked continuously) and let him think through all the material that he had learnt that year.  And guess what...it worked!

Observing him, i could see that he was working things out, that the wheels in his head were turning.  Words, verbs, nouns - they suddenly became clear to him.  For the first time he could show me exactly which noun / verb I was saying without repetition and hesitation.  He did so well that most of the therapists thought I had worked him all summer long.  I would just smile and keep my little secret, whispering it to myself, (thank you Jacob Barnett).

From that day on, we made sure we gave our son some thinking time.  Even now we organise his lessons into blocks of time, (September to Christmas, January to Easter, after Easter to summer) and give him a whole week off afternoon therapies halfway through each block, so he can think about the material he has covered. 

The second thing that clicked for me, was the notion - why does an ASD child need to do all the things another child does.  Barnett was working on disproving one of Einstein's theories and he is a child prodigy, but he can't draw a cat or tie up his shoelaces -  so how important are these little skills in the grand scheme of things?  My son struggled with his colours and learning songs.  How important are these things in his life? Not very, so I told his therapists to lay off them for a while.  I would like to say that he knows them now, but that would be lying.  Some days he knows his colours, some days he doesn't.  When he is happy he sings song he knows, but we don't push him to pronounce each word clearly.  We just enjoy his happiness.   

So there it is, true inspiration from a truly remarkable source.

Fairy Folk Fest

A Larnaca girl in Paphos - Paula Manoli-Gray

My family and I had a weekend away in Paphos last week, and as I always do, I found myself comparing the region with Larnaca. Not in a negative or competitive way, but more in a curious 'how is life in other towns' way.

It is always interesting to visit the other towns of the island as both a tourist and a local of the island, as you get unique take on the area, and I like to holiday on-island: 1) to make the most of areas I don't see much of, and 2) to support local tourism. But that said, it is in no way cheap or particularly cost-effective, and probably costs the same as holidaying abroad in the long run.

My first comment is that we felt very harassed along the harbour, with every restaurant vying for our business. The restaurant's staff do not specifically target tourists with this horrible behaviour; they knew we were locals and spoke to us in both English and Greek. I have to say, this relentless pressure put me in a bad mood and tainted my experience, but it was dinnertime and we were hungry so we chose a fish restaurant despite wanting to scream at the staff to stop talking to us! We were very disappointed in the size of the meals for the price of them, to the point that we would call the food portions 'positively stingy'! I suppose that is neither here nor there as we probably have our fair share of such places in Larnaca, but being that I know where to eat and stick to my favourites here, I wouldn't know which of our restaurants are also guilty of this practice. Answers on a postcard please!

That aside, Paphos - like the areas Limassol and free Famagusta - does have something that we are sorely lacking in Larnaca, and which would be a most welcome boon to parents... child-friendly restaurants with some form of entertainment. Whilst our chosen restaurant disappointed us meal-wise, it was one of the few dining-out experiences hubby and I have managed to enjoy at a relaxed pace thanks to the kids being occupied and very happy at the restaurant's play area. The other few times have been outside of Larnaca where the majority of restaurants have fabulous big play structures. Even a popular island-wide chain that we also have in Larnaca had a play area and children's character plates and plastic cups in the Limassol mall branch, whereas our Larnaca branch does not.

And, as all parents know, happy children equal happy mealtimes! Larnaca really needs to take a leaf out of the other town's books when it comes to child-friendly dining… I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that we are not a touristy resort, and therefore our restaurants are not fighting for the tourist trade? Or are we just behind on this concept? Of course, if you are not a parent, or your children have flown the nest, you probably quite like this lack of chaos when you dine, but with my two still young, it is certainly something that I would see as an improvement to our region.

Talking of malls, we visited the malls in both Limassol and Paphos, and whilst I enjoyed both, I still remain grateful that we do not have one in Larnaca. I think a mall would spell the certain death of the high street and I would hate to see our town centre suffer. And as we have Nicosia's mall just a twenty minute drive away, it is nice to have that 'going-out-for-the-day-to-the-mall' feeling and having to leave Larnaca to do it.

So, whilst I do not envy the malls of other towns, I do envy their child-friendly dining… just as long as I am not harassed to eat at them!

First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 01/05/15

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