Brown Rice Paradise - or is it?

Brown Rice Paradise is an organic food shop in Singapore. Until recently, it was also a shop which my wife frequented in her search for suitable gluten-free foods. However, after recent experiences she is no longer a customer.

Brown Rice Paradise was, for about six or seven years, my wife's first choice for gluten free goods, in Singapore. Brown Rice Paradise is to be found in Tanglin Mall, though it is a new shop from its original location. In all that time, Syahidah would make a couple of trips a month to Brown Rice Paradise. She was one of its more loyal and reliable customers. She was a "member" and was accorded discount privileges in thanks for her regularity of custom. Yet, something happened to change all that.

Brown Rice Paradise was taken over by new management. The new team spoke of wanting to engage the customer...but in reality nothing could be further from the truth. Syahidah found out that something was wrong when she came to the counter to make her purchases one day. She gave her membership details, as usual, but was refused a discount. The fellow behind the counter was rather impolite and said that Brown Rice Paradise was not going to accept any of the previous memberships until they "proved themselves". Every former member would now have to "show their seriousness", by buying 500 dollars worth of goods in one month - and keeping the receipts to prove it. Then they would be allowed to reactivate their memberships. Syahidah was flabbergasted. She had been a loyal customer for over half a dozen years...and was now being asked to prove her loyalty! This was bonkers.

It is pretty difficult for a family of ordinary size to spend 500 dollars in one month on gluten free flour and related goods. It was, in fact, a mad request.

"You are going to lose a lot of customers with this new policy." Syahidah observed to him.

"It doesn't matter. We will get other customers.", he replied, with a dismissive shrug. His attitude was rather arrogant and not a little rude.

Syahidah had had enough - she left the shop.

Syahidah decided to use reason. She emailed the store explaining the situation. The reply refused to acknowledge the silliness of the situation and reiterated the conditions of continued membership. She then called the shop, and the man on the phone explained that all former members had to prove their loyalty before being reactivated. Syahidah repeated the tale of the 500 dollar per month requirement and the man made but one concession: that it could be, instead spread out over three months.

Syahidah wasn't having any of it: why should she strive to meet a particular spending target, now, after being a consistent, reliable customer for six or seven years? On top of that was the attitude of the staff: they seemed to have contracted a strange snobbery in which, if the customer was not a high-spender, they were not regarded as a customer at all. This strange superciliousness was combined with a rudeness towards all who would not meet their odd demands.

Syahidah was not alone in encountering this problem. Many of the friends she had introduced to Brown Rice Paradise over the years, were also snubbed at the counter, when they sought to use their memberships. As a consequence, all of them...every single one of them...have changed stores: they now travel further afield to shop in other organic stores across Singapore. What Brown Rice Paradise's new management haven't realized is that people will go out of their way to avoid ill-treatment when they receive it. Many people would rather travel twice as far and be treated twice as well - than travel half as far, and be treated half as well.

Having tried her best to reason with the unreasonable new management team at Brown Rice Paradise, Syahidah did what her friends had done before her: began to shop elsewhere.

It will be interesting to see just how long, or short, a tenure the new management at Brown Rice Paradise have. Surely, any team that manages to offend, wholesale their long term customer base, is a team that cannot be doing the best by their business.

Customer service disasters, such as this one, at Brown Rice Paradise, are not uncommon. They differ in the details, but the underlying theme is the same: utter contempt for the customer. They seem to believe that the customer is so sheep-like that they will accept any ill-treatment and still return begging for more. It never occurs to them that Singaporeans have voices of their own and are prepared to use them, in defense of themselves, when they feel wronged. It never occurs to them that every act of poor customer service, breeds word of mouth, telling and retelling the tale again and again until its reputational effect is amplified beyond calculation. It never occurs to them that the first role of any shopkeeper is to keep the customer happy, to keep the shop at all, if you know what I mean. The shopkeeper who looks down on his customers, as Brown Rice Paradise clearly looked down on my wife and her friends, is a shopkeeper who soon won't have any customers to look upon at all - down or otherwise.

Brown Rice Paradise was a great shop for the first six or seven years that my wife treated it as her local store for her favourite goodies. Now, Brown Rice Paradise is not a good store. It cannot be a good store when its management are so customer unfriendly. Brown Rice Paradise is where my wife USED to shop - but no longer. I wonder how much longer they will be under this particular management team? It seems to me that it might not be long.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Adulterated food in the modern world.

Nothing is more personal than the choice of food we eat. It is strange, therefore, so often in the modern world, that choice is removed from us. We are forced to eat food components we would rather not.

Monosodium Glutamate is a flavour enhancer widely used around the world. It is also something which many people react negatively to, in particular, non-Chinese people. It is a curious observation that Chinese people have a biological advantage in clearing MSG from their systems. Thus, a Chinese person has much greater tolerance for MSG than a non-Chinese person. This makes for interesting situations. You see, it means that a Chinese person may be perfectly comfortable eating food that a non-Chinese person would find unpleasant.

I once had such an unpleasant experience in a restaurant. We were in an Asian country that likes to use MSG in its food, so we made a particular point of telling the waitress that we didn't want MSG in the food. She nodded her understanding: there would be no MSG.

Then the restaurant did something odd. The woman we had spoken to went away and a new waitress came back. So, just to be safe, I repeated the request to this waitress: no MSG. Again, she nodded her understanding.

Then they did something very strange. A third person attended to us. So, for the last time, we repeated our request that there be no MSG in the food.

Eventually, the food came. Now, as is the way with many restaurants, the food was strong on flavour and low on quantity...but that didn't particularly bother me, having seen this phenomenon in many other restaurants. It tasted rather good. In fact, I began to become suspicious about the intensity of the flavour. In particular, the soup left a strong tingling on my tongue as of a flavour that would not go away. This seemed a lot like MSG to me.

By the time the meal had finished, I was feeling the typical effects of MSG on me: a dazedness combined with a severe and growing headache. Indeed, such was the strength of the response that, in my estimate, that "MSG free meal" that we had requested contained MORE MSG than any other meal I had eaten in memory. I could not recall a more intense and sudden reaction.

This irked me. It just wasn't right that I - and the others who had dined - were to suffer for several hours from headaches and dazedness, after we had specifically requested that there be no MSG in the food. The restaurant had broken its basic contract with all customers: to give them what they want. They had given us specifically what we didn't want.

Sure enough, for the next few hours, I nursed a terrible headache. I was also rather dazed. Without any doubt, I had consumed a lot of MSG.

Now, if you are of Chinese origin, you may be wondering why I am making a fuss about this. Well, it is simple. This "flavour enhancer" may make a meal taste better, but in my particular case, it also comes with a headache and hours of dazedness. The side effects outweigh the benefits, considerably. For me, and for those who share my genetic construction (ie. quite a few non-Chinese people), a meal with significant MSG is a ruined meal. It is a meal that will punish its consumer for several hours, thereafter. Personally, I don't think any meal is worth eating, no matter how tasty, if it leaves me dazed with an awful headache for the rest of the day.

It comes back to choice. Everyone should have the choice on whether or not their food is adulterated by anything which is not innately part of the food. If it is not part of the food, in nature, it should be optional for the consumer. MSG is NOT part of most foods. It is added in cooking. Now, this adulterant and all others, should ONLY be added if specifically requested by the consumer. It should be an OPT-IN situation, not an opt out situation. The reason for this is clear: opting out just doesn't work in many cases. We tried our best to opt out of MSG in this particular meal, but their assurances and nods to us were nothing but lies. Perhaps they thought we were just being eccentric in making this request and that it could be safely ignored because we wouldn't notice. Well, of course, we noticed because to those of our genetic background, this particular adulterant is basically a poison and has noticeable toxic effects.

Given that we tried our best to opt out of the adulteration by MSG and that it had not worked, we decided that the only option left was never to eat out in that country again: those headaches were just not worth it. Thus, the lies of one restaurant, cost every other restaurant in the land the possibility of our patronage.

Thus it is clear that giving the customer choice in such matters makes good business sense: if a restaurant doesn't allow a customer to opt out of an adulterant, owing to food sensitivity (and a reaction to MSG could be called a food sensitivity), then restaurants will lose business. People will simply go to where they can opt out. In our case, this meant avoiding all restaurants in that country altogether.

Food sensitivity is a serious matter. All in the food and beverage business should take it seriously - for not only does it affect the customer, but it affects their bottom line, too. If a customer wants to opt out of MSG, or salt, or wheat, or soy or dairy, then they should be allowed to do so. A responsible restaurant that allows such opting out is one that will get more business, too.

I realize that most will not share my concern about MSG, in this post, because most people will not react with headaches and dazedness. However, a proportion of people will react to it and for this reason all should have the right to opt out. In Chinese dominated countries, MSG is used a lot in cooking. However, such countries should still allow opting out because they will have non-Chinese in their midst who are not so genetically equipped to process the ingredient.

People's food sensitivities should be respected and restaurants should take steps to accommodate those of their customers. To do otherwise, it to ensure that certain customers will never come back - and is that good for any restaurant?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The uncooperative banks of Singapore.

Singaporeans may not be aware of it, but a foreigner can see something about their banking system that is just not right. There is a lack of cooperation between banks in Singapore which leads to a general lowering of customer service.

In other countries that I have visited (about 20), it is usual for banks to cooperate with each other to the extent that any ATM card will work in any ATM. This is because the banks have agreed to share networks and give each other access to their networks. The result of this sharing of resources is greatly increased convenience for the customer: simply pop your ATM card into any bank's ATM and you can access your own account: wonderful.

In Singapore, however, things are different. Banks in Singapore freeze each other out. They treat each other as enemies rather than cooperative entities all working together to give the best to their customers. The result is that ATM cards in Singapore only work in a small selection of the ATM machines. You see, the banks have refused to cooperate with each other - in general - and so an ATM card often only works in the machines of the bank by which it was issued. This leads to a poor customer service for all - and, oddly, GREATER EXPENSE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL BANK. For each bank to operate its own network of machines is very expensive - so to offer sufficient service, more machines, per bank are necessary, than if the banks were sharing. So, not only are Singaporean banks uncooperative, they are stupid. The smart move would be to cooperate because then the best service could be offered at the lowest price to each bank. It is a win-win situation - the customer wins and the bank wins.

Everywhere else in the world, whose banking system I am aware of, has realized the advantages of ATM system cooperation - but Singapore hasn't. Here banks fight each other at the expense of the customer.

It is interesting to note who, too, is not cooperating. Today I put an ATM card from a local bank into a POSB atm. It didn't want to do business with my card...because it was the wrong bank. The same card was accepted by the ATM machines of the issuing bank, however. So, there was nothing wrong with the card. It is instructive that POSB is a Singapore government bank - so it is the Singaporean government that is not cooperating with other banks. However, it is not alone, all the local banks that I have observed personally, feud in this way, by refusing each other's cards. It is immature behaviour and is at the expense of the customer.

Competition has its place in business. However, that I think in a mature business environment there will be mutually beneficial cooperation, too. The absence of such cooperation in the ATM networks in Singapore is a sign of two things: immaturity in the management of these banks (read, "Stupidity") and a failure to put the customer first. In Singapore, it often seems, that the customer comes last.

The answer, in Singapore, is either to have more than one account, so that you can increase the number of ATMs to which you have access...or spend a lot longer looking for a cooperative machine.

Happy banking.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)

The absurdity of Singaporean taxi drivers.

Singapore is, in some ways, one of the most absurd places on Earth. Taxi drivers provide a case in point. In Singapore, you don't choose where the taxi goes, the driver does.

Today, as usual, we encountered the common problem of drivers refusing to take us where we wanted to go: they wanted to go somewhere else. Typically, a driver will just shake his head and indicate that he doesn't want to go there. Once, however, a driver actually took us (on New Year's Eve) to near where we wanted to go, but wouldn't stop at our destination - because, to do so, would have made it more difficult for him to get another fare: so he refused to actually stop at our target destination, but insisted on stopping somewhere we didn't want to be. It was ridiculous - but that is Singapore for you, here the customer always comes last.

In Singapore, unlike anywhere else I know of, on Earth, drivers decide whether or not to take a fare to the destination requested. They frequently refuse to go to particular places - despite the fact that Singapore is the most homogeneous place on Earth and there are no "bad" areas: everywhere is essentially identical to everywhere else. Only an arbitrary place name distinguishes locations. So, if you ever visit Singapore and you only have time to see one shopping mall and one "town" believe me you have already seen the whole of Singapore - because it is all the same, everywhere. Singapore is a place without any places.

Think about what it means that Singaporean drivers can refuse to take you where you want to go. A taxi driver is doing a job and providing a service. Imagine they were, instead, office workers. What kind of office worker would be allowed to refuse requests from their boss to work? "No, I don't feel like doing that." "No, I don't want to go to that room." "No, I won't write my report." "No, I won't pick up the phone." "No, I won't relay the message." Yet, taxi drivers, in Singapore, do the equivalent of refusing to do their jobs, every single day of their lives. They pick and choose customers like some mad connoisseur of passengers, deciding which ones and where based on secret measures known only to them.

The powers-that-be in Singapore are multi-millionaires. They are the richest political class in the world. (Singapore is No.1 in the wages of the political class, at least, if not in anything else). So, they don't have to take taxis: they have cars, perhaps even chauffeur driven cars. They don't understand, therefore, the inconvenience to the population of allowing taxi drivers to pick and choose passengers. It should be an offence for a driver to refuse a fare. It should be an offence punishable by revocation of his driving license - and a heavy fine. It should be an offence that is levied without any option for leniency by the judge. If this were so, Singaporeans might actually have a taxi service worth having. As it is, the taxi "service" has an element of dark comedy in it. It is a bit of black joke on the Singaporean public. It is expensive. It is dishonest (they always take a long route if they think you won't notice). It is also unreliable (they tend to refuse passengers when they feel like it). It is not something to be proud of - and it is certainly not "No. 1" in anything except, perhaps, disregard for the passenger and the ideals of customer service.

Many things in Singapore don't work as well as they should - although most things work OK compared to their more undeveloped neighbours (which is always the first cry of Singapore in their own defence). However, Singapore shouldn't be comparing itself to undeveloped neighbours. It should be comparing itself to the best of the developed world. In such a comparison, it rarely comes out as well as it seems to think it does.

There is one good reason why things don't work as well as they should: the ruling class is detached from the concerns of the everyday man in the street because they are too rich to be affected by those concerns - so they just don't see them. At least, that is how I analyze it. When those who rule are wealthy, how can they ever hope to understand the problems of those they rule? In most developed nations, the ruling class is not actually very well off. This is because the salaries of public servants and politicians are usually quite moderate. Hence, in such situations, those in power are in touch with the concerns of all - for they feel the same concerns. In Singapore, however, to rule is also to be rich. It creates a different dynamic - and a different set of priorities from those who rule towards those they rule.

It is sociologically interesting - but it still doesn't help me deal with whimsical taxi drivers. In any other country, any driver will take me anywhere. In Singapore, I have to ask the driver whether he wants to go there. It is hilarious.

It is very unlikely that the powers-that-be will legislate for better behaviour from taxi drivers. A better option for the population of Singapore, therefore would be to behave like taxi drivers for a while: say, the whole month of October. This is simple to do: just refuse to do your job, for no discernible reason whatsoever. Ignore the orders of your bosses and customers alike and opt, instead, to wander around aimlessly in search of something better to do. For that, of course, is precisely what Singaporean taxi drivers do all the time. Were the whole nation of Singapore to adopt the One Month of Arbitrary Wholesale Disregard for The Customer, Boss and Universe Itself, the situation with regards to taxi drivers would become understood by everyone, in power and out.

Of course, no-one is going to do as I have proposed - but it would be funny. It would make clear how absurd the situation with Singaporean taxi drivers is.

A note for overseas readers: car ownership in Singapore is subject to a number of punitive taxes that make it far more expensive than in other nations. As a result many middle class people who would have been car owners in other countries, do not own cars in Singapore. The threshold for income level for car ownership has, therefore, been effectively raised by the legislation. However recent rises in the cost of taxis has persuaded many non car-owners to change their minds: more people now wish to own a car, so as to be in a position to avoid the over-priced taxi "service".

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.)