Let me start this piece by saying we have an issue with customer service in my workplace. It is usually based around people who have a poor work ethic and appear to not appreciate having a job. They simply don’t get that people should just do their job, because that’s what they are paid to do.I am working my butt off to correct the situation as I know it all too well.A friend of mine is frustrated having experienced the type of customer service that many of us in Bermuda have come to accept simply because there are often few alternatives.This week, in fact this year, it’s my boy’s air conditioners.Advancing back up to #1 is Pop Queen Rihanna’s hit, Where Have You Been? All of Rihanna’s songs are bangers and I’ve heard some inspirational remixes of this hit that are giving it longer shelf life. Tumbling to #2 is Climax by Usher.Improving to #3 is Wide Awake by Katy Perry. Up to #4 is Mercy by Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T, 2 Chainz. Rap music still kicks.Falling to #5 is She Doesn’t Mind by Sean Paul. Slipping into the #6 spot this week is Birthday Cake by Rihanna and Chris Brown. Falling to #7 is Titanium by David Guetta featuring Sia. This is yet another dance anthem from the hottest remixer/producer in the business.Improving to #8 is a former essential new tune, Whistle, by Flo Rida. Slipping to #9 is Wild Ones by Flo Rida featuring Sia, a high-energy dance track.On the way up at #10 is Lights by Ellie Goulding, a popular new dance track.Climbing to #11 is No Lie by 2 Chains featuring Drake.Tumbling to #12 is Link Up by Destra, a monster soca hit for the year. Up to # 13 is Scream by Usher. Jumping to #14 is I Can Only Imagine, a huge dance track by David Guetta featuring Chris Brown and L’il Wayne.Falling to #15 is Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. She now has a new single out which is not as hot as this one but is gaining in popularity; possibly landing here soon.Steadily advancing to #16 is last week’s essential new tune, Gangnam Style by PSY. This is one of the coolest song produced in ages and is an uptempo, catchy dance/pop worldwide hit.Up to #17 is All Around the World, a monster dance track by teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber. Check out the video, the words are catchy, the beat is hot and basically says that all around the world, people want to be loved.Improving to #18 is This is Love by will.i.am. Joining the list at #19 is You Deserve Better by Corte Ellis, a new crooner brother on the circuit with a hot, slow beat in a love song.In at #20 is Heatwave by Wiley, yet another popping dance/reggae/soca hit.Let’s go back to the part where I say you should always listen to your parents.His father told him years ago that he should buy a Mr Slim, but he wanted to support a small business owner/new startup. That, ladies and gentlemen, may have been his first mistake.Anyway, after the small business owner/new startup installs the units, service is pretty good. A few years later there are problems. My friend can’t get parts, there are problems with the technicians, they don’t turn up when they say they will. His time is not important to them they expect someone to be at the house waiting for them all day. I’ve had this problem too on occasion.Incredibly, each time I ask a technician or repairman, from any industry, to come to my home to fix something, they ask, “Will someone be at home all day?” Dudes, how will we be able to pay you if we’re not working??In any event, my friend reports that over the past two years service has been awful. He has been trying to get parts for his ‘not Mr Slim’ or not main brand name air conditioners and has not had good luck.My buddy has been through three technicians trying to obtain parts. One guy says the parts are on order and he will have them here in two weeks that was back in March. This individual doesn’t even accept calls or texts or return them anymore.But here is the clincher. My buddy calls his small business owner/new startup dude last week to ask about the parts and discovers they’ve been on Island for a while. So if my boy hadn’t called the company to follow up the parts would actually sit for a few more weeks? How do these guys get paid? How do their businesses stay afloat?I submit that this is an example repeated daily in Bermuda in various businesses and industries. Customers are frustrated and stunned at the attitude of so many businesses and their employees.What do I think we should do? My first thought is to fire them all, obliterate unions that protect workers with a poor work ethic, get rid of the entire workforce and start all over! But that might not work so well and would not likely get the support of politicians, especially in this silly season but it would certainly make a point.I guess we have to start at the grassroots level by teaching school kids proper work ethic such as being early for school; not on time, but early. We have to teach them integrity, the benefits of being high achievers and how to succeed.Simultaneously, we have to discipline staff who fail to meet the standards expected in our workplaces otherwise the behaviour will not change. People only pay attention when you punish them, suspend or dismiss them.In any event, let‘s hope that we can raise the standard of customer service across the workplace, because paying customers deserve better ... DJLT