Nicolette Richardson | Customer service is a national emergency

Customer service in Jamaica is famously horrendous. It’s so bad that we’ve made a joke of it – if you get good customer service at a Jamaican restaurant (anywhere in the world) then the food isn’t good or it’s not “authentic”.

Of all the things we could be cultivating and exporting, poor customer service should not be one of them.

It’s not just about the fact that you’re going to spend your hard-earned money – especially in these times – and are met with sour faces, one-word responses and the infamous “I don’t know”; it’s the fact that the nation is actively mass-producing generations of citizens living in despondence. Folks who have resigned to the fact that nothing will ever get better no matter how much effort I put in, so I will put in no effort… at all, for anything.

I went to a few recently opened establishments in the Half-Way-Tree area – not owned by Jamaicans – and I am determined never to return because of the service (or lack thereof) I experienced. Asking anyone on the floor a question felt like I had entered their home and roused them from sleep – not like they were at work, where a part of the job description is to assist customers.

In one of the establishments I overheard a couple speaking and the woman said: “don’t ask her anything because she jus’ a guh seh she nuh know”. The mere fact that this couple would rather leave the store without the thing they came looking for, instead of asking a store attendant, was on one hand a shocking reality and on the other a reality I so easily understand.

In a time where grocery prices increase exponentially almost every week (and in the wake of every natural disaster), where housing costs are out of reach, where utilities increase while the service quality decreases, where transportation is unreliable, where cities are not walkable and roads are increasingly dangerous for pedestrians and motorists alike … it is difficult to ask someone to go to a job that pays too little, where there are no benefits, where there are no breaks, and to do that job well.

Therefore, this poor customer service or indifference on the job (which trickles down to other aspects of the employee’s life) is also connected to the injustices they face at work.

A terrible job market will always favour the employer as there are more people looking for work, and if we add all these rising costs to it (not to mention the astronomical costs associated with having and caring for children) then we open the door to desperation. And once predatory (or let’s say “opportunistic” instead) business owners get a whiff of the desperation they exploit.

DOING MORE WHILE GETTING LESS

Information from an Instagram account named ‘Explaining the Caribbean’ highlighted the shifts in cost in Jamaica in the last 20 years. In 2005 a beef patty cost between J$50 and J$70; now that same patty costs J$300. Based on the math provided in the comment section by Shanique Ellington (owner of the vegan make-up line, Le Champ Cosmetics) that’s a 357% increase.

Meanwhile, housing costs have gone up by over 70% (using the example that renting a one-bedroom apartment might have cost around J$70,000 in 2005 and will now cost you about J$120,000 in Kingston).

Using the World Data inflation calculator, I realized that the purchasing power of a $100 in 2005 would have been just about $20 at the beginning of 2025 – but that wasn’t the shocking discovery. The calculator not also noted that there has been a 362% increase in the cost of items but a 78% decrease in value. So essentially we are paying more for less.

Employees are being asked to do more while getting paid less. Because while the minimum wage currently sits at $16,000 that would still not be enough to pay for the one-bedroom apartment going for $70,000 a month in 2005.

The service industry (which may also be referred to as the services sector in some documents) makes up roughly 70% of the nation’s GDP and employs around 69% of the workforce. So, poor customer service is a matter of national importance.

What needs to be critically examined here (well, a few of the things … I fear if I start listing everything, there might not be space for anything else to be published and you may grow weary of me) are: the conditions of employment, worker’s rights and benefits, and whether they have received any on-the-job training.

During my time helping to shape policy I read ‘They Cry Respect’ – by Horace Levy and Barry Chevannes – almost religiously and I turn to the learnings from that book now. We are already aware that [certain] employees are critically underpaid (possibly to keep profit margins higher for employers) and this comes with a unique set of challenges and stressors; however, this further compounds when they also have no agency at work.

Necessary training, respect and the conditions they are working under are critical windows into shining some light on the root causes of this national despondence.

I’ve visited a few establishments (again, not owned by Jamaicans – and I am repeating this as the government should see an opportunity here to ensure that all, but especially external, employers are adhering to labour laws) where employees have been unable to leave the floor, and in some cases have to eat their lunch while standing in the store.

There are also many instances where their personal effects are “confiscated” until the end of the day. Where there is absence of dignity, there is disengagement, quiet resignation, an erosion of purpose … despondence.

Vision 2030 is the country’s plan “geared towards engaging all Jamaicans and development partners in the process to achieve and benefit from sustainable and inclusive development” (Source: Vision 2030 website). It has been ingrained in me since 2019 (when the plan was made public) that this means we are going to make Jamaica “the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business".

But if we only focus on the “do business” part, can we still say we’ve achieved the goal? Human resources must be a priority if we are serious about achieving our national goals, because remember it is not nations who grow, it is the people living within them that do.

- Nicolette Richardson is an Impact Architect at Growth Consulting, and Chief Conversation Starter at the Grownup Millennium. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com