?Customer what?? asks the bewildered entrepreneur. ?Customer service?, replies John Doe. ?Erm, I will have to get back to you on this one!? says the entrepreneur. Of course, this conversation didn?t actually take place but it might as well have.

Government seeks to make of Mauritians a nation of entrepreneurs; to this end, it has become increasingly easy to set up a business and trade ? so much so that the country is regularly rated as one of the top 20 countries in the world in terms of ease of doing business. All fair and well so far.

Except that the entrepreneurship guru Robert Craven, author of the book The customer is king, asks this most pertinent question to wannabe entrepreneurs ? ?Why should people bother to buy from you??

The British Council has invited him as guest speaker to a corporate seminar to be held next month on the theme Customer is king and how exceeding the customer?s expectations can result in increasing sales and profits.

This particular subject hasn?t been chosen at random, says Martine Fong of the British Council; market research undertaken regularly by the British Council points to a lacuna in customer service in the country.

Customers ? people like you and I ? agree. Here are some experiences readers have shared.

● <B>A sushi bar in a shopping centre in Port Louis</B>

The time is 7 pm and the period is end of December. Two customers approach the counter. A waitress runs to inform them ?We are closed.? The customers look around ? the bar is filled with customers ? and enquire as to the reason of the early closure seeing that the shopping centre itself doesn?t close for another two hours. The waitress? response is astounding: ?Well, we have been here since eight this morning!? The newly opened sushi bar had just lost itself two potential customers.

● <B> A posh Indian restaurant in Port Louis</B>

A group of four goes to the restaurant for dinner. The waiter brings them complimentary popadums but without the usual accompaniments. They ask for the sauces and pickles and the waiter brings them tomato sauce and sweet chilli sauce (Yeos). The customers ask the waiter to take back the offending sauces and instead bring the ?real? accompaniment that the restaurant usually serves. The waiter is piqued and says: ?You know, there is nothing that requires us to give you this. We usually give it to you as a gesture and we can refuse to give it to people at any time!? The four persons just walked out.

● <B>A bar in Grand Baie </B>

It?s quarter to eleven at night and six persons walk into a bar. The waitress warns: ?We?re closing in fifteen minutes.? Someone replies, ?It?s alright, we only want one drink.? ?I?m sorry you can only have beers?, adds the waitress. One of them looks around in amazement. Behind the bar are tens of different flavoured rums and other spirits. ?Why?? he asked. ?Because the count?s already been done on the bottles and we?re closing.? Desperate for a drink, the unwanted customers agreed to have beers.

Five minutes later, they are told by the waitress to ?keep their voices down as there are people who live in the apartments above.? One of the customers gets in a strop and says: ?You can?t tell us to be quiet! It?s a Saturday night, you?re a bar , in case you forgot, we?re paying customers!? To which the waitress replies: ?Yes, I can because I have been nice enough to let you in even though we were closing. So keep quiet and I don?t want to hear another word!?

The whole episode didn?t end nicely as the customers insisted on having the owner?s phone number to complain. The waitress trying at first to withhold the number eventually ended up in tears begging the customers not to complain about her as she was going to get into trouble with her boss?

And here?s what happens when you do complain:

● <B>A supermarket in the North</B>

A family of three had done their monthly grocery shopping. Among the food items was a present bought for a relative that needed to be gift-wrapped. The present item was, however, at the bottom of the trolley and so one member of that family showed her receipt as proof that she had bought Rs 18,000 worth of products at the supermarket and asked for a small piece of wrapping paper so that she could wrap up the gift item herself when she got home.

Employee says, ?I am not allowed to give wrapping paper away.? Customer argues for about 10 minutes with employee but to no avail. She asks to speak to the manager. She is made to wait for 15 minutes before a security guard comes up to her to ask what the problem is. ?Are you the manager?? asks the customer. ?No, but I can help.? ?No, I want to speak to the manager!? counters the customer whose patience was wearing very thin at this point. ?Well, he?s not here?, says the employee in a mood.

The manager?s assistant eventually came (after half an hour) and smilingly apologises, ?You can?t blame the girl. She has strict instructions not to give wrapping paper away.? When the customer wanted to know about initiative and customer service, the assistant manager reiterated her apologies and offered the client? a tiny piece of wrapping paper and a generous amount of ribbon as compensation!

What was the title of the book again? Oh yes, ?The customer is king!? Come again?