I think this is better moved to a new thread ...
Loving Ecuador wrote:Bueno Gringo: Your attitude is great, you will do just fine if you really follow your aspiration to blend with the locals embracing their culture. Just as a recommendation, please avoid getting upset when you realize that Ecuador is not US. Things work, but handled in different manners.. especially timing! please be patience because time taken the Ecuadorian way usually means time to oneself and family, not for customers. Dont expect bend over backward customer service and certainly dont get mad when you dont get it! It is at the very root of the well known Ecuadorian kindness. They better have less but enjoy more time with family.
defuera wrote:Can you explain this a bit more? I don't know that I understand how providing timely customer service takes away from family time. Ecuadoreans work longer work weeks then gringos.
I mean, if one can solve clients problems quickly and effectively, one will have more time and energy for ones private life, no?
Loving Ecuador wrote:Hi defuera, I understand the confusion and absolutely agree about the need to problem solve clients needs. That is what makes service better and capitalism the best system to produce the best customer service standards in advanced money oriented countries. However, here things are a bit different. Not better, not worse, just different.
It is true Ecuadorians work often harder than gringoes, yet following your line of thought, think an urgent situation in which a client requires extended service beyond regular working hours. An Ecuadorian will certainly prioritize time off (for onself and family) over client needs. He/she will likely drop everything at work until the next ocassion, no matter how critical the client problem is.
Furthermore, think a critical client request versus a critical family request both originated during working hours...duty goes to the family. No valid claims to proceed otherwise.
I have no argument on putting family or personal emergencies ahead of work, that is the norm in every decent part of the world. But emergencies are not everyday events. And I don't really associate the idea of quality customer service with capitalism, for me that is a different subject. (And I doubt that any hardcore libertarian capitalists would voluntarily pick socialistic Ecuador as a place to live.)
Entonces, under normal, everyday conditions, (and I come from a client service background) it seems to me that it is harder and more time consuming to provide poor service then it is to provide quality service. So if the goal of people is to take it easy, what is about the culture that causes people to have to work longer and harder for (at best) the same result?
I ask because I want to understand, not to criticize.
