I called the Department Of Education In Sri Lanka today to clarify something about my O/L and A/L results. I needed this information for jobs/post graduate studies. The first time some person answered the phone and I politely greeted him and he didn't say anything. Then i went on to state my case and tell him why i was calling. After a few moments the call goes blank. I'm guessing he hung up. I was very cross since I was making a foreign call and the call charges are so high and he keeps the phone with no mention. After which I called again, and I think it was the same person that answered the call. I said I was calling from the UK and that this was important. He didn't say anything for a while and then asked something from another person which if I heard right was an extension number to someone else. A few seconds passed and the call goes blank again. Sigh. Now I got really tired of this but i did need the information. So I called again and this time politely greeted him in Sinhala and asked him if i can speak to him in English. For which he requested me to speak to him in Sinhala hence in my very broken Sinhala skills I asked him about how I could get the information I required. He replied which after a lot of difficulty I understood that I had to call on Monday after 9. Phew. I emphasise again here that even when i did speak to him in a language he understood his replies weren't polite and I really felt like boxing him right on his face.
I am not asking for a piece of land in my home country. However all I want is to be able to speak in a language that I understand and get things done within the governmental departments. The good thing amongst many bad things in the west is that the law at least is a little more people oriented. For instance if a certain part of the country consists mainly of people speaking French then the local post office/ other departments in that area will be able to speak and assist customers in French or a language they know. Also if you call a government service and tell them you don't understand they will try and put you through to someone who speaks a language that you do. Above all that in which ever language they speak for starters they are fairly polite. I've noticed that almost all governmental organizations in Sri Lanka ever since employs people who are unfriendly, rude and obnoxious to answer calls/handle matters. Thankfully the competition in private sectors has made them employ people who are more polite and nice to customers. Little things like saying thank you, sorry etc go a long way. A common majority of Sri Lankans especially from non-urban areas lack a lot of these simple manners. I must admit Sri Lankans are very nice people and every place I've been to in this island the people have been more than welcoming even if they don't know us. However I think something is really wrong with every person who works in departments owned by the government. Maybe they have frustrating private lives with low incomes and what not or maybe they take their future with this job secure so they no longer want to work towards making peoples lives better or maybe they just aren't mannered. I'd suggest we introduce a school subject under the name of 'Social Etiquette' in schools so people who aren't taught manners at home can at least learn at school? and also when interviewing people for customer facing roles they might want to employ someone with more peoples skills?
