Andrea'a 2nd newspp article=D

7th Dec 2008
'Service staff must know basic english'
The Straits Times
forum:)
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Some people wrote in to compliant about the service staff.Service staff include those from restaurant and supermarket.They talked about how annoyed they get when they requested something in english which the service staff could not understand.Thus,they had to find their colleagues and manager to help them out.They feel that the waiters and staff should understand and know how to speak basic english before being able to enter the line of business.I also felt the same way.When they put someone at the front line, they should be trained already,whether in service or in language.This shows that the service staff are very unprepared for their jobs and do not take the effort to learn new skills.The manager said that they have to take some time to learn a new language.yes,i agree to that though it's not that easy.However,they should have already master it so that they could be ready for whatever the customer request for.English in Singapore, is the most basic and important language.They should be prepared and know what are the common questions the customers ask.For example,Mr Aik complained the waiter at a peranakan restaurant could not understand what he wanted when he requested for a cup of warm water.As Singapore is a multi-racial society,i can understand that there will be some people who did not learn English but i think that they should make an effort to learn it and they will find it useful in the future.