[This is a series of my blogpost covering my experience as a GSO (Guest Support Officer) for the 2009 Singapore F1 Night Race – Nothing Else Comes Close!]

Lets talk about service!

Some people summaries service in this short sentence. “Treat others as how you like others to treat you!”

Sound simple enough aye?

Not Really.

Well, that’s only a part of the service mindset that you need to have.

Another component is knowledge. Knowledge on what you are serving! For this instance, the knowledge set that I needed to have was about what’s available and happening around the circuit park. Therefore, it was imperative for me to get to know my surrounding well and also know where the locations of amenities are. The event brochure was a good source of knowledge for me, as it contained everything that is important and it includes a map too!

You must be wondering, “don’t the patrons have a copy of that too?”

Yes they do. But sometimes, factors such as not understanding the diagrams, unable to read the map or getting disorientated plays a part. But ultimately, in my opinion its about the personal touch, patrons would rather believe instructions from a live human being than a piece of paper. It’s psychological!

Secondly, is the way you look. Even if you are a street-cat and have your own unique way of dressing, looking slightly cliché while executing your task might help you a whole lot.

What do I mean?

This is again about expectation and perception. A neat, clean and a proper image always pop up when we think service personnel. Let me test you. “Service Personnel!”

Yup. Unless you had a club on your mind, then its ok for the service hostess to dress a little bit more sexy. But then again, even the drink servers are dress neat and proper. So I guess, no matter what event you are doing, it is important to look neat and presentable!

Thirdly the way you speak.

Think Ris Low. Done? Ok. Don’t Follow. :]

And lastly, don’t forget to smile! It’s scientifically proven that a smile is as contagious as a yawn! So when you smile, you already won half the battle even if the rest of the components listed above are not 100% fully met.

So go on, smile! It cost you nothing but it pays you a lot!

Let me give you an example.

During the event, my colleague and I had to usher a tall Caucasian dude away from the grandstand area because he was not allowed to smoke there. His argument was it was an open area, and what’s the different between here and the grass patch, which was 5m away?

We explained that this was the house rule and he had to follow. He was clearly annoyed and said “FXXK!” I was slightly amused though. Hahahaha.

The next thing he did was mocking us by stepping in and out between the grass patch and tarmac and asking us whether that was ok.

All I did was gave him a big smile and gave him 2 thumbs up!

The very next day, he was at Turn 3 again. I tried to make eye contact with him to give my huge smile but he refuses to and walks towards another GSO. I guess I’ve won the battle. Hahaha. But of course that beside the point.

I believe my colleague and I handled the situation professionally, and we certainly embodied the 4 components of service successfully as discussed above.

So in summary, service is about Knowledge, The Way You Look and Speak and also about Smiling!

Do you have any other points to add on? Do comment this post!

Cheers~

-Mudd-

p.s. Coming up on Tuesday, the last article of this series, “Read for Action!”

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