I Sure Do Miss Customer Service

Zambia has a new lesson to teach every day, but there is a lot that I miss from the United States: ESPN, good roads, burritos, cold drinks, the United States Postal and long walks by the beach to name a few.

But one thing stands above the rest — customer service.

It wasn’t until hundreds of meals at local restaurants here left me with my head cupped in my hands wondering whatever happened to the meal I ordered 90 minutes ago that I realized America has customer service down.

From the first rule that states the customer is always right to those little bells that an overly full patron can ring declaring their happiness, America knows customer service.

Zambia? Well, it’s getting there.

This is Pam's Restaurant and Takeaway.  It's my favorite restaurant in Zambia: affordable, friendly staff, and within biking distance of my house.  Great fried chicken.  

I would say that customer service flaws transcend most of the service industries here from food to entertainment like movie theaters in one way or another.

There are American-esque restaurants in the capital that have bigger portions, larger prices, a more diverse meal selection and even quasi-American customer service.

Eating at one of these places is great. Even if the barbecue ribs aren’t Memphis or Kansas City quality I can at least come away thinking that they tried their best, and it’s better than I could ever manage on my own.

Sadly, I can’t always afford these establishments and it’s more of treat that I allow myself every few months than an everyday meal.

There are places called “nshima shacks” where the food is already prepared, a la carte style. The food is quick, the prices are cheap and there isn’t much fuss as you’re in and out so fast that a complaint can hardly be registered.

My complaint with the food industry here are the restaurants that lie between the upscale places and the nshima shacks. These places have mid-range prices and a somewhat decent selection, but often the people working there seem so incredibly unhappy to help that I wonder if they’re some sort of forced labor.

One restaurant I continually frequent for some reason has a woman who scowls as patrons walk in, and then white knuckles the counter as each syllable comes out of their mouths.

And sometimes the food never comes, which is why I occasionally cup my head in frustration as I think about easing my grumbling stomach.

Even the movie theaters have their occasional faults, which I hate to admit because they do a pretty good job of mimicking our theaters.

There is popcorn, candy, pop and all the movies I could hope to watch. But, try to exchange a ticket for another time or even ask for a refill of Pepsi and you’re asking for trouble and a cold shoulder.

In Zambia’s defense, there isn’t tipping, so there is little incentive to go the extra mile, and a lot of customers can be rude to service staff.

I had been here long enough to forget how great American customer service was that when I went home last summer for vacation I was completely caught off guard when a waitress asked, with a smile on her face, if I would like onion rings or french fries.

She then went on to refill my Pepsi three times during my meal.  I couldn’t believe it.  Her kindness and general willingness to help, not the huge amount of sugar I had just consumed, caught me off guard. 

This has nothing to do with customer service, but I decided to include a picture of Nshimbi drinking monkoyo.  It's a locally made drink and the man loves it.  It's my blog, I can add pics where I want.  

I still really enjoy being here.  Zambia is amazing in a million other ways and the lack of customer service is surprising as Zambians are, in general, some of the nicest people I have ever encountered.

But whenever I do come home for good, I’m going to head straight for a restaurant and bask in the American customer service by asking for multiple refills, an incredibly complex entrée order while trying to understand why the waitress is so happy all the time.

Zambia, Meet Nshimbi

A couple of weeks ago the Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) came to the village of Mr. Nshimbi to interview him about his work, particularly about the garbage recycling company he's started.  ZNBC heard about the project from Zambia's Minister of the Environment, called Nshimbi up, and rolled right into town with cameras blazing.

Nshimbi addressing the camera, which in turn is the nation, and the small crowd that formed nearby.

If Nshimbi didn't have a big head before he absolutely should... he's a bit of a local celebrity now.  

Nshimbi talking to the reporter from ZNBC about the solar charger he built for people far out in the bush to use when charging their phones.  The man is a hard worker and an incredibly bright guy - sky's the limit for him.

Nshimbi is a tireless worker.  He doesn't make excuses for himself like others sometimes do, but instead he keeps his head down and works.  He's the man.  The reporter from ZNBC asked him, "Why are you so different from other people in this community?  You are doing things on your own, why?"

Nshimbi's response: "I'm not going to wait for the government to give me a job.  You won't find me standing in the corridor of a government office knocking on their doors for a free handout or a job.  No, I'm making my own job.  Why wait to be paid once a month?  Me, I get paid everyday."

This made me so happy to hear.  

Watching his interview was like watching a pro-athlete after a game.  He stayed cool, calm and gave direct answers.  Like Jason Kidd, shown above, Nshimbi gave a great interview.

Watching Nshimbi as he interviewed was a very proud moment for me.  It's the end of my two years here in this village and one of my main counterparts is on a clear path to continue his work and making his life better long after I'm gone.  I couldn't be happier.  I can absolutely say that I had at least an impact in that success, although I'm the first to say that all the hard work was his and all the praise goes to him.  I merely looked on and answered the occasional question.

Nshimbi talking about his "tetra-pak mats," which he makes with old juice boxes that he melts together.  He sells a mat like the one shown for about $5 per mat.

I'm so hopeful for Nshimbi in the years to come, but I also hope that people will see what he's done, what he's worked hard to do, and will try to mimic his successes in some way.  The best part about Nshimbi is that I know he hopes this too.  He's consistently talked of trying to improve the community by teaching them what he knows and demonstrating it whenever possible.  I wish him all the success in the world, and if nothing else... at least he got some face time in front of the nation.

Peanuts - For Jesse

A couple of months ago my brother called and asked me how peanuts grew: from a tree, a bush, the ground?  I told him they grew in the ground and that in my village they were widely grown.  I also promised to post a blog post dedicated solely to peanuts.  This is it:

Two of my neighbors shelling their groundnuts for the day.  The peanuts are dug out of the soil, separated from the roots, taken home, dried under the sun, and then shelled by hand.  Interestingly, crops in Zambia can be divided into gender-specific crops.  Maize, cotton, and other cash crops are thought of as male crops... men are responsible for them.  While beans and peanuts are female crops and the women are in charge of them.

It is thought that peanuts (ground nuts as they're called here) were probably first domesticated in South America a long, long time ago.  Specifically in what is now modern-day Paraguay.  The seeds are planted here in Zambia sometime around the middle of December (late November at the earliest) and harvested in March.  Like other crops there are a lot of different varieties with a wide array of traits that a farmer can choose from.

The actual nut grows in the ground, attached to the root.  One plant can have over 20 ground nuts attached, easily.

The basic thing to know about peanuts is that they're legumes, which means they fix nitrogen into the soil. This is important for crop farmers, like in the US and in Zambia, who grow nutrient hungry crops like corn/maize or cotton.  Practicing crop rotation in which beans or peanuts follow a crop like corn will help to preserve the soil over time as the peanuts will replace the nutrients that the corn has so readily consumed.

Because of it's labor issues, peanut harvesting often involves the entire family.  Typically men will help with digging the crop up, but the rest is reserved for the women and children.  The whole family - minus the father - is involved in the harvest, with shelling taking the most amount of time.

In the village, peanuts are great for nutrition (high in protein) and can be used as a cash crop.  Due to our proximity to Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo - both countries have a hard time growing enough food for their populations - farmers in my area can easily sell surplus peanuts to traders that come through the area.  The traders buy the peanuts take them across the border to the respective countries and sell them in the markets for Angolans and Congolese to buy.  

Myself and Mr. Nshimbi in his peanut field.  Rains were good this year and he had an excellent harvest with some peanut shells as big as my thumb.

Peanuts are labor-intensive though.  Shelling the peanuts is all done by hand and although they can be sold to the traders as un-shelled the price is considerably lower, so farmers shell the peanuts and will typically receive a higher price for their efforts.  

That's a brief overview of peanuts, Jesse.  I hope you learned something.