I have a story to share but amidst the election brouhaha I couldn’t. Anyway here goes;
Last Friday I had the best uber ride of my life. As a matter of fact, that ride was the best thing that happened to me on Friday.
So I had a really crappy day that day. I was late to two appointments. I couldn’t find my way to the first so I got lost and in my haste to get to the second, I dropped my phone further smashing the screen and then it wouldn’t come back on. I was unable to call the lady to let her know that I was running late.
By the time I got there I sweaty, tired and miserable. After my meeting was over, all I wanted to do was just go straight to bed. I sat in an ice cream shop trying to get my phone to come back on. After a while it did and I requested for an uber. Within minutes the driver called to say he was parked outside.
Normally I like to sit in front with the driver so that I can chat with them but this time around I couldn’t care less. So I throw my bags in the back, slump into the seat and close my eyes. Then I hear the driver asking me if I’d like to listen to the radio.
“No thanks”, I tell him. “I’ve had a bad day today, I’m tired and I really don’t want to hear anything about the elections”.
“Okay”, he says.
I open my eyes to look at him and I realize that he’s cute. He’s well-dressed and his beard game is off the top. He’s leaning back in his seat, left hand on the steering wheel, right arm on some sort of armrest. I smile to myself and look at the rearview mirror to have a better look at his face. He looks up too and catches me looking so I look away quickly.
“Would you like to listen to some music instead?” he asks again.
“Yeah, sure”.
“What kind?”
“Anything goes”, I say.
Then he plays Mary J. Blige and Ja Rule’s song “Smile”
“It’s just those rainy days, spend a lifetime tryin to wash away. Until the sun come out and shines again. Smile for me, smile for me”
And I’m so pleased I start smiling. I’d been having a bad day and this uber driver just totally understands my struggle.
We drive all the way to campus and then I have to stop by the office to get my laptop charger before going back to my room. When I come back to the car, I sit in front this time around to engage him in a conversation. By the time we get back to the hall, we’ve talked about the elections, civic responsibility, school, entrepreneurship, and religion. And when he cancels the trip, we talk some more before I pay and get off (with a generous tip of course because I’m so grateful for this uber driver who helped me feel much much better)
You see, this thing about customer service is what many people in Ghana don’t understand. When your service is satisfactory, people won’t mind paying a little extra because they’re pleased with you and they’ll always keep coming for more because as a business person, you don’t just sell products and services, you sell experiences too!
Maybe the uber driver was just a nice person, maybe he understood the essence of good customer service. Either ways I was so impressed that I didn’t mind paying more than I’d bargained for.
I hope that I find him again for one more ride.
