Mufulira is a copper mine in Zambia. My childhood was formed in this ‘Out Of Africa’ mining camp. Lion roars at night and bright shining stars in an unpolluted sky are etched in my memory from these early days.

Kings of the jungle aside, the most fearsome recollections of those early days are my visits to the only dentist in the camp. Both he and his nursing assistant loomed as the ultimate enemy at each encounter. My family kept all my dentist appointments a secret until the eleventh hour. This was to spare me the anguish of waiting days and hours for the dreaded meeting. On one of these ominous occasions I clearly recall trying to make a quick getaway on my bicycle with the gardener hot on my heels, obeying my mother’s command to catch me - which he did. I was literally dragged to meet the man with the drill! At that time, in my imagination, that drill seemed as big as its counterpart that drilled into the hard rock in our area for high-priced copper. Both made a piercing noise that had mouth and earth trembling under these onslaughts.

Oh, if only I then knew Sue Mundree. Things would have been so different. She is the receptionist for my dentist in Parkmore, Johannesburg. Sue epitomizes the value of what this moment is about, and that is friendliness.

Customer Care (CC) is enhanced by this positive feature. Sue is excellent at recognizing voices on the telephone too. When I call to make an appointment she not only warmly welcomes me, but she also remembers my difficult surname which she uses appropriately throughout our conversation.

Her friendliness touches all who visit this dentist’s rooms. Interestingly she had to call me a few days ago with some information. I wasn’t expecting her call, so initially I didn’t know who I was speaking to. Amazingly, she sounded like Lillian Phororo, the very amiable and fair judge in the TV show “Strictly Come Dancing”. For a second I thought that my fame had spread and I was being contacted to show off my dancing skills at the Carlton Ballroom! But jokes aside, and back to the theme of this column, both Sue and Lillian have the advantage of voices and words that embrace one with their friendliness. This is a tool that all of us can develop. It starts in our hearts. Think the right thoughts and be sure that our voices will endorse what is inside. What we dwell upon ultimately tumbles out verbally. And beware, the flip side of this, as the saying goes is, “Garbage in, garbage out”.

A proverb comes to mind: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold - In settings of silver. What a beautiful description of the impact of our choice of words when framed by a warm, welcome smile. This defines friendliness.

This power tool is motivated by what is in our minds, and I believe is based on our everyday choices. It is not about the days when we are feeling great and then everyone around us benefits, while on other days when we invite gloom to rule our day everyone goes into the downward spiral with us. No, it is a choice to be our best selves. To onlookers, it appears simple, but this is a habit that is developed when we choose to be friendly. Do this for thirty days and experience the positive result of being known as a friendly person. We then make a beautiful difference to our own lives and those we serve with our CC. Friendliness is definitely a choice.

Recently, I heard an amusing comment made by Jeffrey Thibe, a driver who works for UTI - Mounties. His job is an outsourced one used by ABSA, FNB, Standard and Nedbank. He collects and delivers internal mail for all these banks. It was Saturday at twelve noon and he was bidding farewell to Wenzel Pillay in Nedbank, with the words, “See you tomorrow at 7:30am!” Wenzel’s smile told me that this humour is what they’ve come to expect from Jeffrey’s CC and service. I called the head of HR at UTI, and again commended a South African who chooses to do a job with the unforgettable asset of friendliness.

A sense of humour underlies being friendly. Over two decades ago Herb Kelleher who is CEO of South West Airlines in the USA decided on a principle that was to become the core of his business, and that is to have fun at work.

Some of his directives are:

• Think funny
• Adopt a playful attitude
• Be the first to laugh
• Laugh with, not at
• Laugh at yourself
• Take work seriously, but not yourself

Mr. Kelleher understands that laughter is a serious business.

Earlier this year an American friend of mine, Marlon Smith, who was visiting South Africa, told me during ‘catch up time’ over a luncheon that he’d used a number of airlines to get here. His outstanding CC experience was when he flew with South West Airlines. So fun and friendliness continue to show South West’s competitors that their attitude shared by 22,000 employees is sustaining them in difficult times, and is making a financial profit that benefits those working for them.
Elaine St James is an author who also understands this principle. She writes, “The best things in life are free, such as a good laugh”. Arnold Glasgow echoes this with his words: “Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects.”

My observations of fellow South Africans is that we all have the potential to show the world that we are indeed the friendliest of nations. If we follow some of the above guidelines, and make this attitude a national custom, we will have hundreds of thousands of foreigners after 2010 saying that South Africans made their World Cup CC experience the best ever. Let’s do it by practicing now! In a few months’ time we will all represent a countrywide benefit.

Food for thought
“Cheerfulness and content are great beautifiers, and are famous preservers of good looks.” – Charles Dickens

To contact Maeve please call (011) 706-0666 or 083-458-7770 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Add New

Comments (0)

Write comment

Name:

Email: do not notifynotify

Website:

Title:

Message:

Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.