Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in www.connectme.com.fj/news/opinion. I thank Allen and Connect for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.
Life in the Registry
It’s that time again when the Registry office is full. Every year it happens. People running around at the eleventh hour to get birth certificates. One can get high blood pressure waiting in line. With due respect to the staff in the Lautoka office, their office is not very customer friendly.
If their staff are not very friendly, I don't blame them. We went in on Tuesday to get a friend’s birth certificate and spent two hours there. If someone had a contagious disease, we would all have caught it. There were about three million people in that little office, no wonder the staff don’t smile.
I have a plea to the people in charge of the registry office, could they devise a system whereby people just send emails on what they want, be it a birth or marriage certificate. When we get an answer we deposit the money straight into the registry’s account then we scan the deposit slip and email it back and the document is posted to us. It’s not brain surgery.
But one positive thing about our trip was we made so many friends while waiting there. This is not a joke.
ANNOUNCEMENT FOR TOMORROW'S READING
There are three Sunday Features this week.
Pat Craddock's (People's Charter) Diary
Nesian's May 20 2000
Sudarsan Kant's Why We have Bad Leaders
3 comments:
Red Dragon
Allen Lockington's comments are always well received. He notices the little daily events and reactions that many might gloss over. He also has some SMART ideas about how to raise the level of services offered to members of the Public. Just as the offensive in Afghanistan now is to allow for a better standard of living to all Afghanis, surely we ought to consider how life might be enhanced for all on a day-to-day basis? What is Service with a Smile worth?
I went to the Suva office with a colleague to get a birth Certificate last year.
Yes there were a lot of people there and the two ladies at the service desk were helpful but obviously inundated with requests. The waiting area was stuffy with little ventilation and no airconditioning. There was just the one guy processing the request on computer then printing the certificate. Two dudes in cubicles did nothing all day but sign these papers before handing them out. I was surprised that even the heavy volume, I waited a bit less than an hour to get my certificate. If this was in Sydney or Auckland the waiting time would have been more I guess.
Suggestions for the department - the bottleneck was the one person on the computer. There should have been at least 4 computers accessing the same database and churning out certificates. Customer comfort while waiting would be nice - perhaps a decent airconditioning unit in the waiting area. Thirdly, the customers should be told that their request will take up to an hour and that it would be better for them to go do other business and pick up their certificates later. The collection point should be seperate from the main reception to better handle the crowd numbers.
It cost a mere $2.50 to get a copy of a Birth Certificate. I guess it is a small price to pay for a little bit of discomfort but I agree things can be improved at minimal cost. But certainly a smile and a greeting does not cost a thing.
Qanibulu, Valuable suggestions. Thanks. Why not also let the department know, and isn't there a new government information centre close to the ivi tree? Croz
Post a Comment