A customer visit is a stressful event for everyone. You have to be in the best of behavior. Usually, it kicks off a flurry of activities. If you have been or are in the service industry, you know very well about what I am talking about. I want to turn tables and give you a perspective of the customer especially while preparing for visiting India.
A customer, who is visiting India, requires a visa. This is indeed gives out a feel good factor. We are not the only ones who has to go through the visa hell. But do you know it takes 2 weeks to get the whole process completed? That is the norm in Paris; 2 weeks to get the visa stamped on your passport. What I described just now is the easiest part. If the visa applicant has a Chinese origin, this process can still take 2 weeks provided you produce the invitation attested by a Chamber of Commerce. If you do not know of this particular formality, your turnaround time is more for this process. There is a delay at your side to figure out which department is going to get it attested by a Chamber of Commerce assuming you have figured what a Chamber of Commerce is!
So far, it has been about the visa hell. Now France is socialist as my American friends term it in a very casual manner. Whatever the "ism" means, everyone will admit the rights of the workers are protected here in France. They have union in organization if the total strength of the organization reaches 50. This means there are many different rules to protect the workers. One such rule says employees are not allowed to visit a service provider alone. This means the company has to pay for at least 2 people if they arrange for a visit. Now the person with Chinese origin hasn't obtained the visa while the person with unquestionable French origin has the visa. Unless they can find someone to accompany the one with visa, the whole trip may have to be postponed or cancelled.
Now that you see the other side of a customer visit. It is no bed of roses on that side too!
Tags: Musings,Customer,Chinese,France
Yes, one must see both sides of the coin.
ReplyDeleteDamyanti
Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2013
Yes, that is right and that was my objective too. :)
DeleteSeems like quite a tricky process. We have client visits from time to time but never thought about the processes involved in getting a visit to materialize.
ReplyDeleteMost of us do not think about what the customer has to go through. A simple instance of it is visa. We know the hardships we go through to get the necessary visa for the foreign visit. Sometimes, we forget the other side also have to undergo the same pain. :) I felt it would be interesting to write a post on the same.
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