The Bhutanese cup culture

A colleague and I were visiting an official in the government sector, and we were discussing a few things. He called his assistant and told her to bring us some tea. He asked us if we wanted tea or coffee. “Black coffee please with sugar,” I said. My colleague said tea would be fine for him.

We were still into discussion when his assistant came back with a tray in her hand with tea and coffee. The officer was offered first in a shining, expensive cup while my colleague and I were given in simple plain cups.

 The official felt uncomfortable because my colleague also held a position equal to him although we worked in a private firm. He offered his cup to my colleague but he politely declined.

I do not know where and when this cup culture started from but it exists everywhere, even in our homes. At home we understand that people like to have personal cups but in meeting and offices you are offered a cup depending on your position.

During meetings even when people are sitting on the same desk tea in the cups offered are different. If the other person is sitting on a higher chair the different cup offered is reasonable but when people sit on the same level tea offered in different cups create discomfort.

Going by the cup, the host is always in a higher position because the host either has a fancy cup or a bigger one compared to the guest…

Customer service

I am usually a patient and calm person. I also try to be assertive and not get over powered by others but this was the first time I lost my cool in Bank of Bhutan (BOB).

I try and avoid going to banks because of the crowd there but I had to go and get some work done. I entered the BOB and directly went to the customer care corner. Upon getting information on what I wanted to do, they directed me to a lady. I had a written application to change the signing authority of a joint account. I went to that lady and after hearing what I was there for she sent me to another lady. Before she directed me she read my application and told me to mention the account number on the printed application. The lady also heard about why I was there and finally directed me to an elderly man, she said he just needs to sign it and the application will come back to her.

When I approached the man, he just took my application and kept it aside. He did not even ask me why I was there. I tried to explain to him that this was urgent and that I need the approval today itself. He gave me a stern look and read through and pushed the letter in my direction. "This is not the way you write the application and why did you write the account number with a pen instead of typing it," he said. I told him that I was directed from one person to another and that one of his staff told me to do that but he was not ready to hear anything. He kept shaking his head and saying it can't be done.

Finally I lost my cool, I took hold of the application and told him that this is not the way you treat your customer.

BOB being one of the oldest banks should be approachable and know how to treat their customers. However, even with many banks coming up customer services in Bob is yet to improve