I knew I was in trouble yesterday morning when I got in the taxi at Brisbane airport and the driver didn’t know where The Glen hotel was. It was like a repeat of my experience Wednesday in Sydney but worse. This guy pulled over several times trying to use his street directory – refusing to let me find the destination. When it was clear he really had no clue he pulled over on the freeway and gave me his TomTom and asked me to get us out of the mess. What should have been a 25 minute journey took an hour an a half.
At the destination there was more. His credit card machine was broken. He asked me to take out his manual swipe thing and write up my own card – he could not write English. That took five minutes because the swipe thing was wedged in the side door pocket. Then we argued about tolls. $8 in tolls seemed excessive.
There is more – like being asked six times how I was, as if he had a loop track playing one of the few English phrases he had to ask.
As I noted yesterday, newsagents are like taxi drivers. The channel is judged by the last experience. The poor performers hurt not only their business but all of us. This is why marketing groups are important – members can break away from the newsagency shingle and build public awareness around greater discipline which backs the brand.
I don’t want my business judged as I now judge all Brisbane taxi drivers.