Brand aide

In the beginning they were smart, well turned out, well spoken. Their nails were clean, their accents clipped and their hair squeaked.

They gladdened the heart and the eye, as they stood behind counters in the new multinational banks, or sold you an exotic, French brand of deo over the counter, or took an order at a fast food diner.

One felt at that time that one of the good things about the big international brands coming into the country was that it was adding a new dimension to our young people who wanted to join the work force. It was adding the edge that training and professionalism give to anyone, at any age.

Then the numbers of the brands coming in grew; the influx continued, across categories from cosmetics to banking to eateries and apparel.

The malls that came up to accommodate the many brands were thus necessarily new centres that needed young blood to man its counters, walk its floors and manage the back end. More young people joined the work force. Great.

But once they tasted blood, the new entrants too began to realise they were precious commodity. A little training and a few acquired skills, and they looked for the pasture across theirs to check if the grass was greener. And the game of catch me if you can started.
As brands found their staff moving out soon after the training period ended, somewhere, a slack set in among those who juggle jobs so frequently that they scarcely remembered where they were at any given point. Naturally as any company is the people who work in it, the initial brand image began to settle down into a tarnished version of the one that had shone so bright.
Attitudes dropped, the keen eyed, bushy tailed version was replaced by a less smart one, which bridged the gap between the government babu and the hi flying exec, but only just about! More often falling between the two stools than not! Ending up making no impression at all. Thus we have today a scenario that would fill a meticulous heart with pure dismay.

Behind the high sounding international names across categories are scruffy women and men, dressed in western clothes who speak without knowledge of decorum or etiquette.

There is a constant chit chat and a banter while a customer is being served, sometimes there is a piece of  gum that must be chewed, others favour a wad of paan stalled safely in a corner of the mouth; there are shoes that need better heels, and hair that needs a good shampoo.

But beyond that is the complete lack of knowledge of what they are employed to do. Whether it is selling a product or repairing a complaint more often than not, the attitude is take it or leave it.

Reminding one of the ‘good old days of yore’ when one went into a shop and asked to see cloth samples that one could not reach out to, and be greeted with a hand waved in the general direction…. Clothes alone do not really make a man or woman, and neither does a well known revered logo mean continued awe and respect… all of it needs to be earned, maintained and sustained.

It’s symptomatic of a general malaise of this our great land. We have the great knack of taking everything from outside and making it our own. Earlier we assimilated the spirit and technology of our conquerors and inundated them with our never say die spirit till they became one of us. Now we use our great mediocrity to swamp all that comes to us in branded images with our never care less attitudes, and make it our own!

This, as they say, can happen only in India!