# My war against Trinidad cutomer service. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2014, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589 "2014-03-26T06:50:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/21 "2014-03-27T23:13:10Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > I trust that you will not visit Trinidad again. I suspect s/he lives there. I’d say customer service is just one of those cultural things you got to let go of when you’re living elsewhere, but, damn if that’s not extreme even in my experience. I could imagine, in my international living experiences, ordering a pepperoni and cheese pizza, and then getting only a cheese pizza because they were out of pepperoni, without them telling me about it on the phone or trying to get in contact with me to ascertain whether that would be an adequate substitution. But to actually charge me for a pepperoni? That’s a whole nother level of chutzpah. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/22 "2014-03-28T00:44:13Z")
**grude** and I live in Trinidad, he for a longer time than me. Barbados, like a lot of the other Caribbean islands, depends heavily on tourists. This is probably why the customer service is better, especially when they recognize they’re dealing with a tourist or potential tourist. They need your money and your good recommendations! Trinidad, OTOH, is incredibly NOT tourist-based. It is so weird for me (as I come from another tourist-friendly place)… It is very much manufacture, petroleum, oil, natural gas based economy. And the foreigners are likely businessmen, not tourists, or some other workers. So they’re not travelling, they’re living on the island. Hence the different attitudes. Again, I’ve not had the types of experiences **grude** has had. Mine have mostly been just zombie look alike or complete tiredness or exasperation. But that is only on the stores. The people outside on the street are more friendly and helpful. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/23 "2014-03-28T02:35:14Z")
One of the things about the “Island style”, is you do not _demand_ satisfaction. There has to be a pretense that it’s some sort of kind favor on the other’s part to give you redress. However, that thing about requiring you pay in full for what you ordered even though they could only give you an inferior alternative, goes beyond the bounds of “Island style”. That was them being jerkish. > [@KarlGrenze](#): > > It is so weird for me (as I come from another tourist-friendly place)… Oh, we’re friendly to the tourists all right. It’s to _our own_ that we lay on the attitude 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Amara\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7993a0/32.png) [@Amara\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amara_1)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/24 "2014-03-28T03:27:17Z")
Barbados is a totally different beast from Trinidad. Barbados was once called Little England and, culturally, Bajans tend to be far more polite and orderly than Trinidadians. Even among the other islands that rely on tourist dollars, Barbados tends to be an outlier. There is a well-known disdain between folks from those islands since the behavior is so different. Even for Trini standards, some of grude’s stories are extreme. Disinterest/bored customer service is normal but not the rest of it. I don’t know if it’s the perception that he’s a foreigner that may be causing folks to think that he has money but the behavior he described is definitely not common. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/25 "2014-03-28T05:26:25Z")
> [@Amara\_1](#): > > Barbados was once called Little England and, culturally, Bajans tend to be far more polite and orderly . . . . That describes my Bajan grandfather to a T. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/26 "2014-03-28T11:20:52Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > One of the things about the “Island style”, is you do not _demand_ satisfaction. There has to be a pretense that it’s some sort of kind favor on the other’s part to give you redress. > > Oh, we’re friendly to the tourists all right. It’s to _our own_ that we lay on the attitude 😉 Exactly my point. 😉 **grude** is a foreigner. His treatment in other islands would’ve been way above the treatment locals receive. And even in Puerto Rico, I encounter waaaay less disinterest/bored customer service than in Trinidad. And again, I have experienced the bored/disinterested/useless customer service (and I’ve also had that in the US), but not as bad as **grude**. I have experienced the “won’t tell me they won’t have something upfront” thing. For example, I order a type of coffee frozen drink and they’re out of that. I order another one and they’re out of that too. I order a third one, they’re out of that too. Finally, I had to ask, “OK, what exactly do you have available?” I’ve also had it when they place my whole order only to tell me their credit card machine doesn’t work, do I have cash? Um, sorry, out of luck, going elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/27 "2014-03-28T11:35:00Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > More info would be nice. How did you appear to play along, seemingly happy to not get something you paid for, but still wind up getting them to do something to make everyone happy? I’m vacationing in the Caribbean, happy as a clam. A little bit drunk, a little bit stoned. I ordered a bucket of Caribs (beer), but the guy brought me just one. He hands me the slip, which is for a full bucket. I point this out and he explains he has to charge me. I laugh and tell him all is good. I pay for the bucket and tip him nicely. Maybe a half hour later we return to our chairs after a dip in the sea. There is a bucket of Caribs awaiting me, and a bottle of chilled French white wine awaiting my gf. We were never charged for either. That’s just one example. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/28 "2014-03-28T18:31:40Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Pharmacy, I purchase an expensive children’s cough syrup for my sick toddler. The clerk rings it up and I pay, she hands it to me in a plastic bag and I turn to leave the store and the bottom of the bag rips open and cough syrup bottle breaks on the floor and all other stuff falls out as well. I am expecting apologies and replacements, but instead I am berated for making a mess they will have to clean up. I ask for a replacement and am referred to the pharmacist behind the dispensary, he tells me ?I can buy another bottle and they don’t make the bags. I ask the checkout clerk and she refuses too, saying they should charge me for cleanup. At this point I refuse to leave the fucking store until satisfaction comes my way(I would feel like a fool leaving with nothing) until the clerk decides she can call the store owner on the phone. After about twenty minutes the owner agrees to replace my bottle of cough syrup free of charge, both the pharmacist and clerk loudly verbalize their disgust with this situation and how it is only because I’m white that the owner did that and that they would not have received this treatment.(everyone jumps to race on everything) Funny post, but this one is sort of a gray area IMO. You were now the proud owner of a bottle of cough syrup, and even though the (complementary) bag they gave you broke, I think ultimately the loss is on you. But it’s certainly good business to offer the replacement since it’s kinda sorta their bag’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/29 "2014-03-28T18:45:26Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Funny post, but this one is sort of a gray area IMO. You were now the proud owner of a bottle of cough syrup, and even though the (complementary) bag they gave you broke, I think ultimately the loss is on you. But it’s certainly good business to offer the replacement since it’s kinda sorta their bag’s fault. This is quite similar to a People’s Court case umpty years ago. The hood on a Jeep flew open on the highway after an oil change because the hood wasn’t latched. The owner of the oil change place argued that the customer should have checked the latches before driving off. Judge Wapner said, no, the customer had a reasonable expectation that the mechanic did the job correctly, including latching the hood. I would think a customer also has a reasonable expectation that the bags supplied by a store will actually do the job they were designed for, and that the clerks should know (as they do at every store I ever go to) if something might need to be double bagged. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/30 "2014-03-28T18:56:53Z")
This reminds me of when I was heading to the tiny airport in Arviat, Nunavut. I watched a plane take off a full hour before my flight - turns out that was my plane. The reason? “The pilot got here early, so he left early. We moved you to the four o’clock flight, okay?” All of the now delayed passengers (all four of us) shrugged their shoulders. Gee, I suppose. Not much I could do about it, there are no other flights. I guess I could jump on a snowmobile and try to make it the 300 kms to Churchill. Apparently Island Time is a lot like Northern Time. Nothing like ranting inside because there is nothing anyone can do about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/31 "2014-03-28T19:42:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > n/m. I’m being grumpy. Cheese is not required, leave it at that. It may not be required, but it is assumed when someone identifies a pizza just by its toppings, unless stated otherwise. A pepperoni pizza has a cheese layer under it. The only time cheese is not assumed is when you specify some other type of pizza than the generic “pizza.” It would make semantically more sense to refer to a “plain” pizza as not having any extra toppings, and a “cheese” pizza as one that has an additional cheese topping. But we’ve chosen to call the former a cheese pizza and the latter a “pizza with extra cheese.” ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/32 "2014-03-28T19:50:07Z")
In the middle of Canada, I called in an order for a pepperoni pizza. They prepared a pepperoni pizza without any sauce. The next time I called in an order for a pepperoni pizza to the same place, they prepared a pepperoni pizza without cheese. The last time I was there, the owner was crying because there was not enough business. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/33 "2014-03-28T20:41:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It may not be required, but it is assumed when someone identifies a pizza just by its toppings, unless stated otherwise. A pepperoni pizza has a cheese layer under it. The only time cheese is not assumed is when you specify some other type of pizza than the generic “pizza.” > > It would make semantically more sense to refer to a “plain” pizza as not having any extra toppings, and a “cheese” pizza as one that has an additional cheese topping. But we’ve chosen to call the former a cheese pizza and the latter a “pizza with extra cheese.” I think you missed my point. Re-read what I was responding to. A claim had been made that pizza requires at least one topping, and that cheese is not a topping. The terms “cheese pizza” and “plain pizza” may be (and are) largely synonymous in the US , but that doesn’t make cheese any less of a topping, nor any more of a requirement for something to be called “pizza.” Look at the menu for [Frank Pepe’s](http://www.pepespizzeria.com/?page=menus), a famous New Haven institution. The regular pizza does not have cheese. You must specify it. There’s nothing inherently silly or redundant about a “cheese pizza.” ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/34 "2014-03-28T21:01:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I think you missed my point. Re-read what I was responding to. A claim had been made that pizza requires at least one topping, and that cheese is not a topping. The terms “cheese pizza” and “plain pizza” may be (and are) largely synonymous in the US , but that doesn’t make cheese any less of a topping, nor any more of a requirement for something to be called “pizza.” Look at the menu for [Frank Pepe’s](http://www.pepespizzeria.com/?page=menus), a famous New Haven institution. The regular pizza does not have cheese. You must specify it. There’s nothing inherently silly or redundant about a “cheese pizza.” But those aren’t advertised as pizzas. They are advertised as tomato pies. The only thing on the menu advertised as a pizza does, in fact, have cheese and a topping. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/35 "2014-03-28T21:18:43Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > But those aren’t advertised as pizzas. They are advertised as tomato pies. The only thing on the menu advertised as a pizza does, in fact, have cheese and a topping. That’s the Northeast lingo there. They are also called “apizzas” there. New Haven pizza is called “pizza” the rest of the US. Here in Chicago, at Piece (a local New Haven style place), they call it “plain pizza.” The pizza with mozzarella is called “red pizza.” The main point is that you were saying pizza without cheese is like calling a plain crust a “crust pie.” While that may be your opinion, that’s not true. There’s other stuff on a pizza other than cheese. You don’t even need a sauce on pizza for it to be “pizza.” Plus you also said pizza requires a topping, and cheese is not a topping, so just a plain pizza with sauce and cheese wouldn’t be a pizza to you? What would it be? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/36 "2014-03-28T21:31:00Z")
And my two favorite pizzas from perhaps [my favorite pizzeria in the world](http://www.pizzeriabianco.com/bianco-menu) either have absolutely no cheese (the marinara), or only grated parmesan (so no big gooey layer of mozzarella–the Rosa pizza). Anyhow, I suppose this whole side discussion is kind of pointless, and better belongs in CS, if I had the energy. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/37 "2015-01-08T01:39:14Z")
Got an xtra large garden pizza from a local papa johns franchise today, can’t even remember the last time I splurged on pizza as it is around 20 USD locally anywhere for a large. Get home to find…it has no fucking tomato sauce, at all. Just cheese on dough and toppings, tastes like shit and I have had papa johns before so I know this is abnormal. Call and complain and get a bored and annoyed dude who says they ran out of tomato sauce. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: I am so, so, so, so sick of this shit. I don’t give a shit how I profiled I’m calling corporate or local franchise management whatever. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/38 "2015-01-08T01:53:54Z")
Like a month ago I went in a subway to get the special, and the clerk behind the counter told me sorry we are out of bread can’t make anything. I was pleasantly shocked, SOP would be to just throw the meatballs and veggies into a sandwich wrapper and serve them to me while pretending nothing was amiss. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/39 "2015-01-08T02:00:38Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Again, I’ve not had the types of experiences **grude** has had. I think **grude** ’s experiences are as unique as **grude** himself. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589/40 "2015-01-08T02:09:15Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I think **grude** ’s experiences are as unique as **grude** himself. 🆒 Yup, I made them all up! I’m just delusional. For whatever it is worth, as I stated already in richer areas where more expats live my experiences have been very different and without issue. I don’t live in those areas and am not usually there. I live around Port Of Spain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-war-against-trinidad-cutomer-service/684589.md?page=3)