Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Cheaper Labour, Better Service











One of the eye-openers living in Mexico for a few months is experiencing personal services. I have written before about an oil change for the van, and some basic auto body work. Both were done fast, high-quality, and much cheaper than at home. No lavish shops, no hidden service "fees", no excuses. And actual gratitude for your business!

Another example is our recent mani-pedicure treat (Pat) and haircut need (me). We dropped in without appointment to a store-front shop in a chaotic neighbourhood. The decor was familiar --- posters of models with impossibly beautiful hair on the walls, Latina (Shakira!) fashion magazines on the tables, and staff in white smocks. The prices were posted at the entrance and doing the exchange rate we realized it would cost us about a third of the price back home. (And I do chain-store haircuts at home!) The results were impressive. Despite the language barrier, we got excellent service at a third of the cost, and with smiles and laughter.
And then I got a very stubborn, raspy, sleep-depriving throat infection. Simple solution here --- go to a corner Farmacia where the cashier = the pharmacist = a practicing licenced Doctor . She interpreted my Spanish-gibberish, diagnosed the problem, and came up with a 5-day treatment of antibiotics (that worked). Total cost = C$9.80.

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