Regarding the incident of store staff throwing shoes at the face of a foreign tourist, on April 27, the Economic, Infrastructure and Urban Department of Nha Trang ward, Khanh Hoa province, said that they had worked with Mr. Nguyen Van Huyen - owner of Win Shop business household.
After the incident, Mr. Nguyen Van Huyen actively contacted the customer directly to apologize and compensate for a new pair of shoes. The Russian tourist accepted the apology from the store owner.
Regarding related employees, the facility owner said that he had temporarily suspended them to rectify the service process and attitude towards customers.
Thus, the incident of throwing shoes at foreign tourists in Nha Trang can be closed administratively.
However, the aftertaste that this incident left for the tourism image of Nha Trang ward in particular and Vietnam in general has not been closed.
Anyone who has worked in services, especially in the field of culture and tourism, knows more or less about the phrase "behavioral boundaries" in professional skills.
With the incident in Nha Trang, whether the customer is right or wrong, whether provoked or under pressure, the act of throwing shoes at the customer's face - as in the clip, is unacceptable.
In the service sector, people can refuse to serve, can explain, and may even seek support from functional agencies. But there is no scenario that allows such a customer-attacking behavior.
This situation once again reveals a familiar weakness in the small service sector, which is that service staff lack skills to handle situations.
Due to the lack of clear procedures and lack of formal training, employees easily react to personal emotions. And just one moment of loss of control, the price to pay is not just a separate case, but the reputation of the entire business establishment.
More worryingly, in the age of social networks, all behaviors can be recorded and spread at lightning speed. A clip longer than one minute can reach hundreds of thousands, even millions of people in a short time.
At that time, the matter is no longer within the scope of a store, but becomes a story about the image of a destination.
The story of throwing shoes at tourists in Nha Trang has left a lesson for many parties. Because tourism is inherently a special industry.
Tourists not only consume products, but also experience services. And that experience is formed from very small things, from a word, attitude, a way to solve problems when problems arise...
In the tourism industry, each employee, each store, even small ones, can become the "image representative" of the whole locality in the eyes of tourists.
Many times, the impression left is not beautiful beaches or luxury hotels, but the way they are treated in a specific situation.
Therefore, a professional service environment cannot only be based on personal goodwill, but must be based on processes, training and a clear awareness of standards of conduct.
From this story, the lesson learned for service businesses is to build a clear situation handling process for employees, especially in situations of conflict with customers.
Communication skills, emotional control and handling small crises on the spot are minimum things for service providers. Therefore, training in behavioral skills should be considered a mandatory requirement.
Secondly, each individual working in the service industry needs to clearly realize that their behavior not only represents the store, but also contributes to creating the image of the destination.
In the age of social networks, a non-standard action can quickly be amplified and cause much greater damage than initially thought.
Finally, local management agencies also need to strengthen guidance, inspection and support for small businesses in improving service quality.
When all links in the service system are improved, the tourism environment will inevitably develop in a healthy and sustainable way.
