Star Diary

Inept Professionalism

Watching movies, accompanied by family, relatives or friends in cinema hall, is a great source of entertainment. But since last few years, the quality of films and noxious environment at the cinema halls have largely depleted this fashion. Nonetheless, a few cinema complexes, displaying refined films along with providing decent entertaining environment, are working out well to bring the audience back. But lack of efficient customer service and professionalism, as I experienced a couple of weeks ago, may trim this laudable effort off.

My friends and I went to a reputed Cineplex of Dhaka to watch 'Amar Bondhu Rashed, We reached the ticket-counter following a short queue. After talking about the prices, I asked the salesman if any offer or discount was available on the entry tickets. He simply replied 'No'. While we were about to pay the price, he suddenly informed us that a pop-corn cone or a glass of soft drink would be given if one had a connection of a specific mobile phone operator. As three of us used that operator's connection, we asked him about the offer. But his answer startled us all. The tickets, since, were already printed and therefore, the offer could not be given! Though we reminded him over and over about his error that deprived us of the special offer, our words went unheard!

These multiplexes are a welcome addition to the entertainment industry. But the concerned authorities should make sure that their service matches the cinema hall's sophistication.

Ashim Kumar Paul
Government Edward College, Pabna

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Beautiful People

When I first came to Bangladesh, I thought of it as a country of poverty, illiteracy and corruption. To some extent, my presumption was correct and it was proven correct in many incidents. For the first couple of months' stay in Bangladesh, I figured out that this country had all the attributes of a third world country, until recently. The other day, I was walking on the street at noon, under the hot sun, because I didn't want to take an auto-rickshaw or a bus. It was a humid weather and I felt really thirsty. There was a man selling sugar-cane juice by the street. I went over to him and asked him to fill me a glass. I drank the whole thing, it was delicious and I drank a couple more glasses. The bill was Tk 45. I gave him a 50 taka note and asked him to keep the change. When I was leaving, the guy rushed towards me and told me that I had accidentally handed him a 500 taka note. He returned my money and I then insisted him to take a 100 taka bill. The man was wearing poor clothes, his juice stall was as shabby-looking as he was; still when it came to honesty and ethics, he didn't sell himself out, which touched my heart. Then another day, my spectacles broke and I couldn't get them repaired. I emailed few of my friends in England to ask where in England those could be fixed. One of my friends is an optician and he told that the way my glasses had broken, it could not be repaired and I should buy new glasses. New glasses could be bought from Dhaka. So I went to an optician in the New Market. The person working there checked my glasses and told me that he could fix it and I didn't need to buy new glasses. Repairing the glasses cost me half of what I needed to buy a pair. I didn't just appreciate the honesty of the optician; his prudence and skill, sitting in a modest shop of a poor third world country amazed me as well. Suddenly I started feeling that Bangladesh truly is a country full of possibilities!

Erick Blunt
Baridhara, Dhaka