A series on the perils of queue management during Covid 19 pandemic: Part Two
No queues in quarantine
Mandatory lock down gave you a sense of security. No one was expected to leave the house. You kept safe and healthy at home. However, this is not a sustainable lifestyle. Man needs to eat, businesses need to thrive and bills have to be paid. Post lock down, the thought of leaving the safety of your home could send shivers down your spine. In the beginning, we were all cautious. Mask in place, and sanitizer on hand. Public transports had created the much-needed spacing. People observed personal hygiene in public and that was a relief. As it all started, you kept track of the infection and death rates as you felt there was hope. Sadly, never have so many died in the history of time.
More queues post quarantine
The gates are open now. You are free to get out of the house. There are safety protocols to follow. However, as human as you are, with time, you are less frightened. You no longer keep track of the death and infection rates. You just want things to return to normal. The rules become lax. Things have fallen apart. There are so many post lock down trends that will scare you.
- I saw a man get rid of sanitiser that a security man gave him as he entered a restaurant
- After visiting a particular mall repeatedly, I realised the temperature gun has a static read of 35.5 degrees celsius.
- The most frightening trend now is that people cover just their mouths with the nose mask- the very thing that protects them must be suffocating them.
As I shared in the previous post, accessing everything online is still a novelty in Africa. People are still uncomfortable with online payments. Mobile money fraud is the worst enemy for mobile money payments. Most of the time, you can only resolve issues by speaking to a #customerexperience agent in person. You are more than likely to join a queue when you get to the premise. This is a side effect of the social distancing protocols. Do you remember the post quarantine trends that I shared earlier? Now, imagine that you come across these people where you want to conduct your business: a callous customer, a nonchalant security officer and an ignorant customer. What if they are all infected? What do you think your chances are of leaving there Covid 19 free?
Five tips to staying safe in a queue
As you enter the premise and join a queue, you need to ensure that you are protecting yourself and those around you. Do not be shy to insist that someone follows the protocols. There are the obvious ones: nose mask on, wash your hands and sanitize regularly. With much research and observation, these are five golden tips to help you stay safe in the queue:
- As much as possible, book an appointment online. This will help reduce the time you spend with others outside
- Sanitize your seat and maintain that seat till you are served
- Take your own pens and pieces of paper in case you need to jot something down
- Always remember to maintain the two meter distance between you and everyone
- Do not touch anyone or any surface unless it is absolutely necessary. Sanitize or wash your hands right after coming into contact with anything.
In our next episodes, we will discuss how business are dealing with the current issues that arise out of long queues and we will suggests solutions that could help with queue management. If you are a business owner, you can check out our free Covid 19 solutions to improve your #customer experience
