RX Radio presenter Olive Najjuma on the Fatboy Show today said she was in full support of employees working without their mobile phones, especially those providing customer care services.
She made the remarks while commenting on the Civil Aviation Authority’s decision to ban the use of mobile phones among Entebbe International Airport service providers on duty.
The letter dated 7 December 2021 partly read: “It has been noted with concern that the use of personal and other devices by airport staff while on duty has continued unabated despite consequent security and safety concerns. This is therefore to direct that no staff shall be allowed to carry his/her personal mobile phones or any other devices to their respective work station.”
Commenting on this, Olive said “I don't think this is asking for too much, especially when someone’s on duty. Have you ever been served by someone at the airport, when one minute they are asking you a question and as you are attempting to answer, they attend to their phone. There's a way it leaves you feeling frustrated,” she said.
However, Fatboy wondered how the airport customer service employees would attend to emergencies such as a family member getting an abrupt sickness or accident.
Olive in her response said, “By the way, it has ever happened to me when I was working as a bank teller. Around that time, I found about 20 calls from my sister and it being Christmas eve, I thought she was calling to ask for money only to return the call for her to inform me that my aunt had died.”
She noted that such circumstances often happen occasionally, adding that supervisors and the organisation often provide a contact where employees can be reached by their loved ones in case of an emergency.
Fatboy agreed that many people often complain about poor service delivery by customer service employees attending to their mobile phones rather than their customers. He mentioned how this often distracts the attention of the workers which is key at places like the airport where paying attention to detail is paramount.
Olive thought that the use of mobile phones by customer care providers might be the reason why peoples luggage never gets to the cargo planes in time. She added, “I think I'm in strong support of the ban because many times I've been frustrated by service providers that are supposed to attend to me and they're attending to their phone for example the mobile money woman who will ask you deposit or withdraw, the bank teller or a salon receptionist that you'll be talking to and they're attending to their phones. It just demoralizes me,” she said.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.