TM should safeguard its brand name

MY wife went to a TMpoint at Taman Maluri Cheras in Kuala Lumpur to make a payment last Wednesday.
There were four staff present and she was served by the only male staff. Nearby, two female staff were speaking to each other in a loud manner.
My wife could not hear what the male staff said and told him so. Instead of telling his colleagues to tone down, he merely smiled.
Later, when the din had subsided, the other woman seated at the counter burped loudly and continued playing with her handphone as if she was at home.
If the TMpoint counter staff here are not even aware of their manners, it would be beyond them to provide customer service expected from a reputable establishment.
However, it is not totally their fault but that of many parties. There was no intervention from the beginning, starting with poor upbringing. Decades ago, a scolding could stop those misbehaving on their tracks.
Today, people are so used to seeing or encountering rude behaviour that it is accepted as normal.
When children are not given proper guidance at home or behave unchecked in their neighbourhood, they naturally pick up most of bad manners and habits seen around them.
As personal development is grossly lacking in our education system from primary to tertiary levels, many people start working life without ever being corrected or coached to interact well with others.
Without learning and practising social values and skills, an adult is not educated, however learned the person may be.
Although kesopanan or courtesy is the fifth tenet of our Rukun Negara or National Philosophy, it will not be practised if learned by rote, and teachers failed their role as educators by not insisting that students are courteous in school.
Perhaps it is an impossible task. Students can easily point out the uncouth behaviour of many people around them, including members of Parliament and state assembly representatives.
The last bastion rests on caring employers. Those who take the trouble to train and monitor the performance of their customer service staff ought to be lauded.
On the other hand, there are those that do not give a hoot. If so, Telekom Malaysia Berhad should be more selective in appointing authorised dealers, and make staff training and monitoring compulsory if it wishes to continue building its brand name.
Y. S. Chan
Kuala Lumpur