Meet Helen the newsstand girl

This girl is the newsstand attendant inside Kelapa Gading Mall. I often stop by at her kiosk because she has a complete selection of the Indonesian magazines reading I need. It is hard not to notice her presence, as I often found her singing the Batak folk-songs (North Sumatran are great singers) with her melodious voice. She stops singing as soon as the customer approaches her kiosk. Helen is a friendly, bubbly, cheerful girl who always addresses her customer with an endearment term ... "makasih sayang" (thanks sweetheart)... plus a sweet smile even though you only buy one sport tabloid or a newspaper. Sometimes when the magazine I was looking for was sold out, she would help me find the issue and keep it for me the next time I go there.

Helen has been working as the newsstand attendant for 3 years. The kiosk is belong to her elder brother. When asked .. "did your brother pay you a salary?" ..., she covers her face with her arm, smiling sheepishly and said her brother gave her an extra bonus if sales is good. That means she can go to karaoke with her friends practicing her singing talent. Otherwise, she will just have to be happy with whatever her brother gave her. She is a choir girl in her church which does explain why she is often caught singing at her kiosk. She is also a girlie girl character and cares so much about her hair and appearance (she painted her toenails black...LOL!).
I'd never seen her with a sourpuss face, sometimes I wonder what's her secret to stay happy all the time? Helen gets excited when I took her picture while the people next to her kiosk cheering her girliness when she posed for my cellphone camera ... hehehe! When I told her I'm going to write about her in my blog, she asked ... "what is a blog?!?" I think I will have to take her to the internet cafe inside the mall and show my post about her.

It is good to know good customer service still exists. It's human nature we often talk about the bad, but it's nice to point out the good too.