I liked the place, the rides and the shows, are really good. And proud that they are designed on Indian movies and characters. But I certainly have issues with the management.
1) I booked the bus by mistake instead of the car and was thinking to forget the bus amount and go by car. But still thought it’s Neeta Volvo and was lazy to drive. So went ahead with the bus thinking it would be like a small adventure, and yes I wasn’t wrong about the adventure.
The bus was not Neeta Volvo but a tattered shivneri travels bus. And I liked the way they care for every living things on this planet and let the mosquitoes have a party at our expense. But I wish they had heard about dengue and its seriousness. Trust me, I wrote it with a humorous tone, but the mosquitoes were everywhere.
2) The seat numbers allotted to us were not adhered to. After I boarded the bus at BKC, I realised it was on first come first serve basis. I didn’t mind that, as I am not so fussy about the seats. So we were a group of 4 splitted into 2+2 at different seats. Adjusted as I didn’t have any issue.
But while returning some people who had boarded last in the morning and had got not so pleasant seats, again sat as per first come first serve because in the morning nobody vacated the seat numbers they had been allotted as the bus guys said its FCFS. Fair. But those who had boarded the bus from the first few stops and had got better seats in the morning were adamant to sit on the seats they had come by. And few of them apparently had sat on the seat numbers allotted to them in the email.
They didn’t care to see that there were so many different numbers and alphabets on all the seats that it seems like a product key rather than a seat number. But they could see their ’numbers’ so it was their owned so the bus was delayed by 30 mins because the Adlabs imagica guys decided that everybody sits on the seats they had come by. It didn’t matter to them if one family who was last to board had to sit in a totally weird pattern scattered across the bus. But this was their’first come first serve’! Again I don’t mind any seat nor had anything to do with it as I had got proper seats in a row. But the stupid rules the Neeta volvo.oops Adlabs shivneri applied was again not acceptable to me. Even though the standoff was between other 3-4 guys. Still it’s wrong! First come first serve shud be applied both sides. Or else keep proper seat numbers and ensure that people sit on their allotted seat. Nothing can justify that you guys expect the last person boarding the bus to endure the trouble both the ways. Just because he is boarding last! Though in the end I offered my seat to the family and everything was solved. I went on the back seat and it’s ok with me. But it’s not expected from Adlabs! Sending a bad tattered bus instead of a Neeta was cheating. adding the mosquitoes was criminal. And the bus management unable to make people sit in their allotted seats or enforce a far first come first serve was another eye opener about the quality of training these corporates give their staff.
3) Yes one more and most important problem, it’s the last one. Our countrymen find great pleasure in cutting/jumping queues. I feel they believe it’s their birth right and executing it successfully gives them a different high and some sense of accomplishment. So in the food court out of 4 times in the queue, thrice I encountered those’smarties’ directly buying coupons. And never did the cashier take notice! They just were happily issuing the coupons had I not intervened! And third time the cashier out of magnanimity smiled and told me’ ok sir I will give you the coupons first’! So that cashier thinks that if he gives me the coupons first and then happily issues the coupon to the one who breaks queue, the matter is solved! The people behind me don’t lose time with that stupid act? They don’t feel bad? And when I said it’s not about one person. Then he smiles and requests me to place my order with the other cashier next to me if I had problem. There was nothing offending in his tone. But I feel these employees don’t mind promoting such sub standard behavior? I would really want to meet the person responsible to train your employees. What I know is that companies spend fortune on CSR(corporate social responsibility) and it is your social responsibility to promote fair practices and take a strict stand on such things. Not only is Adlabs spoiling their own image. They are spoiling our country’s image when foreigners see it happening right in front of them! It doesn’t end here, They spoil our country’s image more when those ’smarties’ ultimately win with such practices and repeat the same abroad. And we can clearly see this toxin seeping into our country mens head. Because they get away with it. I never expected a responsible company like Adlabs imparting such poor training to their employees.
I am not liking is that they are unconsciously fueling such unfair and irritating habits. We all talk about the unruly behavior of our countrymen and start initiatives to spread awareness about cleanliness and other social problems. I feel, even If every corporate ensures that people adhere to the rules in their premises and stress more on the importance of the system and not leave space for people to even think about executing their beloved ’jugaad’, it will be a far more effective social initiative that they can gift back to the society. Somewhere it’s the ’chalta-hai’ attitude that they are promoting. And the worst part is that they have effectively ironed out such loopholes when it comes to rides or when it comes their property! In the rides they make sure people don’t do things that they aren’t supposed to do. Everything seems perfect. Even someone sitting on the railing in the queue are promptly deterred from doing so. So for their property they are so particular, because it ends up into monetary loss or in an event of any mishap it can amount to bad publicity and that again hits their business. So why display lax attitude towards the convenience of other people? Just because very few people will think about it as a social evil and waste time writing about it? Just because most of the people will be done with it as long as he manages to keep the ’smarty’ away from his turn? Why do we even have to fight with anybody else? The management has to ensure such things don’t happen. And if it happens. They should handle it in such a way that the person learns the importance of system and respects it. But their present system is clearly promoting such people to try it again. Like, the third lady got what she wanted without the queue, also the staff were polite to handle me. But never politely sent her back in the queue. So why would she stand in the queue next time? And nobody wants to fight for such trivial things. But in one incident this is a trivial matter, collectively it’s a social crime that they are promoting.
I spent 11K on the entry and the travels(4 of us). and in total spent 15K in those 12 hours.
I would be happy if I get a reply from Adlabs . And more so if it’s not the usual rhetoric.
Bus number MH04 G 8496
Date 17/08/14