It was a typical day in your average post office. There were two queues, one for stamp purchases, Pos Laju and registered mail; the other, for household bills.

By the time I'd almost reached the payment counter to settle my electricity bill, a woman came in to make an inquiry about her computer, which I presumed, judging from her request, she'd already ordered through the post office. All she wanted to know was the price difference between different sizes of monitors, and that she would be willing to pay the difference for an upgrade.

Despite the advertising campaign to launch the EPF-Post Office computer scheme months ago, there is still no counter specifically to serve those interested in buying a PC. That being so, the inquiring woman had to awkwardly stick her face against the glass window, under a sign that read, " Loceng Kaunter Pertanyaan ", which by the way was nowhere near any sort of loceng -like implement.

The situation seemed a little hopeful when a man from the back room came out to address the customer.

Guess again.

He quickly waved the customer off: "I'm very busy today... come back tomorrow... I'm actually about to close..."

And the customer merely nodded her head and left quietly.

I felt compelled to make some sort of a protest on behalf of those who plan on making the trip down to their local post office for the exact same reason. It was, after all, only 3.20pm in the afternoon! Since when does anything in the form of public service or business close at three-something, on a weekday?

At that point I was very tempted to step out of the queue to voice my disgust at the man in charge, but decided against it as I glanced back towards the ever-growing line of bill payers and realised that I might lose my place. I had already been there in two separate queues for about an hour to settle my own affairs.

The sad part about this little incident is that I am sure I can more or less extrapolate it to most other post offices.

Did the man even realise what he'd done? Was he adequately trained to do the job? How many personnel did get trained in every post office to handle this new job function? One, two... none?

What about the negative image in the eyes of the 20-odd of us in the queues? What happens to the customers who have no choice but to use this scheme? Do people who serve the public understand what it means to respect a customer? Do they even understand customer service in all its forms and manners?

If the purchasing phase is already so disappointing, I shudder to think about the inevitable and more complicated after-sales service!