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Egay Uy .

FOR sure, malls have their own set of rules and policies that are supposed to govern their relationships with their tenants – and of course, their customers.  One such policy or rule deals with the use of the mall’s entrances.

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Last Sunday evening, I was with my wife Juliet, and sons Jose and OJ at an uptown mall in Cagayan de Oro. Our eldest son, Jeiu, opted to stay home because he was finishing some work.  Our car was parked right in front of the east side gate of the mall going directly towards the department store.

The four of us had our dinner in a relatively new restaurant inside the mall, where we stayed until a few minutes before closing time at nine o’clock.  The restaurant is located near the interior entrance going to the supermarket whose opposite entrance leads towards the department store.

Since we parked the car in front of the east entrance of the department store, we asked the guard if we could use that entrance to get to the parking area instead of going around the main entrance. My reason was because my right knee and foot were aching as a result of a tripping incident where I literally dropped to the concrete pavement at the SSS office a few days earlier when we documented the compliance by government offices of the smoke-free campaign of the city.  Besides, it was not yet nine o’clock in the evening, the mall’s closing time.

The guard who said the said nearest door was still open, told us he had to get the permission of somebody whom he called through his handheld radio. The response was that they had to secure approval from somebody else.

I did not have to wait longer for the approval and opted to go around limping to the other entrance or exit to get to the parking area. When we exited the building, it was drizzling. And true enough, the door facing the parked car was still open, with a lady guard manning it.

Some questions came to mind. What if instead of me, an injured senior citizen, it were a person with disability on a wheelchair and it was drizzling? What if it were a pregnant woman and it was drizzling? Can the uptown mall bear the sight of these people (me included) go around a longer route to get to the parked car when in fact a shorter route could have been taken?

The management may have laid down a policy that a few minutes before closing time no customer should be allowed to enter the department store anymore. But will this be a hindrance for the mall to open its heart to a customer whose physical condition warrants an exception?

Such a policy stinks with arrogance and indifference. These big businesses should remember that even the customer who bought the least amount of item from that mall has given them business.  Unless, of course, if they are so arrogant as not to recognize that.

Yes, the customer is not always right.  So is management.

 

(Egay Uy is a lawyer. He chairs the City’s Regulatory and Complaint Board, co-chairs with the city mayor the City Price Coordinating Council, and chairs the city’s Joint Inspection Team.  He retired as a vice president of Cepalco.)

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