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The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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IMMIGRATION STAFF TO GET FRIENDLY

 

Personality Training Aims to put a Smile on Surly Airport Workers' Faces

 

Story by ANUCHA CHAROENPO

 

Immigration officers are undergoing 'personality training' to teach them how to project a friendlier face at Suvarnabhumi airport.

 

The Immigration Bureau has sent 1,200 immigration officers on the so-called Sawasdee Project following rising complaints that staff at the new airport are glum, unfriendly and sometimes just downright rude.

 

They're hoping the sour-faced image of the uptight immigration officer flipping through the traveller's passport between occasional upwards glances will be banished to the past.

 

The programme on personality development, which is being provided by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University's Human Capital Development Centre, aims to teach commissioned and non-commissioned police how best to conduct themselves when greeting visitors.

 

''The trainer tells us how to dress, stand, sit, keep our hair in place, smile and greet visitors as well as make a wai and say sawasdee to them when they use the airport so they will be impressed with our reception and our country,'' says immigration worker Vasinee Kaewpraphai.

 

Pol Lt Vasinee, who joined the police only 20 months ago, says the course has been useful.

 

She isn't offended by attempts to make her a nicer person.

 

At Suvarnabhumi airport, she checks visitors as they leave the country. She also has to deal with problems including people who have lost their departure cards, overstayed their visas or missed their flight.

 

''Sometimes I don't greet every visitor properly. I forget to say 'Sawasdee' because there isn't always enough time when I'm busy,'' she says.

 

''But after the training I will try to do it much more often.''

 

The Immigration Bureau launched the Sawasdee Project last month after receiving complaints from tourists about immigration officers at Suvarnabhumi.

 

The airport opened in September last year. Travellers have complained that immigration officers there are grumpy and unfriendly.

 

The training course started at the beginning of the month and will last until March 3. The one-day course takes in 100 officers each time. When all of Bangkok's immigration staff have been given their personality check, the project will be extended to staff at other major airports across the country including Samui, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and Phuket.

 

The bureau hopes the project will encourage its officers to adopt a positive attitude towards their service work and polish their tarnished image.

 

Kantaya Permpol, director of the Human Capital Development Centre, says she understands where the stereotype of the surly immigration officer comes from because their work is not just about tourist reception, but also includes handling security affairs.

 

As a result, it is common for them to be serious while working as they have to keep passports and other travelling documents in check at all times, she said.

 

''Our personality development course teaches them how to adapt themselves to their work, to make themselves happy while working and ensure their happiness rubs off on those they come into contact with.''

 

The course, which is also given to service staff in other businesses and industries, includes tips on reception, service and customer relations.

 

''After the training, the immigration officers will be more service-minded towards their work and more responsive to visitors,'' the director says.

 

''I believe that if immigration workers follow the course's principles, visitors will be satisfied with them. This atmosphere will also help boost tourism.''

 

And just in case the smiles begin to fade back into grimaces when the officers return to Suvarnabhumi, the centre says it will carry out follow-up evaluations every few months.