Relationship Marketing

This semester I am teaching Relationship Marketing, for the second time in a few years.
What I find interesting is the real life examples that I experience, such as today. I went to a large supermarket today with my daughter, and bought a few things. When I went to pay, a packet of scones had no price label. The cashier asked me to go back in and find another package with the price label. Huh? What about the other things that I have bought, my place in the line, my daughter impatience. And I thot that in Malaysia, all retailers have to place a price sign.. and if not then its their wrong. Anyway, I said forget about the scones and the girl looked perplexed as to why I am just leaving the scones. LOL.
On the opposite side of the coin, a more promising encounter was when I was filling diesel in my car. The girl there said hi and asked where were my children, she had come up to us before, talked to Walter and has been overall friendly and helpful. When the credit card payment didn't go through, she offered to take my card to the counter and get it paid there. I just said I will pay by cash, and she took the money and paid and even got the pump ready.
That is why I am rather frustrated in teaching marketing and even relationship marketing in Malaysia. Only a few companies/persons actually do marketing, what more relationship marketing. More companies are like what I experienced in Kuala Lumpur a few years back. We ordered food, what came was not what we ordered, late, or didn't come at all, and wasn't that great, plus when paying the bill it was so expensive and wronly calculated. So I talked to the 'towkay neo' who retorted to me, "Lu tak suka lu boleh pegi, lu pegi selibu lagi datang." (You don't like it you can go, you go a thousand more come). That seems like the philosophy of so many businesses in Malaysia.
But I do hope my students do learn what is marketing, and what is relationship marketing, and when their time comes in management of a business or of their own, then they can implement what is learnt and change the scenario of business in Malaysia.
There is always hope.
E