Continental to teach city employees about customer service?

06:24 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 6, 2005

By Doug Miller / 11 News

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Before you build in Houston, you need a building permit. But getting your plans approved can get frustrating.

Rick Tolliver tried to call the mayor, after waiting in line for hours.

"And I hate working in the city of Houston because of this," he says. "You know, I was pulling permits for a job in Meyerland. Took me 39 days to go through the crap to get my permits."

But people waiting in line aren't the only people getting angry.

"My goodness, if people didn't build stuff within the city of Houston, where would our economy go?" asked Mayor Bill White. "And yet, there's this casual and often bureaucratic attitude with the way people are treated. So we want to change that."

Now the mayor wants to teach the people who hand out building permits and inspect buildings a lesson in customer service. And so, he wants to give a contract to one of the biggest businesses in Houston.

Continental Airlines would receive an $85,000 contract from Mayor Bill White's administration to teach some city bureaucrats about customer service.

But the idea is raising questions around City Hall.

"I question the need, again, of spending that much money to teach people to be nice," says city council member Toni Lawrence. "If people don't know how to be nice, maybe they shouldn't be working for the City of Houston."

Meanwhile, frustrated citizens just want to get back to work.