I love burgers. I could never resist ordering them each time I entered a fast food restaurant. The last time I ordered a beef burger at a Mr. Biggs outlet changed the way I look at burgers forever. Usually, I simply make my order, pay wait for the good and dig in. Not anymore.

This particular burger gave me the runs. The lettuce was yellow and the mayo was flat. The buns were dry. Only the beef tasted okay, so I didn’t mind the other thing. My tummy did mind. It minded a lot!

While the quality of service we get from our leaders and government agencies have always been below par, it is sad to note that the private businesses are taking on a bad habit. The lack of proper customer service and the drop in the quality of that service has become obvious for a long time now and we are not enjoying the protection we deserve. Do we even have responsible people running the Consumer Protection Council? That is a story for another day.

When was the last time you got stress-less and satisfactory service from your bank? How many petrol stations actually allow you to pay with your debit card? Which airline truly arrives and lands on schedule? Are you satisfied with the in-flight entertainment and meals they offer? How many cab drivers go out of their way to make your journey pleasurable and which cab company employees such people?

How many times a day does your network provider drop your calls? How many unsolicited messages do you get from them? I have two lines and I am tired of blocking the numbers that send me texts to either vote for a politician or buy a used car. I get about 20 SMSs daily and ten calls to boot. How many do you get? Isn’t it time we got world class service in Nigeria? Can we find a way to shame our service providers into doing better?

Step forward, Rotten Lemons Award! For every failed promise, you can give a stinky award to that brand and company. All you need to do is visit http://www.rottenlemonaward.com/, register your complaint and join the thousands of Nigerians like yourself who are taking a stand against crappy service and dodgy organisations.

Stop getting disrespected and exposed. Refuse anything less than your money’s worth. If you suspect anyone is selling your information to a third party, let the world know. Take part in the process of cleaning up our terrible service providers. Time to stop rewarding bad behaviour. Time to give bad brands the runs.

To know more about the Rotten Lemon Awards, report any company (Bank, Airline, Telecoms, Hospital, E-commerce etc.) or nominate them for a Worst Award, go here http://www.rottenlemonawards.com/ . Follow Rotten Lemon on Twitter @RottenLA to join in the action and see more companies get nominated for “Worst Awards”

Mallam Yero