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> The quality of service seems to be deteriorating everywhere. Given that it's generally accepted that the U.S. economy is no longer based on the production of

> The quality of service seems to be deteriorating everywhere. Given that it's generally accepted that the U.S. economy is no longer based on the production of goods, and is mostly a service economy now, this doesn't seem to bode well. I wonder if this is like a normal vicious cycle which will eventually be broken, or if this is a permanent change? Based on personal experience living in Europe, a society can function quite well even with a pathetic level of customer service. This might be the new normal.

throwawaygh 5y ago
> Based on personal experience living in Europe, a society can function quite well even with a pathetic level of customer service. This might be the new normal. How do you mean? I've always much preferred European service to American service. But then, I also loathe interacting with waiters as if we're old friends or something and get unbelievably frustrated when someone tries to bag my groceries.
- kaesar14 5y ago
  Try getting anything done with a French or German bank. American customer service is several levels better than my experience with European institutions.
- jay_kyburz 5y ago
  We have been using self checkout for a few years here in Australia, and the thought of having to even go through a normal checkout with a cashier now kind of yuck.
  - swayvil 5y ago
    I don't relate with that yuck. I prefer a human cashier. And also a second person to do the bagging.
    - katbyte 5y ago
      Why is that? Generally curious as I prefer to just self checkout and save the cashier the effort
      - ketzo 5y ago
        Way faster for everyone. Most people are really bad at bagging groceries, and it slows down lines.
        michaelmrose 5y ago
        Couldn't the second employee cashier and save even more time? Also for example WinCo which doesn't bag has 2 endpoints per line for it's treadmill of food they check out one person shoving order number 1 to endpoint one then use number two. One really slow person can't slow matters down.
        mytherin 5y ago
        That fails to account for drastically reduced space and operating costs of self-checkout machines. In my experience one cash register is generally replaced by 3-5 self checkout machines. Even if the cashier is twice as good at scanning and bagging the self-checkout will have much shorter lines and as a result will be much faster.
      - swayvil 5y ago
        I just like being served. The more effort expended the better.
    - eru 5y ago
      Funny enough, in Germany cashiers never do your bagging. Germans would find cashiers bagging their stuff weird.
      - swayvil 5y ago
        It used to be that way in USA. But in the course of businesses squeezing more out of less the cashier now does double duty. He just has to work harder. We see a lot of that here.
  - swader999 5y ago
    I prefer the human interaction nowadays.
- russellbeattie 5y ago
  Oh man, I remember doing my weekly grocery shopping at Caprabo, and having the miserable cashiers absolutely fling the bottles, bags, boxes, cans, etc. down the table after they rung them up, and you would have to try to bag as quickly as possible because she wouldn't wait once the next person was coming through. Gah! Anyways, I hate bagging my own groceries even in the U.S., so there's an example for you. Not that big of a deal, European society in general works quite well, regardless of how horrible and mean their cashiers are.
DOsinga 5y ago
> Based on personal experience living in Europe, a society can function quite well even with a pathetic level of customer service I don't know. In my experience customer service in Europe is better than it seems. In the US my customer service agent will tell me very smilingly that unfortunately there is nothing they can do for me right now but is there anything else they can help me with? In Germany where I lived before coming to the US, whomever answers the phone will take the time to point out why it is really my fault we got into this mess in the first place but will then grudgingly tell me that by exception they can fix it just in this one instance.
- busymom0 5y ago
  It probably depends upon the company. As much as I dislike Amazon, their customer service is outstanding. An anker headphone I bought also had excellent customer service.
  - colordrops 5y ago
    Zelle blocked my phone number (verizon, not some burner number) as ineligible out of no where after using it them for a few months. They said they can't tell me why and there's nothing I can do about it. I almost threw my phone against the wall.
    - dqv 5y ago
      Well there is something you can do about it, but you probably don’t want to. You can start an arbitration hearing with AAA. Zelle pays the fees.
  - herbst 5y ago
    I am surprised when people say Amazon has a good customer support. Either I had bad luck at least 10 times or everything else must be even worse. Like a 2$ refund I never got because they sided with the seller even thought they did not even have postal tracking as promised. Or the bill for Amazon warehousing I get yearly because I am stuck in their registration loop as they don't like my CC. If I asked them to stop billing a unfinished account they just answer with canned responses. Going on for several years now. Or the time they suddenly merged my accounts and erased my ~5$ left in credits. Because apparently I should use the same account for private and business
therealdrag0 5y ago
Don’t conflate the service sector with customer service. For example most white collar jobs that have nothing to do with normal “customer service notions” are part of the service sector.
donatj 5y ago
I drove out of my way yesterday to pick up food from a popular chain restaurant usually famous for their super quick takeout. I was turned away, cash in hand, told they are only taking online orders. I’m not even mad, while I was undeniably irritated in the moment, I’m now moreso just curious how the math works out. Short staffing means a person who would have to play cashier can be making food. How many customers do they send away in a day given that was their usual schtick? Does it actually work out better for their business?

throwawaygh 5y ago

> Based on personal experience living in Europe, a society can function quite well even with a pathetic level of customer service. This might be the new normal. How do you mean? I've always much preferred European service to American service. But then, I also loathe interacting with waiters as if we're old friends or something and get unbelievably frustrated when someone tries to bag my groceries.

kaesar14 5y ago
Try getting anything done with a French or German bank. American customer service is several levels better than my experience with European institutions.
jay_kyburz 5y ago
We have been using self checkout for a few years here in Australia, and the thought of having to even go through a normal checkout with a cashier now kind of yuck.
- swayvil 5y ago
  I don't relate with that yuck. I prefer a human cashier. And also a second person to do the bagging.
  - katbyte 5y ago
    Why is that? Generally curious as I prefer to just self checkout and save the cashier the effort
    - ketzo 5y ago
      Way faster for everyone. Most people are really bad at bagging groceries, and it slows down lines.
      - michaelmrose 5y ago
        Couldn't the second employee cashier and save even more time? Also for example WinCo which doesn't bag has 2 endpoints per line for it's treadmill of food they check out one person shoving order number 1 to endpoint one then use number two. One really slow person can't slow matters down.
      - mytherin 5y ago
        That fails to account for drastically reduced space and operating costs of self-checkout machines. In my experience one cash register is generally replaced by 3-5 self checkout machines. Even if the cashier is twice as good at scanning and bagging the self-checkout will have much shorter lines and as a result will be much faster.
    - swayvil 5y ago
      I just like being served. The more effort expended the better.
  - eru 5y ago
    Funny enough, in Germany cashiers never do your bagging. Germans would find cashiers bagging their stuff weird.
    - swayvil 5y ago
      It used to be that way in USA. But in the course of businesses squeezing more out of less the cashier now does double duty. He just has to work harder. We see a lot of that here.
- swader999 5y ago
  I prefer the human interaction nowadays.
russellbeattie 5y ago
Oh man, I remember doing my weekly grocery shopping at Caprabo, and having the miserable cashiers absolutely fling the bottles, bags, boxes, cans, etc. down the table after they rung them up, and you would have to try to bag as quickly as possible because she wouldn't wait once the next person was coming through. Gah! Anyways, I hate bagging my own groceries even in the U.S., so there's an example for you. Not that big of a deal, European society in general works quite well, regardless of how horrible and mean their cashiers are.

DOsinga 5y ago

> Based on personal experience living in Europe, a society can function quite well even with a pathetic level of customer service I don't know. In my experience customer service in Europe is better than it seems. In the US my customer service agent will tell me very smilingly that unfortunately there is nothing they can do for me right now but is there anything else they can help me with? In Germany where I lived before coming to the US, whomever answers the phone will take the time to point out why it is really my fault we got into this mess in the first place but will then grudgingly tell me that by exception they can fix it just in this one instance.

busymom0 5y ago
It probably depends upon the company. As much as I dislike Amazon, their customer service is outstanding. An anker headphone I bought also had excellent customer service.
- colordrops 5y ago
  Zelle blocked my phone number (verizon, not some burner number) as ineligible out of no where after using it them for a few months. They said they can't tell me why and there's nothing I can do about it. I almost threw my phone against the wall.
  - dqv 5y ago
    Well there is something you can do about it, but you probably don’t want to. You can start an arbitration hearing with AAA. Zelle pays the fees.
- herbst 5y ago
  I am surprised when people say Amazon has a good customer support. Either I had bad luck at least 10 times or everything else must be even worse. Like a 2$ refund I never got because they sided with the seller even thought they did not even have postal tracking as promised. Or the bill for Amazon warehousing I get yearly because I am stuck in their registration loop as they don't like my CC. If I asked them to stop billing a unfinished account they just answer with canned responses. Going on for several years now. Or the time they suddenly merged my accounts and erased my ~5$ left in credits. Because apparently I should use the same account for private and business

therealdrag0 5y ago

Don’t conflate the service sector with customer service. For example most white collar jobs that have nothing to do with normal “customer service notions” are part of the service sector.

donatj 5y ago

I drove out of my way yesterday to pick up food from a popular chain restaurant usually famous for their super quick takeout. I was turned away, cash in hand, told they are only taking online orders. I’m not even mad, while I was undeniably irritated in the moment, I’m now moreso just curious how the math works out. Short staffing means a person who would have to play cashier can be making food. How many customers do they send away in a day given that was their usual schtick? Does it actually work out better for their business?