Page 1 of British Customer Service vs US Customer Service

Having just returned from my first trip to the USA... i just wondered how other people felt about the differences in customer service?..

I went with a great deal of cynicism regarding the "have a nice day" attitude.. but i`m a changed man after experiencing it all... from waiters to taxi drivers to sales assistants.. to the man in the street.. it`s hard to be miserable when everyone is being so nice to you...

The difference in attitude of waiters and waitresses is unbelievable.. over there.. although they propbably know it`s a s*** job.. they will not show it.. on the contrary.. you are left with the impression.. that they would do it for no money.. over here however.. they know its a s*** job and they want you to know its a s*** job...

and talk about rip off britain..!!!!.. i can`t go to anywhere now that will make me pay for more than one glass of coke etc.. I WANT REFILS!!!!...

grrrrrrrrrrrr

"Just say NO!"

The fact that there is little in the form of a welfare state to fall back on & that medical bills are sky high if you don`t have insurance through your employer probably has a great deal to do with the apparent pleasure Americans show at doing sh*t jobs.

I can remember seeing a "documentary" about 2 cafes/resturants one in the UK and one in the US, the main difference between the two was the "profit margin" - in the US it seemed to be about 35%, in the UK they were aiming for 75%.

With regards to the Waiters/Waitresses the fundemental thing is Tips, if a US waitress gives you a s*** attitude she doesn`t get tipped, and a tip in the US isn`t a bonus, it actually makes up a part of the Minimum Wage. (which I thinks is about 6$ in the US, but with the Tips adjustment Waitresses get more in the region of 2-3$), where as in the UK, a Tip is a bonus.

This space for sale





. <--- Except this bit, its mine.

I gladly tipped for the service that i received.. I also tip over here.. but not anymore..

after going to TGI Fridays both in Florida and here.. the difference was ridiculous.. it was double the price and half as nice in the UK one

"Just say NO!"

A lot of people give our Colonial Cousins stick about pretty much everything these days (especially so since Gulf War II) but I spent a summer working out there a few years ago and met only one obnoxious person during the whole of my 4 months there, I see perhaps 30 or 40 a day here...tells you quite a lot about society in general I think. We like to think we are a happy carefree country, but we are not and its getting worse. :(

HaGGis! its not just the quality of the service, its the quality of the food also. Oh well, I`ll just have to make do with my cardboard `sirloin` steak from my local Hungry Horse...ITS JUST NOT FAIR >:(

This item was edited on Friday, 7th November 2003, 23:54

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We like to think we are a happy carefree country, but we are not and its getting worse.

I`ve only ever been to the warmer parts of the US, but don`t you think that their outlook has something to do with the climate ? In other words, sunny climate equates to sunny outlook. Here it seems a lot of people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) all year round, grey skies equals grey people with dull attitude.


JohnF

GW6UFO is QRT at the moment

they are great. where abouts did you go?? i`ve bin florida bout 6 times. i got back a month ago. i went for 3 weeks. i hadn`t been for bout 4 years. the place had changed but the people hadn`t. alays friendly and always wanting to help you no matter what the problem was. i mite move out there and work when i finish uni.

I crossed over into the US (Fort Francis OntarioInternational Falls Min) prior to catching my internal flight back to Minneapolis with my hostess, she took me to a lil gift shop, it was a week or so before Xmas bitterly cold, even though we didnt buy anything we were offered a hot cup of coffee by the owner.

"Great chunks of my past detaching themselves like melting icebergs"

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they are great. where abouts did you go?? Florida, California, Virginia and lately Arizona. Great friendly people in all these places, even though they mistake my Cockney accent for Australian :D Good luck if you move over there.

JohnF

GW6UFO is QRT at the moment