Isn't everyone in Switzerland nice?

Isn't everyone in Switzerland nice?

There's a piece by a famous Israeli humorist (Kishon) about how in a trip to Switzerland he wanted to throw away a wrap of a cake that he ate, but everything there was so clean and spotless that people frowned even on littering the trashcans, so after many attempts he had to end up with packing the wrap in his suitcase and take it back to Israel.

And the hearts of its citizens would be broken if they heard that "America" is not the perfect customer service heaven. I'll keep my mouth shut, so that I won't have so much pain on my conscience.

Where is the land of the great customer service? Somewhere in Europe, I'm thinking, on the continent.

I think part of the problem is that while great customer service may stand out, good or just plain efficient customer servicer tends to be seamless and invisible, ime, and it's the bad customer servicer that tends to smack you in the face like a swung dead cat.

eta, crikey, I just typed servicer instead of service twice. This may mean I've been in QA too long.

Scandinavia! Also the Norwegian trains are THE BEST.

I've never had a problem with Amtrak customer service, probably because the only person I ever have to deal with is the conductor punching my ticket. That in itself makes it superior to air travel.

Perhaps Amsterdam?

Well, we all know that they have a maid who is mistress of her trade.

My lone non-Amtrak experience with trains was the year I spent in Australia. Cheap, clean, fast, convenient. Much better than the trip I took to New York on the overpriced slow-machine that was an Amtrak train.

Strega! I need your address. Please to send?

Where is the land of the great customer service? Somewhere in Europe, I'm thinking, on the continent.

Heh. Somewhere in Berlin, a friend of mine is in hysterics, and he doesnt know why. In the U.S., we are rich, selfish capitalists, and we expect excellent service. We are often disappointed in that, but... I suspect that in Europe, consumers would be impressed by the kind of service we'd grumble about here.

Or it could be that service jobs suck because customers suck, and therefore service is commensurate with customer behavior and with payscale.

Nah. I blame Amtrak.

A date of mine once told me a story about a friend's trip to Germany and said friend's Ugly American behavior toward a conductor while touring the country by rail. Suffice to say, the tale ended with the conductor shouting "The trains do not run to Auschwitz anymore!" in his face.

Suffice to say, the tale ended with the conductor shouting "The trains do not run to Auschwitz anymore!" in his face.

ouch.