It's hard to deny that people are friendlier in other areas of the US. So many here are downright hostile and act like they hate their job.

Rudeness begets rudeness, though. I've witnessed customers acting horribly, too.

Anonymous wrote:I've been in the DC area since the 80s and I have shared with everyone I know since then how awful customer service is here. It is NOT "since Covid."

Yeah it's always been bad BUT it's HORRID now.

I've been in the DC area since the 80s and I have shared with everyone I know since then how awful customer service is here. It is NOT "since Covid."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are any of us willing to pay more for better service?

Corporate profits are at record highs.

Probably in part due to ditching customer service.

The point being, customers shouldn't have to pay more for it.

Anonymous wrote:You can’t talk to anyone on the phone anymore because c-suite got rid of almost all of them, or sent the work overseas (and it’s not their fault those people are reading out of a binder. Yes, it’s incredibly frustrating but don’t take it out on a poor person working for pennies overseas) so they could enrich themselves.

Same people drove in person businesses out and continually reduced staff for the same reasons. Customer service is largely dead because the c-suite took it away from you. This is why you are self checking, waiting an hour at the pharmacy, and no one waits on you in a department store.

+1

Anonymous wrote:People are robots now. They don’t really listen and aren’t curious to solve problems.

The medical front desk is the most bizarre to me. Why can they not be bothered to be friendly? Almost all of them act like it the most miserable job in the world. Is it?

It's low paid and that's an issue in this area.

I'm from nowhere, Michigan and when I go back service is always friendly and efficient. Even somewhere like McDonalds. Asians don't have a monopoly on good customer service.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to Asia, non China.
Everyone cares about being on time, professional, caring, accurate, clean, and prompt.
And many are smiley, happy cultures too- Malaysia, Philippines, vietnam, Thailand.

It’s refreshing.

It's because wages are low and tipping is not a thing overseas. the minimum wage hikes have caused a major problem in the USA. Businesses have also leveraged the tipping culture to underpay. The solution is to eliminate the minimum wage and tipping so that people will quit and businesses will respond with better pay and services.

No.
Most Asians there and here have a culture of excellence, pride and know good manners. Plus they double check their own work.

If you lived in a dense city or country with that many people you’d up your game too.

Np. Customer service reps don’t care because they have no investment in the business.
For a lot of people, unless their name is on the door, they do not care about you or your experience.

Anonymous wrote:People are robots now. They don’t really listen and aren’t curious to solve problems.

The medical front desk is the most bizarre to me. Why can they not be bothered to be friendly? Almost all of them act like it the most miserable job in the world. Is it?

They’re too busy checking their socials in their iPhones 6+ hours a work day.

You need to travel outside of the US to get good service, namely to Asia.

It's been very hard to get anything done lately. I keep thinking maybe it's the places I chose to do business but really starting to think it's the area. They can't get decent people in these positions and they're letting a ton of unprofessionalism and rudeness because if they let those people go they'd have no one. My spouse and I have been treated really poorly at several businesses we had to deal with lately. This whole situation is just so sad. I do not experience being treated this way except in NOVA. In other states it is not like this or instances like this are much fewer and far between. Here its all the time. And to those fools who think OP and the person on the receiving end of the rudeness that's bs, I've very pleasant and nice to anyone and everyone.

Situations like this continue because people accept it.

Anonymous wrote:People are robots now. They don’t really listen and aren’t curious to solve problems.

The medical front desk is the most bizarre to me. Why can they not be bothered to be friendly? Almost all of them act like it the most miserable job in the world. Is it?

Yes, I had that happen recently at gyn: rude front desk, said loudly for the whole room to hear that my insurance was invalid. Turns out THEY mistyped the number...And they didn't apologize! It felt like people yelling out orders at McDonald's.

Anonymous wrote:People are robots now. They don’t really listen and aren’t curious to solve problems.

The medical front desk is the most bizarre to me. Why can they not be bothered to be friendly? Almost all of them act like it the most miserable job in the world. Is it?

The worst is that now with most health plans having deductibles beyond the co pay, we almost always owe something from a previous appt. But the front office staff can’t view your balance or take payment. Oh no that would be way too simple! They literally hand you a card with a phone number to call or website to visit to pay your bill.

People are robots now. They don’t really listen and aren’t curious to solve problems.

The medical front desk is the most bizarre to me. Why can they not be bothered to be friendly? Almost all of them act like it the most miserable job in the world. Is it?