Service

When I first started to visit United States, something that stroke me (in a positive way) was the quality of the service you get in any store or restaurant, comparing it with the one I was used to receive in Spain (or in Holland, worldwide known by its fast and kind service...ironically speaking). Initially I was a bit overwhelmed by such a nice treatment...but quite honestly, after 40 plus years of poor service, I didn't need a long transition to get used to it. Now when I go back home and visit one of the thousand bars in the city to have a coffee, I just can't stand it when the waiter serves me as he is doing me a great favor... whoever is reading this in Spain, they know what I mean. And I am wondering, why there is such a service culture in USA or why it doesn't exist in Spain?

When it comes to restaurants or coffee shops, obviously the american 'tipping' model helps to understand it. Here, a good service is tipped with a minimum 15%. In fact, tips make the biggest part of the waiters' salaries which are then directly linked to the customer satisfaction. However, this doesn't explain the good service received in other type of stores where tipping is not that common. I believe that this is related to the dynamism of the economy and the vital american optimism. A top class service can only increase the traffic of customers and boost the revenues of any business, and that's good for the owners but also for the employees as by doing a good job, new professional opportunities to prosper will come up. Of course, life is not a bed of roses, not everybody reach success in the USA and more often than not, the initial optimism runs into frustration or even worse, depression and anxiety (pandemic diseases in the modern societies). But in the meantime, the coffee is served with a smile and I really like it!


On a totally different (and unexpected) note, why are the WEBER barbecues never on SALE? In this country, you can be sure that any product will be on sale at any point of the season, anything, it doesn't matter how premium or luxurious it is (and that includes cars, watches, clothes, jewelry, etc...). With the exception of the WEBER barbecues, never discounted. Somebody should do some research about it....