Customer Service

Street vendor in front of Columbia University

One thing you notice very quickly in the US is how nicely and politely you are treated when you enter a store, call a service, buy a hot dog or interact in any way with the customer relations end of a b2c business. The locals will explain that the competition for any kind of business is so fierce, and the prices battles have been fought so thoroughly already, that all that is left to gain an edge is customer loyalty and, by consequence, ‎customer service.

Needless to say it feels quite nice coming from a country that has made monopolisation of its services a semi-religious mantra for the better part of the last century. To name one example that is still fresh in my memory, the swiss post sports angry teenager girls at the counter that will tell you that you are a moron for not knowing that the handwritten and signed procuration is not valid anymore to fetch someone else's mail ("Tout le monde sait ça, bordel!"). But as a general rule, even when they are not downright rude, the people who tend to your consumeristic needs back home will not exhaust themselves in polite chitchat.

Here it's all about you, you should feel well served, you should feel heard, and you should end your business transaction well satisfied and with a smile on your face. And so for now we can bask in the wondrous feeling of being treated excessively nicely by our temporary servants, and even if we understand that it's business as usual for them, we will still enjoy the feeling of being pampered.

If the customer is indeed king, by God I'll feel regal and I'll enjoy it as long as I can!