Well this is mostly from my observations in America this summer but it seemed like just about everyone I met hated their jobs and took that anger out on customers. Before it happened but it wasnt that common.
Anyone else notice this trend?
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Maybe you just need to tip moreā¦ with tipping culture getting completely out of hand you have to tip to get acceptable service.
From my experience here in the UK, the pandemic has greatly accelerated the move towards much worse customer service in general. Call centres have become slower, with recorded excuses still playing over the phone until now that itās because of disruption and staff shortages caused by the pandemic. In fact, Iām finding that many companies are now deliberately making it as difficult as possible to even find the customer service number which, when you do call it, usually plays a message about how we should contact them by email, or using the useless chat bot, instead. Self-service machines have nearly taken over supermarkets and stations. High-street bank branches are closing down at an alarming rate, so now my elderly mum has to take a bus for over half an hour to get to her nearest branch which I believe is currently under threat of being closed down too. In Taiwan, I constantly feel a sense of relief and amazement at how easy it is to phone companies and how much staff still man the services we need.
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With the exception of a crabby lady at the post office (she was Cantonese, so she canāt help it 
), service here in Sydney has been excellent. Why do Australians have to be so damn friendly all the time?!?!
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Another nice thing about Taiwan is that Taiwan is still mainly pre-911 in terms of social dynamics. In the West services probably suck because you have to go through a battery of background checks in order to get a job delivering paper.
That and I think Taiwanese are mostly resistant to being stuck using self service anything. I think it is very recently that gas stations had self service, before that you werenāt allowed to touch the pump at all.
My company in Aus keeps winning corporate clients cos we answer our phone after an average of 30 secs and 85% within 20 secsā¦ we actually donāt do much different from out competitors our delivery is just better apparently
I disagree that Australians are always friendly, at least Iām not 
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America is slowly getting poorer and its people are having to beg, borrow, and steal to maintain their standard of living. That makes them surly, with hair trigger tempers.
Itās only going to get worse. One of the many reasons Iām glad I voted with my feet when I had the chance.
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I can relate that some Americans have a hair trigger.
Even have to be careful what you talk about because someone gets easily triggered, especially minorities are extremely sensitive about it.
Most white folks I see donāt react when people talk about white folks, because if they react it gets perceived as āracistā, whereas blacks and latinos can do the same without that perception.
Taiwanese are only violent on the road, but when they get off a vehicle they are not violent.
Yes weāve noticed this as well from our visits to the US the last couple years. There seems to be a lot of anger in service industries at the moment, especially in restaurants. I declined to tip at a full-service (or lack thereof) restaurant for the first time in my life last year.
Itās still good in some ME countries.
The west is pretty bad in customer services. They donāt care and have 0 pride in their work. The Europeans are extra lazy.
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Why would that cause poor service quality? One would think that having a delivery person who hasnāt been to prison would be a good thing.
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If you donāt get friendliness, at least you get candour! 
Guy
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yes, i felt the same this summer too. People give you the feeling theyvare doing you a favor when in fact you want to give them money.
the only places i got good service were the places where i paid very large amounts of money
Not sure, just tossing it out there. But putting barriers to people reentering society doesnāt make a stable and good society either.
Must have a little Cantonese ancestry in there somewhereā¦
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My experience is better service in Taiwan and Asia with no tipping than in America and Europe Francis especially with tipping.
Itās a bit of a new phenomenon that some countries in Asia are catching up with other countries in Asia.
Good service shouldnāt depend on a particular person that walks over to my table to take my order, good service should depend on the entire establishment.
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My boss did. He said customer service in the USA has gone downhill. Labor shortage probably has something
Iād say in North America a lot of the time for me the mood feels sour, with wages simply not keeping up with costs. No wonder those front line staff look unhappy. Hell Iām unhappy handing over my cash to them!
Guy
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I guess it goes with the battery of background checks needed to get even minimum wage jobs.
Itās ridiculous requirements and very low wages that gets people kinda sour.
i dont think its related, and i am not sure you need that many checks for an entry level jobā¦