What do you expect for your money at a restaurant? Just good food, or tip-top service along with it? Justin Chan muses on Sweden and America’s opposing customer service cultures.
The American customer service culture has never sat well with me. Because of low wages, workers must go to enormous lengths to squeeze tips out of customers, a fact which I find degrading.
Employees doggedly follow you in stores even when you don’t need help, wearing a smile that betrays their desire for a portion of the sale’s earnings. And too often, employees are mistreated by customers who act as if their customer status entitles them to speak down to the service.
Don’t get me wrong, treating customers well is essential to any service job. I just think this demand gets taken too far in America.
It thus came as a relief to arrive in Sweden, where service employees are paid a more respectable wage. Also, the customer-employee relationship is different. Their interaction is between equals rather than master and servant.
My first experience with the different service culture here occurred at a supermarket, where I waited for someone to bag my groceries. It was a moment of culture shock I’m ashamed to have had, but hopefully I’m not the only American to have committed that blunder.
So yes, Sweden offers a refreshing contrast with its customer service. Or should I say, its lack of? There are instances when the service standards could stand to be higher. The way ICA employees look at me when I ask them where something is, you’d think I just asked them to run a kilometer.
Then, it occurred to me how this difference in customer service reflects something deeper about each nation’s character.
America values the idea of succeeding on your own efforts. Waiters can make lots of money through tips, but they have to truly earn it with a strong service performance. The best are rewarded most.
Swedish jobs, on the other hand, guarantee decent compensation and discourage unequal power relationships between customers and workers. These practices align with Sweden’s values of a strong welfare state and social equality.
Customer service in America and Sweden reflects each country’s guiding philosophy. Despite its flaws, I prefer the Swedish model, though as an employee I would attempt to insert more friendliness into my work.
Which style do you prefer?
1 Comment
asrock
Interesting read and well written – but from my experience I can’t
agree entirely with you as I find Swedish customer service, on the
whole, extremely lacking – especially given the compensation they
receive. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the American model is
ideal, but having to almost wave a white flag to get the attention of
the waitress in a restaurant is not reasonable either. It always
amuses me how staff who have provided totally ordinary service at a
restaurant still strongly hint that we should, in addition to the cost
of the meal, tip them.
In regard to supermarket service .. this is appalling. More often than
not the staff scan the groceries at the speed of slow-moving glacier
and are seemingly oblivious (or completely indifferent) to the queues
that are piling up at their lane. It is not uncommon to find extreme
queues and only two checkout lanes open on a busy evening …In
general, Swedes in customer-service orientated jobs do the bare minimum
required of them, nothing more. Case in point: my partner had a voucher
sent to her from Skånemejeriet to replace a faulty product. It didn’t
work at the cashier when she tried to redeem it due to a “computer
fault”. Instead of the staff member accepting this, he refused to
accept the voucher as it would entail more work for him later…. I
could write a book about the number of times I have been disappointed
or frustrated with the level of service received.
Sure, it is a cultural difference. But Sweden and America are two extremes – there is middle ground.