It has nothing to do with people or culture. In fact, I tend to really like cultures of South America. In fact, in this one small cafe in Ipanema the waitress staff should be giving lessons to upsale eateries in New York City. What it has to do with is very poor management and beyond pathetic supervision. I speak with CO, DL, and UA FFs when I am in these regions and while those carriers also have issues overall nothing like what happens with AA. I am sure that the same types of events would occur in DFW, ORD, or LAX area, etc, if the proper tone of customer service is not cultivated or enforced.