You're not alone. From my view the world has evolved into an "excuse for the error" mode rather than a "fix the error" mode. I am appalled at how customer service has degraded over the years. I would be helping people find new jobs if they were working for me and displayed the attitude I get these days (notice I didn't say just fire them).

Sometimes extraordinary effort is needed to wake people up. I believe in working up the chain of command, but there are times going to the top is just quicker. Unfortunately finding upper management that is concerned about how the customer is treated is getting tougher, hence why customers get treated like they do.