Originally Posted by UA 882
I don't mean to personally attack anyone here...
....but in all honesty, in the 1.5 years I have studied here, I am amazed at the level of rudeness in the service industry.
Specifically in the airline industry you find that people just don't care in giving good service (most of the time). Of course, people automatically blame it on 'low wages' or 'union trouble' or 'incompetent management', and in the end they put all the damn frustration onto the customer!
WHY?????????
In Asia - let's say Japan for example - the United (for example) ground staff are a thousand times nicer compared to many of the US based stations! Why is that? Why are they so dedicated to their company and in ensuring to their fullest extent possible that people are helped to their satisfaction, while in the US you better not ask the gate agent a question - for she may unload you and cancel all your reservations!!!
Maybe this is something for OMNI?
I really haven't experienced that much rudeness from airline personnel. More often, it's indifference rather than rudeness. The few times I've experienced outright rudeness have been memorable. And we do tend to remember the bad experiences more than the good ones.
I also suspect that customers in the US (as suggested by others here) are often rude towards airline staff, or have ridiculous expectations of them. (I'm sure some FlyerTalkers treat staff poorly, though I doubt they would admit it.) Unfortunately, it's a vicious circle.
And it IS a management problem. It's up to management to provide incentives to take good care of customers. I don't think this happens very much in reality. According to some insiders who have posted here on FT, airline FAs aren't necessarily given meaningful (or any) performance reviews, nor is their performance even observed by those they ostensibly report to. Without feedback and monitoring, some people will still do a good job (though there might still be room for improvement), but others will not. It's those "others" who need to shape up, and it's part of the job of management to see to that.
And I'd like to add that I have worked in a service industry (not travel-related, though), and I know from that experience that when staff have incentives to treat customers well, it makes a big difference.