# Customer service: Japan vs. United States? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-japan-vs-united-states/562405 "2010-11-30T13:53:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-japan-vs-united-states/562405/61 "2010-12-02T08:27:30Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Customer service in Eastern Europe is absolutely dreadful. I’ve been to Western Europe too, but I really don’t remember the customer service, so it must not have been too bad. But in Eastern Europe…god damn, it’s terrible. I once went to pick something up at the lev store (ie, dollar store) and while waiting at the counter, the clerk got a call from the owner about inventory. Instead of saying, “oh, I’ve got a customer, I’ll call you back in a few minutes,” she wandered off to answer the owner’s questions about what was in stock. After waiting for a few minutes, I just put my intended purchases on the counter and walked off. Communism is over, lady, there’s nothing forcing me to make my purchases here! We have competition now! I had a similar experience, at a Sears store in Minneapolis, many years ago. When I came to the cashier to pay for the my purchases (all found without any help from her) she was talking on the phone to her boyfriend. (It was a black dial desk phone, to show how long ago this was.) After waiting a minute or two, with no reaction from her, I simply reached out and pressed the button on the base to disconnect the phone. She was shocked and upset with me, and quite resentful as she rang up my purchases. It didn’t bother me much. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-japan-vs-united-states/562405/62 "2010-12-02T09:10:51Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I applied for a job at Macy’s a few years back. One of the requirements of a cashier was to ask a customer if they wanted to apply for a Macy’s charge card. > You had to ask and be refused three times to let the matter drop. > > Some customer service. :rolleyes: Here in Canada, I (and many others) have had to deal with Chapters, Canada’s big-box book store. You cannot go twenty feet in that store without somebody [del]bugging you[/del], or I mean, asking you if you need help finding something. I’d like to find the corporate bigwig who told the staff to harass browsing patrons with uninvited enquiries as to how the patron is doing and could he or she use any help finding anything in particular. If I had such bigwig, I’d enquire as to how he or she was doing every two minutes–every two minutes, by the clock, from opening until closing, sixteen hours a day. Not exactly the same as the OP, but if I could inform Chapters of something it would be this: you’re a bookstore, I’m browsing, I came in for nothing in particular, though I may find something, but I will walk out in disgust if you will not _leave me alone!_ Honestly, I’ve left Chapters fifteen minutes after walking in, because no less than seven employees have bothered me (“Need any help, sir?” “What can I help you find, sir?”) in that fifteen minutes while I’m browsing. A supermarket is where I want to get in and out of quickly, but this is a bookstore, dammit! Browsing is expected. Go _away!_ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-japan-vs-united-states/562405/63 "2010-12-02T09:33:00Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Honestly, I’ve left Chapters fifteen minutes after walking in, because no less than seven employees have bothered me (“Need any help, sir?” “What can I help you find, sir?”) in that fifteen minutes while I’m browsing. A supermarket is where I want to get in and out of quickly, but this is a bookstore, dammit! Browsing is expected. Go _away!_ The first one, when you are first entering the store, might be of some use if you were looking for something specific. But after that, it’s best to pretend to be deaf. Just ignore them entirely – any reaction just encourages them. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-japan-vs-united-states/562405/64 "2010-12-02T14:10:22Z")
I’m thinking of a plan whereby you pick up a sign when you come in to a store that says, “Just browsing; I’ll let you know if I need help” and you carry it the whole time you’re in the store so the clerks don’t keep on “helping” you. Then there’s hardware stores, where we often do need help, and there’s one clerk in the whole two acre store. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customer-service-japan-vs-united-states/562405.md?page=3)