My favorite part of the whole presentation was when two girls who had done a work and travel program in New England included as part of their presentation that they had learned about a new concept while in the States: customer service. They then proceeded to explain what the term "customer service" meant. I kind of chuckled to myself that such a thing would need to be explained.
After a mere week or so, I understood why they had explained it.
Our American idea of customer service is vastly different from the Ukrainian concept. I learned very quickly that salesmen/women won't come up to you and ask if they can help you or what you're looking for. Half the time, they snap at you, as if you have totally disrupted their day, if you ask for help. The language difference presented me with two different kinds of responses: a) you poor thing- let me do everything for you or b) yelling louder and angrier so that I'll get the point.
I somewhat adjusted to this facet of culture. I mean, people weren't going to be overly friendly, and if you need help, you have to be aggressive and have tough skin (neither of those qualities particularly describe me, so that took a little while to adjust to). I never really dreamed that I'd have to REVERSE adjust when I got back to Alabama! Every store I've been in, people have offered to help me, asked if I'm finding things alright, and made chitchat with me at the check-out. I have to confess, I was a little overwhelmed and didn't know how to handle it very well. Part of my brain started to think, "Wow, they are so interfering in my life." I had to catch myself and give myself a stern talking-to about how they were being polite and that I have to discard my loner shopping tendencies and meld into my current culture.
It was shocking, y'all.
1 comment:
When I was home for my sister's wedding I kept commenting - "Wow, customer service is so great here." To which my mom would reply - "I wasn't too impressed." I guess it's all about perspective :)
Loving the blog!
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