Another Point of View

[matty223]

I find it funny , people bitching about service in another country

[AzLaker]

I find it funny , people bitching about service in another country

+1

AzLaker

[LLMReb]

Now I'm curious. What makes it funny? Expectations are at one level. Delivery is consistently at a different level. Someone pointed it out. Good conversation in this thread by several high-quality, well reasoned posters.

As for me, i dont put much into it while travellung. Yet i do consider that if one is in the service industry, why not maximize earnings with a modicum of effort? It is akin to an AMS Coffeeshop selling crap weed. Why be in business to sell crap weed when a little effort will bolster revenue? Likewise, why make a career out of the service industry if you do not desire to provide a high level of service?

[matty223]

Fuuny as in. ,
When some people travel they expect things to be like home, when your in differnt country things are not the same and to think that it should be , to me this is very amusing to me , your travel in a diffenrt country things will not be like home, thats all im trying to say

Peace matty

THe Stiff American

[Fat_old_dwarf]

Personally, I dislike the whole American tipping culture. I never know whether I'm doing it right - what is appropriate when, will they think I'm cheap, will they think I'm a sucker? Apart from that, I don't really want someone going out of their way to make me like them, because they're doing it to everybody, for money, and you know that. Obviously some people like that, so it's fine for them.

Even worse is bargaining. I can't offhand think of anything I'd like to do less than have a long bullshit conversation with someone over the price of whatever it may be. But the shopkeepers enjoy it, and I've had friends who love it to the extent that they do it all the time, and then give you whatever it is, because the only thing that interested them was the game. (These are rare and very useful friends.)

Both of these things might come into consideration were I to consider a holiday destination. But they get mixed with other negatives - in the case of the US, it's very big, making cars often an irritating necessity, which is worse than the tipping culture. And places where the vendor welcomes you with a string of beautiful and meaningless words tend to be hot, and have palm trees.

tl;dr - Adam's accessible and not really unpleasant, unless you act stupidly, at least in my experience. Tip what you like.

[worldcitizen1723]

I find it funny , people bitching about service in another country

+1

AzLaker

yup 20 years of visiting this beautiful city
alway great service and warm welcomes everywhere.
one's attitude makes a huge difference. If a place says check in is at such and such a time and you have not made arrangements for an eary check in...what do you expect? geez.

the american attitude of entitlement is not appreciated much anywhere.... and i have observed it work against people in many situations

[Fat_old_dwarf]

I was shouted at by a cleaner once. Having used and paid for the facilities at Amsterdam Centraal, I had washed my hands and face and wandered off to the mirrors to address the hair situation. I hadn't noticed that I'd left the tap on, being used to the sort that you do a waggledance under to coax out a blast of cold water. As I obediently trotted over to turn it off, it occurred to me that it would have been quicker for him to have done it, as he was standing next to it. But it was quintessentially Dutch.

[LLMReb]

Whoa, all Americans do not have a sense of entitlement. Don't lump us all in together. Maybe the Americans that travel in the summer are like that. Please keep in mind that for most of the American summer travelers, they are accustomed to Mickey Mouse vacations, beach vacations, and other tourist vacations where you are paying a boat-load for good service. Then about every 5-10 years they save enough to go to Europe. When they finally get to Europe, which is a once in a lifetime trip for most Americans, the typical American tourist in Europe is on the five-city-10-day tour. As a result, they are on sensory overload and really trying to absorb whatever city they are in for those 2 or 3 days. Stress is usually high and enjoyment is very low.

If your experience of dealing with Americans is from that sort of American (the summer tourist), I encourage you to hit the reset button. No one, abroad or here in the US, wants to be around that summer tourist American (or European, or any other nationality for that matter). Consider the first of September to the end of May American tourist. I suggest that you engage in a much different experience with the sort of American that travels during that time of the year.

Now, if you want to gripe about Americans that show up and think that someone is going to point out all of the great things to do without them putting any effort into learning about the city, I can talk all day about my aggravation at that sort of American. If I hear another American get somewhere, say, Amsterdam, then blurt out, "Where is Big Ben?" I will lose my mind.

[worldcitizen1723]

Whoa, all Americans do not have a sense of entitlement. Don't lump us all in together. Maybe the Americans that travel in the summer are like that. Please keep in mind that for most of the American summer travelers, they are accustomed to Mickey Mouse vacations, beach vacations, and other tourist vacations where you are paying a boat-load for good service. Then about every 5-10 years they save enough to go to Europe. When they finally get to Europe, which is a once in a lifetime trip for most Americans, the typical American tourist in Europe is on the five-city-10-day tour. As a result, they are on sensory overload and really trying to absorb whatever city they are in for those 2 or 3 days. Stress is usually high and enjoyment is very low.

If your experience of dealing with Americans is from that sort of American (the summer tourist), I encourage you to hit the reset button. No one, abroad or here in the US, wants to be around that summer tourist American (or European, or any other nationality for that matter). Consider the first of September to the end of May American tourist. I suggest that you engage in a much different experience with the sort of American that travels during that time of the year.

Now, if you want to gripe about Americans that show up and think that someone is going to point out all of the great things to do without them putting any effort into learning about the city, I can talk all day about my aggravation at that sort of American. If I hear another American get somewhere, say, Amsterdam, then blurt out, "Where is Big Ben?" I will lose my mind.

I did not lump all americans in that bag ...nor do i lump the OP into that bag... BUT you can see that behavior in action in numerous situations and the bounce back it receives. Of course summers are worse, since that is 'vacation' time...but i hear ya. lol never got the big ben question.

[LLMReb]

World, my apologies as I was not really trying to single you out as much as provide some commentary.

Once I was in the Coliseum (Rome), and a group of old little ladies was walking around. I'm sitting there taking in the sights, and one says to another, "What part of town is that leaning tower of Pisa?" Mother @#$@#$@, it is in Pisa. The Big Ben story was from an educated couple that was actually travelling with me in AMS.

On second thought, maybe it is just me and my doofus travel companions. Hmm. I'll have to get back to everyone on that.

[ZBeebs]

Whoa, all Americans do not have a sense of entitlement. Don't lump us all in together. Maybe the Americans that travel in the summer are like that. Please keep in mind that for most of the American summer travelers, they are accustomed to Mickey Mouse vacations, beach vacations, and other tourist vacations where you are paying a boat-load for good service. Then about every 5-10 years they save enough to go to Europe. When they finally get to Europe, which is a once in a lifetime trip for most Americans, the typical American tourist in Europe is on the five-city-10-day tour. As a result, they are on sensory overload and really trying to absorb whatever city they are in for those 2 or 3 days. Stress is usually high and enjoyment is very low.

If your experience of dealing with Americans is from that sort of American (the summer tourist), I encourage you to hit the reset button. No one, abroad or here in the US, wants to be around that summer tourist American (or European, or any other nationality for that matter). Consider the first of September to the end of May American tourist. I suggest that you engage in a much different experience with the sort of American that travels during that time of the year.

Now, if you want to gripe about Americans that show up and think that someone is going to point out all of the great things to do without them putting any effort into learning about the city, I can talk all day about my aggravation at that sort of American. If I hear another American get somewhere, say, Amsterdam, then blurt out, "Where is Big Ben?" I will lose my mind.

A lot of generalizations here, and I'd bet they're mostly wrong. When you travel to a touristy destination such as Amsterdam, you see lots of people from all over - and 99% of them pass you by and you never notice them. Yet from the very small percentage that are "noticed" we develop stereotypes and generalizations about people, based on where they're from. It's all not true.

[ZBeebs]

Personally, I dislike the whole American tipping culture. I never know whether I'm doing it right - what is appropriate when, will they think I'm cheap, will they think I'm a sucker? Apart from that, I don't really want someone going out of their way to make me like them, because they're doing it to everybody, for money, and you know that. Obviously some people like that, so it's fine for them.

Even worse is bargaining. I can't offhand think of anything I'd like to do less than have a long bullshit conversation with someone over the price of whatever it may be. But the shopkeepers enjoy it, and I've had friends who love it to the extent that they do it all the time, and then give you whatever it is, because the only thing that interested them was the game. (These are rare and very useful friends.)

Both of these things might come into consideration were I to consider a holiday destination. But they get mixed with other negatives - in the case of the US, it's very big, making cars often an irritating necessity, which is worse than the tipping culture. And places where the vendor welcomes you with a string of beautiful and meaningless words tend to be hot, and have palm trees.

tl;dr - Adam's accessible and not really unpleasant, unless you act stupidly, at least in my experience. Tip what you like.

It's simple. In The USA, if you are out at a restaurant, you tip 15% - 20% for good service. Simple as that. Nothing else to it. Tip a dollar per drink if you want the bartender to pay attention to you. That's pretty much all there is to it.

Yes, we could do away with it, and I wouldn't mind if we did - but make no mistake, prices would instantly climb 20% to cover it.

Not a lot of bargaining going on in American stores, and as someone who has a store, when you try we think you're an asshole. Items have price tags for a reason.

[ZBeebs]

they still made him wait until the regular check-in time, which is much different that the typical experience at hotels in the USA (I can't remember the last time I arrived early and wasn't taken directly to my room).

I'm curious as to how this would work in practice, because I'd have thought that the law of averages would mean that at some point the previous guest would just have checked out or might still be there, assuming you're arriving in the morning. Were you just lucky, or would they switch you from the booked room to a similar one that was free? This might not always be possible either.

They say you get what you pay for, and to some extent that's true, but not always. The least satisfying experiences I've had in Amsterdam have been in higher-priced hotels. One sticks in the mind, because I'd spent the first night at Voyagers, but had to find somewhere else for the second. When I arrived – after the check-in time – there was nobody on reception. When someone did turn up, my room wasn't ready. When it was, it turned out to be on the ground floor, even though I'd specified a higher one to take advantage of that lovely lift I was paying for. Windows didn't open, which is unpleasant apart from the no-smoking angle. In fact, the only thing I liked about the place was the coffee machine in the room. The more you pay, the more you get irritated when you don't get precisely what you think you're paying for – none of this would have bothered me much at a cheaper hotel. This is probably supremely unhelpful.

Well, if check out time is 10 or 11 am, and check in is at 3, that's a 5 hour window to get rooms cleaned. As people check out, you clean the rooms ASAP and then move people into the clean rooms as they arrive. If you tell a customer you will do something for them, you do it! However, you don't promise something (such as telling someone their room is a "priority") and not mean it and expect the customer to have a good experience.

[Fat_old_dwarf]

My two favourites were told to me by a former Canadian Lufthansa stewardess - well, she was still Canadian, but you know what I mean. About to arrive in Italy: 'Where can I find the Renaissance?' And in Germany: 'Is the Black Forest closed on Sundays?'

Just to even up the score, and this one happened last March, a woman from Leeds who'd been going to Amsterdam for 30 years, in Katsu with her adult son, talking to a group of locals. She mentions in passing how much bigger the Netherlands is than the UK.

Everyone's stunned. Someone tries to work out whether she means the UK or just England, not that it would radically change the situation, and she does appear to be confused about the two. Someone else starts stuttering about the distance between various points by rail. Eventually they notice the big map of the world just behind her, so she turns to look at it for a while.

As she turns to sit down, clearly put out, she mutters, 'But it's still bigger.'

[LLMReb]

Well, not to hijack the thread, but FOD, you reminded me of a story from my undergraduate days. Back in undergrad we had a little party because my roommate had a friend who just returned from some sort of mission trip in Guyana.

She really had command of the group at the party telling tales of how she always wanted to visit Africa, she loved Africa. She traveled around, but did not go on a safari because she does not believe in confined animals. I walk in about 1/2 way through her little story, and was confused b/c she was talking about Guyana, but also claiming to be in Africa. Like any reasonable person, I calmly ask, "When did you go to Africa? I thought you just returned from Guyana?"

She was very holier-than-though, lecturing me on Guyana, you know, being in Africa. She was there for 10 months. I should know more about geography and travel more so that I do not look like such a fool by asking stupid questions about when she is going to Africa because if I knew as much as I thought, I would not open my mouth and look like such an idiot by confusing Guyana and Africa.

After her little lecture, I pointed out that Guyana is in South America. At this point, I was still a bit confused as to why she was lecturing me. She was talking about Guyana, but also talking about Africa. All I did was I mentioned that Guyana = South America.

Then she, still in sarcasm mode, explained that she was there for 10 months, so she knows which continent she was on, and it was Africa.

Then it dawned on me that this poor stupid person thought she was in Africa. But I also considered that maybe she was just trying to make her trip sound more exciting to this group of idiots that were listening and not questioning her. So I explained that if she were in Guyana, she was in South America. But perhaps she was in Ghana, and that would indeed be Africa.

Then she started bawling. She was this sort of hippie chick that believed she was collecting life points by going to Africa on a mission trip, when in fact she was not in Africa after all. She was in South America. I had ruined her entire world because she was not in Africa, but in South America. She was not very bright. So crying, she made one last effort to state that she knew where she was, and it as indeed Africa, so perhaps she had the country wrong. Maybe she was in Ghana after all.

Then my roommate asks, "Was the flight about 5 hours out of Miami? If so, you were in South America."

Yeah, South America; not Africa. No wonder she did not see any lions running around on the savannahs.

Geography is not the strong point of many people. My old roommate and I still talk about that one. And years later, I'm just curious b/c she had been back in the US for over 1 month, and told that story to countless people. No one had ever corrected her? Lord help.