This is clearly the trickle down effect of bad management at the top of the country: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=480494&in_page_id=1811

Amen sister! I remember getting bows and smiles at the Wendy's in Tokyo. Here, people who deal with customers that are buying a lot more than a cheeseburger give you worse service than the burger flippers in Rising Sun land.

What we need is even MORE global competition to whip our service industry into shape.

AH.com: I think some necessary components are higher pay and our culture valueing and priding ourselves on service more.

I agree. I remember Japan reminding me of what life might have been like here in the fifties. The Japanese gas stations are still full service, with guys in coveralls rushing out to pump the gas, clean the windshield's, etc. They are all probably decently compensated as well. This is why Japan has a huge middle class.

The sad thing is, I think they learned this from us. What happened?