When my wife and I were cruising last month on Royal Caribbean, we were informed by several top
officials from that cruise line Americans make the worst employees and are seldom hired by any
cruise line because they do not understand, nor do they offer outstanding to excellent (decreasing in value here) customer service. Americans make good cruise directors but that is about it...
So, no Americans are hired to cook, wait tables, clean rooms, serve drinks, or provide security services because of this lack of awareness as to appropriate customer service.
However, it is my belief that Americans do understand customer service, it's just that they do not like to be told what to do by foreigners for starters, and it would also be my belief that providing this type of customer service is beneath them and the ego perceptions that they have of themselves. I would have to say that most Americans that I know or have seen working, are basically lazy and really strive towards getting paid as much money as they can for doing as little as they can.
On the other side of the coin, managers of service workers here in the USA treat those service workers as if they were no better than animals; in fact, most animal owners treat their animals better than service workers are treated by management... hence, part of the reason for the low-quality service.
But, is that all there is to it?
No, I don't think so.
Around 1950, American manufacturing was number ONE in the world as it supplied all the global countries as a result of the WWII being fought mainly in Europe, completely destroying the manufacturing base that was once there. As we manufactured quantity, we were not so much concerned with quality as we did not have the time to focus on quality, only quantity.
As American manufacturing grew, so too did the Middle-Class Family in America, reaping the benefits of our economic abilities. As the Middle Class grew and grew and grew, the mentality of the parents was to make sure that their children never endured the same hardships that they endured trying to earn a living.
Children were pushed into a different direction or they were pushed into the direction of college: white collar work as opposed to blue collar work.
Children born around 1950 were never going to be like their parents, so from 1970 (+/-) until 2000 (+/-) they acquired different skill sets, different experiences than their WWII parents so that when their children were born in the 1970's, by the 1990's when they were entering the workforce, their attitudes towards work were entirely different than the work attitudes of the 1950's.
However, it is my belief that Americans do understand customer service, it's just that they do not like to be told what to do by foreigners for starters, and it would also be my belief that providing this type of customer service is beneath them and the ego perceptions that they have of themselves. I would have to say that most Americans that I know or have seen working, are basically lazy and really strive towards getting paid as much money as they can for doing as little as they can.
On the other side of the coin, managers of service workers here in the USA treat those service workers as if they were no better than animals; in fact, most animal owners treat their animals better than service workers are treated by management... hence, part of the reason for the low-quality service.
But, is that all there is to it?
No, I don't think so.
Around 1950, American manufacturing was number ONE in the world as it supplied all the global countries as a result of the WWII being fought mainly in Europe, completely destroying the manufacturing base that was once there. As we manufactured quantity, we were not so much concerned with quality as we did not have the time to focus on quality, only quantity.
As American manufacturing grew, so too did the Middle-Class Family in America, reaping the benefits of our economic abilities. As the Middle Class grew and grew and grew, the mentality of the parents was to make sure that their children never endured the same hardships that they endured trying to earn a living.
Children were pushed into a different direction or they were pushed into the direction of college: white collar work as opposed to blue collar work.
Children born around 1950 were never going to be like their parents, so from 1970 (+/-) until 2000 (+/-) they acquired different skill sets, different experiences than their WWII parents so that when their children were born in the 1970's, by the 1990's when they were entering the workforce, their attitudes towards work were entirely different than the work attitudes of the 1950's.
And the children born in the 1990's, when they started entering the workforce in 2010, an entirely new breed of American Worker appeared on the scene, there were so far removed from the 1950's that the workers starting in the 1990's had no clue as to how to manage and motivate these workers.
But rest assured that these new workers are in no way planning to pick fruit or vegetables, work in Call Centers, or sell any Retail products either in person or over the phone. None of these workers will ever get their hands dirty, so count out working in firefighting, emergency services, or law enforcement. None of these workers will ever consider the idea of reporting to work each day and sitting behind a desk pushing papers when they already know that they can do most anything, once it has been digitized, from the comforts of their own homes, even if they are still living with their parents.
<continued tomorrow>
But rest assured that these new workers are in no way planning to pick fruit or vegetables, work in Call Centers, or sell any Retail products either in person or over the phone. None of these workers will ever get their hands dirty, so count out working in firefighting, emergency services, or law enforcement. None of these workers will ever consider the idea of reporting to work each day and sitting behind a desk pushing papers when they already know that they can do most anything, once it has been digitized, from the comforts of their own homes, even if they are still living with their parents.
<continued tomorrow>
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