(Tweet this article!) Everybody loves quality. In fact, people are willing to pay significantly more for items produced at a higher quality and companies often grow reputations based on the quality of their product.
Service is typically an act performed as a product, and like every product it can be executed with varying degrees of quality. It is much harder to replicate, but when executed to perfection feels more personal and creates more inner warmth (and connection with the client) than the feeling of sleeping on silk sheets.
My recent trip was another frequent reminder of the importance of service. I made my way to Europe and experienced a handful of contrasting treatments.
Europeans typically ridicule the American “great service” by suggesting that it is often fake, and that the “How are you doing today?” as you enter and “Have a nice day!” as you leave is less than genuine.
Restaurants in Europe, while typically seeming more sophisticated than US restaurants (I classify this by the fact the majority actually have tablecloths), really lack a lot in service. The feel of having a tablecloth or a pretentious surrounding cannot cover for what seems like an attitude problem. I know the job is not easy and probably not always enjoyable, but it should be obvious that bad service can ruin the best of produce.
The acceptable tip percentage is higher in the US, leaving a larger portion of the service reward in the hands of the customer and could be the differentiating factor of why the service is that much better. Fake or not, and regardless of the quality of the food, I found myself missing the American customer-centric way.
