The American way

“In America, the service industry is recognised as a major cog in the nation’s
wheel and its workers are acknowledged as being worthwhile and contributing individuals”


Denise Horan

WE have a tendency to snigger at American ways sometimes. Their loudness, their gushing responses to mundane happenings and their over-the-top happiness all make us roll our eyes and thank God we’re so normal. Whatever else happens us – recession, plague, earthquake – don’t let us turn into them.
There’s a thing or two we could learn from them, however, as a recent visit to the US reinforced. Nowhere more so than in the service industry. In Ireland, the level of friendliness, helpfulness and cheerfulness among those who serve customers varies wildly. In some establishments the attentiveness is suffocating, but such a complaint is only about as common now as modesty was during the Celtic Tiger years. Proliferating, on the other hand, is a tone of complete indifference among service industry staff, a though-I’m-happy-to-accept-money-for-this-work-don’t-expect-me to-look-remotely-happy-while-doing-it attitude. Service with a smile has become such a rarity you’re inclined to check your receipt after it happens to see if you’ve been charged for it.
A happy medium between the two is the longed-for ideal, but it’s an ideal we’re generally pretty hopeless at measuring up to. There are, as with all generalisations, some exceptions, individuals and establishments whose perfect blend of pleasantness, efficiency and courtesy shines like a beacon.
In America, service without a smile is the exception. Naturally, this has much to do with the tipping tradition that exists there. In America, tips are the difference between barmen and waiting staff making ends meet on low wages and living comfortable, if not luxurious, lives. In a reversal of the Irish experience, where service is unpredictable and tipping optional, first-rate service is virtually guaranteed in the Unites States with the variable being the level of gratitude shown for it by way of customer tips. If anything is to be frowned upon in the transaction, it will most likely be the measliness of the consumer.
It requires little in-depth analysis or genius to figure out that it’s a better and more balanced model. If a trip stateside hasn’t convinced you, then simply consider the case based on logic. In Ireland (as in many other countries), service staff are poorly paid and not particularly well-regarded by many of those they serve. Their bosses make huge profits (or did, at least, during the boom times) thanks to their toil, but they receive only minimal recompense, and many customers treat them with little more than contempt. Tips are not a certainty and praise is rarely proffered for a job well done. Where, exactly, is the incentive to provide service with a smile in these circumstances?
In America, meanwhile, the service industry is recognised as a major cog in the nation’s wheel – and while its workers may not be regarded as being on a par with their white-collar counterparts, they are certainly acknowledged as being worthwhile and contributing individuals. As a consequence, they feel valued, which encourages them to do a better job. Same as professionals.
They also know that doing a good job will lead to better tips, which will lead to a better quality of life for them and their families. Same as professionals know that hard work will lead to promotion or a pay rise, which will lead to a better life for them and their families too.
I’ve worked as a shop assistant, a barmaid and a waitress and, while I was by no means cut out for the latter two, I always did my best to deliver service with a smile. But it was easy for me to keep smiling through gritted teeth in spite of the rudeness of customers, the relatively poor wages and the physically draining nature of the work, because I was always fairly certain that, long-term, my career would lie elsewhere. But if the service industry was my chosen area of work in life, surely I should have been able to delight in doing my work to the best of my ability and expect respect and decent remuneration for it.
In Boston recently, it was a delight to watch brilliant waiting staff doing an exemplary job. Some American habits are worth adopting.