Pretending That You Care
sethgodin.typepad.com
sethgodin.typepad.com
Workers in grunt-level jobs will, in the majority of cases (though not all!), do as much work as is necessary to keep their job. It makes economic sense.
Some people ARE naturally friendly or gregarious even at minimum wage and we've all bumped into a few friendly McDonald's servers here and there, but people like these are rare in areas where their pay is low and their costs are high. It makes sense, then, that people earning a pittance in New York City - one of the most expensive places on earth - are going to be, on average, surly and not very Mary Poppins-esque in their behavior.
If the city of New York or the sports store wants customers to get a better service from their employees (which they generally don't), they need to pay more money and give them incentives. As it is, companies tend to give the employees incentive to be MORE unfriendly, whether by incentives to issue more tickets or with store policies that prevent staff helping customers to their full extent.
This effect is particularly true amongst the self employed who generally want to keep your business. My dentist, for example, is friendly, otherwise he knows I'll go elsewhere. My doctor, however, is not, but he's state-employed so doesn't care whether I stay or not.
But in a few years these youngsters may have moved on to better jobs due to their friendliness.
On the other hand, younger people may just be less bitter since they haven't been working as long at "grunt-level" as the others.
However, the scene Godin describes plays in New York. And I'm not sure that the average New Yorker can be convinced that "playing nice" is compatible with being a true New Yorker...