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Comment by pascalxus | Hacker News Reader

Being in other countries like China and France really makes me appreciate how world class the customer service is in America. Here in the US, you can tell a waiter that your not happy with a dish and they'll immediately replace it with whatever you want. You can make substitutions, you can alter the way it's cooked (within reason), etc, and they still greet you with a smile and deliver excellent service. There are many parts of the world, where you just can't do that.

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American wait staff have to rely on tips rather than a living wage, which forces them to take unending amounts of crap, or else they can't pay the rent. American consumers can and do verbally (and sometimes physically) abuse wait staff, and if the staff don't sit there and take it with a smile, they get fired. I don't find this an endearing trait.

Go to france and try going to a restaurant. You'll see what i mean, right away. It's a world of a difference.

In France, if you want a waiter, you call them over. When they have time, they'll get to you. They leave you alone because most French people don't want to be bothered a lot while they're talking and eating, or reading the paper (a sentiment I can get down with).

If something is screwed up with the food, they would first probably wonder why this American tourist thinks that the French chef screwed up the dish that their grandmother probably taught them how to cook. Then they'll listen to you, shrug, and take it back and tell the manager or the chef. One of them would decide what was appropriate.

If you told them you just didn't enjoy the dish and you wanted another one, they may ask you why you ordered the first dish in the first place, and why you think you deserve a free dish. If you ask for substitutions, they'd probably tell you no, because most chefs don't want to deal with that and often the way dishes are made preclude substitutions, not to mention backing up other orders. And they'd be in the right. It's kind of stunning sometimes how privileged American consumers can act.

A caveat to this is if you're in Paris; they can be really nice or really rude based on a number of factors. In a small town, French people are really friendly and helpful.

I'm not an American, but I am used to being able to modify an order. I don't think of this as being entitled as I am after all paying for the meal and depending on the restaurant it's not exactly a cheap meal. That being the case I don't see any reason for negotiation if I'm not happy with the meal. The only thing I'd agree with is that it'd be absurd to request another meal for free simply because the one you chose wasn't to your fancy.

The customer is always right attitude is one that I appreciate Americans having. While not as bad in Australia as some parts of Europe, the attitude here is definitely closer to "give me your money and and leave" than "what can I do to ensure you leave happy?"

From my European perspective, US customer service is simply too much. Hovering over you, with that unnerving fake-feeling politeness. It makes me feel sort of like an errant child that needs help finding his mommy.

I don't need to be coddled, it's actually rather condescending.

I much prefer the European way of letting you look for yourself and then asking simply "can I help you?", if you look like you don't quite know what you're looking for. And if you tell them "I'm just browsing", they'll leave you alone, to browse in peace. Much less stressful.

You can say that in the US and they also leave you alone. I don't know what you're talking about.

I've been to france and restaurants there and trust me, other than the lack of free water, everything is better. The food is better, you order from the menu and it comes out and turns out you don't have to pay the waiter's wage on top of that! It also results in waiters not being overly/fake friendly and constantly checking on you which I much prefer.

There is no change in the amount of time between your order and the food arriving but that's because it's dependent on the chef/how busy the restaurant is/etc.

French restaurants serve free water if you ask "une carafe d'eau". They will bring tap water instead of a bottle of mineral water. According to the law, prices should include the service, tap water, bread and other "basics": https://www.economie.gouv.fr/dgccrf/Publications/Vie-pratiqu...

Also tap water in France is classified as "food" and therefore goes through extensive checks and controls. It is always safe to drink tap water in France and is encouraged.

You can gind reports on water quality in all cities and there was an article in 2017 (in 30 millions de consommateurs?) available online where you could check any city.

Yup. No horror quite so horrid as dining in French restaurants.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic. The very best and most pleasant restaurants I've ever been to are French. Alsace, to be precise. Wonderful people, absolutely amazing food.

I should have winked. It's a problem I'd love to have much more often.

Being able to send a dish back doesn't exist because waiters rely on tips. If restaurant owners and managers didn't accept it, waiters would not be permitted to do it. It's not like waiters take a plate back to the line and beg the cooks to do another one because otherwise they won't get tipped. "The customer is always right" is why American service (in general, not just in restaurants) is customer-friendly. It has nothing to do with tipping waitstaff.

I have sent back dishes multiple times in China and gotten a new one with no problem and waiters are generally very nice (and not just to foreigners in tourist places). I guess waiters are different everywhere, restaurants are different and individual preferences are different.

are you sure those were real Chinese restaurants, not tourist trap restaurants? I was under the impression, from a local of China, that you could under No condition at all, request a dish be replaced. One chinese restaurant (a traditional one where the wait staff speak chinese) in the US wouldn't even do that.

> Being in other countries like China and France really makes me appreciate how world class the customer service is in America.

I can't speak about China, but I'm going to call you out on France as a counterexample.

I have had very good service every time I have been to France.

I speak a very little French, and executed most things in English and people were as friendly and helpful as they were anywhere in the US.

I suspect that a lot of Americans get in trouble because they don't really internalize the fact that "Hey, I'm in a different place and the norms are different. Pay attention--you might have to adjust."

Wanna see rude? Try being an indecisive Californian in the front of a line in a New York City sandwich shop at lunch rush and watch what happens.

NYC people are more blunt than rude, in my experience (Californian who's spent a couple years there). There's a fun little cartoon book that gets into the logic of this: https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Tips-Etiquette-Nathan-Pyle/dp/0...

American service must be that way because the variance in the behavior of the customers is so wide.

How many French customers ask for gluten free water with a straight face?

How many French customers request a cube of ice to plunk in their merlot?

How many French kitchens stockpile frozen nugget-shaped food items because families expect them to tailor to the needs of their screaming toddlers?

An American server will effortlessly deal with all three while politely denying entry to the woman who is yelling about the constitutional rights of her emotional support goat.

If American economy is slowly becoming Arrakis from Dune, our wait staff is the Fremen.

The people who can destroy a thing, they control it.

So tip them well.

I see a lot of points add about emotional support animals and the stories around that (in planes, restaurants, etc.).

I need to read about these more as they are inexistant in France. Maybe this is a thing, I just never seen or heard anyone mentioning it.

I've never been to France, but I have to completely disagree about China.

I've never asked to get my dish replaced, but the only times I have seen it happen are at very high end restaurants or chain restaurants, and that happened in both countries.

In general, I feel that I get much better customer service in China.

Perhaps it's because I'm a visible minority where some members of my group are not known as good tippers. So I am immediately assumed to be a bad tipper.

Then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, where I get bad service and thus I leave a low tip (In the past, I used to leave 20% even for bad service, just to try and defy the stereotype. But I've stopped doing it now.).

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