If the bus drivers were paid by the number of people who take the bus sure, but when are paid by the travel route distance, they have no obligation to do what they are not paid to do.
Being a good human being more often than not (occasional bad moods notwithstanding) should be a non-functional requirement for any job where you interact with other people. I have no problem with anyone, in any role, getting fired simply for being an asshole. The world would be a happier and better place for it.
This entire conversation started based on an example that smiling brought economic benefits, not that you should do it because of socializing benefits. Answering in economic terms only makes sense.
I don’t want a bus driver to fake cheerfulness. He’s there to get me from a to b, not to pretend to be my friend.
The second point, which is related but I think still separate, is that I wish just being an asshole was enough to get fired. I sort of had it in my head but didn't really articulate that I was thinking of being an asshole as a more extreme version of what we're talking about, what I refer to above as just being kind of a jerk. Maybe on a scale of 1-10 being a jerk is a 3 but being an asshole is a 7 or 8.
This are 3 different things.
For employees not to be rude to customers as part of basic work requirements.
But putting on a false smile and feigning warmth to get a tip is a very different thing.
It's quite common and accepted in the US. But also seen as soulless and emotionally manipulative in many other cultures.
What sort of mad world do we live in where that’s even expected of minimum wage employees?
Passengers don’t abandon bus routes because the bus driver didn’t smile at them. They abandon routes when the schedule is inconvenient, there are better alternatives to the bus, the fare is too high etc etc. None of these are in the control of the bus driver.