- At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeonly old fogy, why is that good customer service–not great, just good–comes as an utter surprise nowadays, when not that long ago it was expected? A cheerful smile accompanied by a rudimentary level of competence elicits surprise and wins praise in today’s average world, whereas considerably more than that was needed to engender compliments just a few decades ago. We live in an average world today, and thus average is the low-bar benchmark we use for measuring anything and everything. Climb slightly above average, and you are automatically regarded as “good” at what you are doing and feted for that. Relativity indeed, but surely not as the estimable Einstein theorized the matter a century ago. Quite a shame when you stop to think about it, but in the big scheme of things culture shapes us; we don’t shape culture.
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Fred's Soapbox 