What happened to people who actually want to work?

When we were growing up, having a job was so fantastic. We were proud to wear that badge, type those papers or even just stand at a desk and greet customers. A job was something so coveted and made you a real distinguished member of society….but what happened?

Everywhere we go, it seems that customer service has gone out the window. We get served by someone who doesn’t even want to look at us, or thank us. In America, waiters and waitresses get paid $8 an hour and have to work hard for their tips. They have an incentive to do it – they need to pay for their rent and lifestyle and their paltry minimum wage won’t do. They are so courteous and polite, and they cannot stop smiling. They’re almost over the top with how kind they are.

And, if you’ve ever been to south-east Asia or practically any other country, you’ll notice just how far the workers are willing to go for you. So when did the younger generations become so lazy, and why?

It makes me wonder, should we do reduce pays to make young Australians work harder in customer service jobs? Would that incentivise them to put in the effort for their company?

Our grandchildren and their peers seem to have developed a sense of entitlement – a job is a privilege and not a right. We were brought up to respect our employers and that the customer is always right but now the girl at the supermarket just gets in, does her job and leaves and doesn’t ever have to go above and beyond to get paid. She’s there, isn’t she?

Call any real estate agent and make a maintenance request and you’ll have it filed in the too hard basket. Call up your telco provider and go through 6 people before someone can help you. Make a claim for insurance only to be told you need to call back another time. It happens to us every day. And why should they care? They get paid and their employers turn a blind eye. In this time where businesses should be doing what they can to keep customers, doesn’t that seem counter-productive?

Should our employers being re-enforcing the importance of customer service in this day and age? Those foreign workers have it right – they know that a job is precious, whereas I worry about the younger generations we have left behind.

A family friend recently told us that of the 200 young people he employed, about two of them ever went above and beyond. The others would leave early, call in sick, avoid taking calls (in a call centre) and just were generally slack. Mind you they were getting more than $40,000 each year. This is just disturbing when you think about the amount of people who are struggling to find a job – including over 60s.

Even our family friend’s wife is struggling to find a job in her 60s and gets very upset when she thinks about all the jobs that are wasted on those who take them for granted. So what are the employers doing about it? Not a lot, it seems. There are plenty of great workers out there who stay back, work on weekends and never complain but they are few and far between.

Tell us what you think should be done: should there be more incentives for young workers to work harder or face the sack? Have you noticed the downfall of customer service? Tell us below.