Let’s start with the first one. Although a lot of things changed since communism, the quality of service in business is still quite poor. Before 1991 it was much worse. I was a little kid at that time and I don’t remember much, but based on what I have seen in movies, read in books, and heard from other people, people felt like they are going to a battle when they were going shopping. It was almost impossible to go out to, let’s say, a grocery store and not to get into a verbal fight with a salesperson or sometimes even fellow shoppers. The definition of “customer service” simple didn’t exist and people were so angry so they always verbally fight with each other: customers with salespeople, customers with customers, sales people with sales people, and so on.
After 1991 when privately held businesses started to appear, the situation was still the same, if not even worse. Because in addition to bad customer service and angry people, organized crime, which tried to control the businesses, started to appear. It was like a Wild West in America. People know a little (if know anything) about management, marketing, and other business related subjects. And only after 2000 things are started to change. Now, although situation has changed, if you go to a modern Russia you still can see some examples of poor customer service and bad management.
The second reason why Russia people don’t say polite words as often as Americans, is that a lot of people think that when you say a polite word, such as “Thank You”, you need to really mean it. In other words, you should say polite words only in a very special situations, which really means something for you. I read some discussions in Russian forums, and people say there that Americans say the polite words just because they use to it, almost automatically, and it doesn’t really mean a lot to them.
What’s is the moral of the story? Well, it is obvious, management of a company should pay close attention when working with people from different cultures.
