Is the customer always right? The answer, it seems, depends on which country you are in. Shopping is very much a part of a count

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问题     Is the customer always right? The answer, it seems, depends on which country you are in. Shopping is very much a part of a country’s culture, and attitudes to shopping and consumers vary from country to country just as much as climate or taste in food. From the air-conditioned order of American malls to the anarchy(混乱,无秩序) of African bazaars(集市), the way we shop shows the way we see ourselves and our relationships with other people.
    Recent economic hardship has given the consumer increased power in Europe as retailers(零售商)  fight to win their share of reduced disposable(可任意使用的)income. This has meant falling prices, plenty of special offers and a re-examination of what customer service really means. People often point to America as an example of sophisticated customer service. In restaurants in the south of the USA, for example, waiters compliment(称赞) you on your clothes, ask about your day, compliment you on the wisdom of your order and then return every ten minutes to refill your glass and make sure that everything is to your satisfaction.
    Anyone who has waited 30 minutes to be served in a restaurant might well dream of such attention, but do Europeans really want US style service? As a friend of mine once told me, "By the end of the evening I had spent as much time talking to the waiter as to my wife. It is a question of expectations. Different nationalities expect different types of service.
    Attitudes to service are, of course, affected by employers attitudes to their workers. As American sales and service personnel are heavily reliant(依赖) on commission and tips, they have more incentive(动机) to provide more service. But is this fair? Do we think it is fair to ask shop assistants to work late evenings, Sundays and lg hour shifts? Does it fit in with our picture of society? It might not be a case of "Is the customer always right?" but a case of "How much service is it fair to expect?"
What does the writer think of the American customer service?

选项 A、It takes advantage of shop assistants.
B、It has been dreamt of by the Europeans.
C、It may not be suitable to the European society.
D、It is not applicable in times of economic difficulty.

答案C

解析 文章在第一段即指出“it depends on which country you are in ”,且全文多处用疑问句来表示对美式服务的批判态度,如第三段第一句“but do Europeans really want US style service?”:“欧洲真的需要这种美国式的服务吗?”作者没有直接回答,而是通过朋友的感受得出结论“It is a question of expectations.  Different nationalities expect different types of service”:“这是一个取决于你如何期望的问题。不同的国家人们期望的是不同的服务方式”。第四段第三、四、五句“But is this fair ?Do we think it is fair to ask shop assistants to work late evenings,Sundays and 12 hour shifts ?Does it fit in with our picture of society?”:“但是这样公平吗?让营业员上晚班,星期天上班,12小时轮班上,我们认为这公平吗?”这可能不是“顾客是否永远正确的问题”,而成了“要提供多少服务才算公平”的问题了。可见作者认为美国式的服务对欧洲不一定适用,故选C)。
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