Customer service differences between the US & UK

I had a couple of good customer service experiences tonight that I thought I'd blog on. The first was at the local Pizza Hut. I'm not a frequent visitor there, but Gwyneth won a free pizza at school today for her reading, so I took her. We ordered 2 personal pan pizzas, a cup of tea and a glass of milk, which after the free pizza came to ~$6. Despite the fact that he wasn't going to get a really high tip based on the ticket, our server kept bringing out hot water, milk and teabags for my tea, when I was close to finishing (fairly normal you may think, but he was overdoing it a little, by the end of the meal I had 4 unused teabags sitting in front of me). He talked to Gwyneth and listened to her responses, brought her out a balloon, crayons, and coloring menu, and just generally had a great attitude.

Then when I got home I had a phone call on the answering machine from the Washington Capitals ticket office. I'd been to one game all season, and inquired about tickets for another, but they had called me to say that it was the end of the season, and they wanted my feedback on how I'd enjoyed the game that I'd attended, and to thank me for supporting the caps.

Then tonight I read this article in the Guardian about how the HSBC bank in Canford Cliffs, Dorset, England has a rule that

Only customers with £50,000 or more in savings, a hefty mortgage or a salary of at least £75,000 are being allowed to talk to staff. Everyone else has to make do with the cash withdrawal and automated paying-in machines.

What a difference...