Claremont Independent

Last Updated: 12/19/06 Section: Opinion

Playing "European" in Prague

As I write this article, I am sitting in my dorm room in downtown Prague. A mile away is the Prague Castle, where the historical defenestration occurred. Within half a mile is Wenceslas Square, where the Nazis made camp during the occupation of Czechoslovakia. In the same location, the student Jan Palach lit himself on fire in protest of Communist control. Even closer is the site of the protest that began the Velvet Revolution.

If Europe has one thing, it is history. I hail from California, so I find this impressive. My high school was historic because it was 60 years old. Meanwhile, in Prague, I live in New Town, so named because the buildings are 200 years old, instead of 600.

I have traveled quite a bit during my time here. I have seen former Soviet states, popular Western European destinations, and a couple of more obscure locales. There have been countless differences between these sites. In my estimation, only two cultural traits have been consistent among the 12 or so countries I have seen: 1) interconnected history, and 2) bad customer service.

To be fair, the customer service ranged from acceptable (Florence) to awful (Budapest and Prague). But in all of these locations, the concept of pleasant customer interaction was nonexistent. So why is there bad customer service? It may seem like a trivial question, but from my perspective, it is indicative of deeper cultural trends that set Europe apart from the United States, and so, it is worth discussing.

On the surface, the problem is a lack of incentives. Restaurants are a good example. In former Soviet states, tipping is minimal or nonexistent. When it does exist, tips are pooled among waiters and divided at night's end. In Paris, there is no tipping. Appropriately, the place with the best service-Italy-has tipping standards closest to those in the United States.

Another example: on the train back from Krakow, a Polish man joined my friends and me in our compartment. Thankfully, he was pleasant and spoke English. Eventually, conversation turned to politics, and he asked about taxation and government control of industry in the United States. We talked about how the United States compared to Poland, and concluded that taxation was not very different in the two countries, though the level of nationalization certainly was. He, being a small business owner, lamented high tax rates even more than I did, but he was additionally adamant in his condemnation of Poland's nationalized healthcare. He questioned its validity after he had trouble getting an appointment for his sick daughter. "I have the money," he said, "so why can't I pay someone to see my daughter?" With healthcare nationalized, competition is, of course, almost nonexistent. Lack of incentives strikes again.

Continued...

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