The UK does not do customer service in the same way as say Canada and the USA where I remember buying some music for a friend and the response from the sales assistant being ‘I wish I had a friend like you’. You will find below a story that illustrates some of the British attitude. This is Kosta’s story:
I have several stories since I have arrived in the UK but there is one that has stayed in my mind since it happened a few days after I first arrived in UK (Wales to be precise) and was one of my first encounters with British culture. I had moved from Greece, to Aberystwyth in Wales to start my undergraduate degree at Aberystwyth University. I stayed a few days in a BandB and then moved in to my uni accommodation which is located in the student village. When I went in my room it was completely empty. As I had brought my laptop with me, and I could see the cable connection on the wall, I was wondering where the actual cable was. I was the first one to move into the accommodation but after 20 minutes another person arrived, so I asked him how I could get the cable for the Internet and he told me I needed to go to the accommodation reception to get the cable. So I headed to the reception, got the cable and then went back to connect my computer. I was very happy until I realised that I could not connect to the internet, even with my cable. I went back to the reception and they told me I needed the CD which would help me set up my laptop with the uni internet, which they gave me. I went back and set up my connection. After having completed, this I decided to get ready for freshers week. The problem was I had no idea what was the programme for the following week as they hadn’t informed us about it. Then I went back to the accommodation reception and they gave me the programme for freshers’ week. I asked them why they didn’t give me all of the information at once so that I don’t have to go back and forth. The guy in the reception replied “ If you don’t ask, you don’t get, mate!”
