typically.nl

The level of service–or rather, lack of it–in shops is what startles most tourists. Store clerks are just plain rude and Nederlanders are completely accustomed to it. But that does not make it right, of course.

Case in point, and something that actually happened to me. Picture a small boutique with husband and wife behind the counter. Wife is handling one customer’s purchase; husband is doing other stuff like folding clothing. He happily ignores the customers waiting in line behind his wife.

The customers waiting in line, in turn, happily ignore the potential service they are missing. When the wife is done with one customer, the next in turn puts her items on the couter. All this time, the husband continues folding as though nothing outrageously rude is going on.

In the US, I believe this would not ever come to pass.

Yet in Nederland it’s par for the course. Naturally, it varies per store. Per city even. People coming from outside Amsterdam will say Amsterdammers are more friendly than ‘their own’ clerks. But the same is true the other way around. The fact is that most Nederlandse store clerks have no idea what customer service is. You would do good to keep that in mind during your next shopping spree.