Waiting for a Waiter

The first time I ran into the special type of service one sometimes finds here in Europe, I just assumed the waiter was the very wealthy owner, or that perhaps he was studying for his doctorate at university and I had interupted him with my request for a hot chocolate. Then slowly, stories of poor service began to emerge from the mouths of locals here in Belgium ... along the lines of 'the service provider is always right'. Then ... much to the moritification of my quiet little 'lets-not-make-a-fuss' Kiwi heart, I had to argue with an incredibly rude shop assistant in an international magazine store. She was one of the rudest people I'd ever met. And I had to make good on my promise to no longer buy goods from the store because I was so outraged by being treated so badly ... and believe me, it takes a lot to outrage me. Anyway, Der Spiegel seems to be writing a lot on the problem of poor service in Germany, and I recognised some of this .