In this one year I have been living in this city, the one thing that makes me livid, is how freaking RUDE people who work here are. There is no concept at all that being nice to your customer is part of the product or service they are selling you.

You pay, they give you the goods, and you better be happy about it. Now get out.

Today I got greeted by (or better grunted by) a clinic´s secretary who could not deign herself to say words such as please or thank you to people trying to schedule an appointment at the place she works for. Worse yet: she would get offended when I asked her to repeat what she had said (hey, ear doctor?) and when I asked her to give me walking directions from the nearest subway station. What´s wrong with these people, don´t they realize that they just lose customers that way?

Problem is, they probably don´t. For what I have seen here in Rio, this kind of treatment is the norm, not the exception, and everyone seems to take it in stride. ¨City of happy, relaxed people¨, yeah right.