Why do so many people seem to have an adversarial attitude toward service workers?

I think the problem is respect. I worked in a university coffee shop for one year. And some of the office workers would be verbally abusive and disrespectful to us. Almost treat us like we were unimportant. But the people high up on the pay scale and more essential to the university like professors or engineers were nice and polite. I became friends with professors, but low end office workers were rude most of the time.

So if you are in a job and you are bitter about your low pay and status, sometimes you take it out on the service industry people. Instead of bringing up your own self-esteem, people often try to bring others' down by lack of respect. People happy with themselves never need to do that.

There is sometimes a fine line between a pushy aggressive sales clerk or waitress and someone who is really trying to be helpful. I would say in general people are a lot less helpful these days than they used to be.

How many times have you been in a store browsing and someone really pushy comes up and says "Let me help you. What are you looking for?" in an aggressive way, when you know s/he really means "Let's get on with it. Hurry up and buy something and don't bother to waste my time with questions." If they were truly being helpful they could say something like "If you need me, I'll be right over there. I'm happy to answer any of your questions." Sometimes when you go into a retail store you don't really know what you're looking for, and you want your privacy while browsing. Do they think you're trying to steal something? So when they rub me the wrong, I just say "Thanks" or "No Thanks" and walk off a few steps. The clerk can actually break your concentration. There's really no need to be rude, just give the signal that you'll come looking for them if you need them.

Restaurants also have some servers who try to rush you through quickly, or they don't listen to you well at all. I don't want them to hover over me, but they should appear at strategic times to check on you.

How do you like the person at the cash register who makes you wait for a minute while s/he is having a private phone conversation on their cell phone?

Having worked for years as a server I really think many are not aware that the servers do not make even min. wage. Yet, they must declare enough tips to add up to min wage. I think because of this misunderstanding some tend to "punish " the server for anything less than perfect food & service. Sometimes it is just not under their control. I rarely eat out, but on those occasions that I do I tend to tip high. Also, many don't realize how demanding it can be.

Blessings!

Sadly, it is because some people never had to work in a customer service job, or, if they did, they have forgotten how it feels to work in one. I know that sometimes I am appalled by the way I see people treat their customer service people. However, I see plenty of customer service representatives with bad attitudes from the start. It is a catch-22 now, because it has turned into the fact that customer service people, in general, have a bad attitude because they expect bad attitudes from customers. No one wins, and everyone gets frustrated.

you want their money? I have about 5 people outside of stores ask me for money or to give money.every day.

unfortunately, they get loaded with a person's frustrations that may have been brewing since earlier that day/week...

or

some people feel other people are "beneath" them. these people are lame.

because unfortunately most people only care about them selves and want to be left alone.

because they are idiots