Too many rules in society and too much incompetence in the workplace?

Question

I was back in the states for winter vacation, and I have to say that I really enjoyed my stay. It made me start to think about going back home after being in Japan for 10 years. There were only a few observations that kind of gave me pause about the vitality of the American economy...
I'm from Lansing, Michigan, so you can say the economy is depressed for the working class. Most stores that I went to were almost without service staff. I felt like I was serving myself most of the time, and sometimes I actually did! Most of the people who were there were working just about as slowly as they could manage to do without falling over. I guess I've been in Japan for awhile, and people here tend to put their best face forward regardless of the job or pay. My mom kept saying, 'how can you blame them, they don't make enough money to live on'. I can see her point, and I think American businesses are mistaken to think that Americans should always buy from them, but that they shouldn't give

anything back to Americans. But there's something to be said about pride in one's work.
This leads me to my most ridiculous experience during my vacation. I went to Ford Field in Detroit to see a game. My sister asked me to go and get her a mixed drink. I waited for the longest time in line, again, for people who were working even slower than they could possibly go. Then when it was my turn they started to mix my drink, and half way through they asked for my ID. Now I'm 39 years old. I know that they have changed the rules to protect people and they it's necessary to show your ID. That's fine. But I had just renewed my driver's license, and there was a paper attached to the old one saying that I could drive. The old one still have my ID information, but I was told by the staff AND the manager that they couldn't accept my ID because I could have made that piece of paper that didn't identify who I was, but rather gave me permission to drive.
Now I ask you, should we be worried????

Answer 1

I agree with you to an extent, but I can also see your mother's point of view. What I find more disturbing are the number of professional people that do not give their all to their jobs, like doctors, police officers, mental health workers, and school teachers. I think incompetence in these fields is inexcusable, and if someone is receiving a salary in a field where the public depends on their professionalism and competence, I think it is malicious and even criminal to anything short of a perfect job.

Answer 2

I can't speak for Michigan or Japan, but my European friends found the counter help in Seattle extremely friendly and couldn't understand why they were repeatedly told "have a nice day." Tipping helps. I found the counter help in Berlin, Germany slow and rude in comparison to the U.S.

Who doesn't have a story about not having proper ID in a bar? All it takes is one citation for a bar owner to become hyper-vigilant. It would be nice to have fewer rules, but every time we deregulate something, it seems to result in ethics scandals. I guess as a culture, Japan just must be more internally self-regulated than us. I wonder if that's as true of the youngsters there?

Answer 3

that was funny. I am from Traverse city michigan i love the state. D o i like Japan nope. Why because of WWII. but anyhow you know of Pearl Harbor? well ther eis my reaons. now you are talking about the poor people in michigan. well maybe they are slow but that isn't always the case you must have been in the wrong places. So they asked for your ID so what? why shoudl it matter to you 39??? it was a compliment. so get on with life and quit complaining. If you don't like it here leave. I am sorry but i dont' feel sorry for you. I hate to hear complaints and stuff like that. I mean gosh, we live in the best place the US. and we're free so there

Answer 4

Yeah, i think americans (businesses in particular) have a real CYA attitude. they won't ever stick their neck out to get the job done. When yamaha needed to develop a better four stroke motor for moto cross, they stuck an engineer with the project. A short while later they pulled him to do something else that came up. He defied them and finished it anyway. (On his own time) Meanwhile in the US two strokes became increasingly banned from competetion thus putting yamahas four stroke in excellent shape. In the US the same guy would likely have been fired. [edit] In addition to that, the CEO's of this country aren't very likely to take a pay cut for the betterment of their companies future and the people working beneath them can see it.

Answer 5

You Know what I totally agree with you. Its sometimes frustrating when you don't get adequate service and it seems some people are happy even with little pay and those people are the ones who are truly happy with their job because it gets them what they need. It is not only the economy and service there are so many things wrong with the legal and ethical side of America too.

Answer 6

We need lots of rules.Rules are the basic elements for LAWS.No rules,no laws.If you break rules,you will break laws.That's dangerous.While you serving yourself,self check-in or check-out,you actually do something in a right way/in a right rules.Or you can not finish your work.

Answer 7

Meh, i think many americans have just become too lazy to work for their own betterment.

Answer 8

It seems to be like that everywhere, they need to hire more.
The ones that are hired are overworked, under payed and barely get a lunch break or break at all.
The rich CEO's need to WAKEUP....hire more and dont treat workers like zombies.

Answer 9

whats your point Junior