[dkarl]

> This article seems to argue (and some comments here) that being rude should be normal? Why? Why wouldn't we be nice to customers for their business?

The difference is intent. Being polite to someone to put them at ease in a difficult situation, to give them a better experience of their day, or to lubricate an awkward interaction, is a good thing. Relentlessly and deceptively framing yourself and your actions in the highest possible light is selfish and corrosive. There is overlap, such as greeting somebody in a cheery way as they enter a business. But where there is overlap, the selfish intention corrodes the positive one. When somebody greets me as I enter a store, I can't help seeing them as a worker who is forced to perform emotional labor on behalf of a business that wants to extract maximum economic value from me. It doesn't feel personal.

Likewise, when a customer service rep on the phone expresses positivity and a desire to help, I'm aware that they may be instructed and empowered to solve customer problems as well as possible, but they also may be following a script to guide me towards the cheapest outcome for the company, and their apparent compassion and helpfulness might be calculated to engender feelings of trust in me, so that I feel like I'm in good hands and allow them to guide me towards an outcome that is less than I'm entitled to. Their tone may even be being graded and used to evaluate them.

> hasn't bullshit/passive-aggressiveness/etc been always called out?

When something becomes normalized, it doesn't get called out. In the context of economic competition, it even becomes excused as mandatory.