Rudeness or not

When I was shopping around in the Hong Kong airport I noticed something; shop staff don't say "Thank you". When they receive the money and give the costomer the change, they simply say "Bye bye" even without smiling and move to the next costomer. It may be too much to say that this type of attitude is rude, but it seemed to me that "Bye bye" means "We've already received the money, so go away", or something. I know they didn't mean that, but it SOUNDS like that.

This will surprise people who have sales experience in Japan, where they are taught that "You can never be polite enough to treat costomers". If you behave like shopstaff in Hong Kong, your boss will sure be angry in Japan.

There are some differences in culture. Efficiency is much more appreciated, and both customers and sales staff do not pay much attention to politeness as long as they could exchange the money and the product. It made me feel that service is so overly considered in some stores in Japan. The idea that "The costomer is the God" can lead unnecessarily bossy costomers and sometimes frustrate shop staff.

There are some pros and cons to everything, but overall, I prefer polite attitude of both customers and clerks to efficiency-oriented treatment..