Great Times at the University of Michigan-Flint » Carpe Diem: Professor Mark Perry’s Fascinating Blog

Carpe Diem: Professor Mark Perry’s Fascinating Blog May 2, 2008

Posted by Jack Kay in : Uncategorized , trackback

2 May 2008, University of Michigan-Flint campus, Flint, Michigan:

Blog readers who wish to experience a blog with many interesting tidbits of knowledge about economics and finance, among other things, should visit Carpe Diem, the blog of Mark Perry, University of Michigan-Flint Professor of Economics and Finance in the School of Management. In addition to finding out about such matters as 2008 starting salaries for various fields and that Exxon paid $3 in taxes for every $1 of profit, blog visitors can find the price of a pint of beer in 182 countries and where and why “Pussy Willow Sunday” occurs.

Professor Perry recently accompanied a group of University of Michigan-Flint MBA students on a 10 day trip to Russia. His blog offered updates on the great trip the group had. A sample entry follows:

While visiting the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (in Moscow) yesterday, President Andrew Sommers told our group a wonderful story that really captures the old Soviet-era mentality towards customer service.

When McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in the Soviet Union in 1990 near Moscow’s Pushkin Square (pictured above, still the largest McDonald’s in the world, with 27 cash registers and seating capacity of 700), it went through an extensive training program for the new workers. Of course, customer service, which was a brand new concept for the Soviets, was extensively emphasized for the new McDonald’s employees.

After several days of training about customer service at McDonald’s, a young Soviet teenager asked the McDonald’s trainer a very serious question: “Why do we have to be so nice to the customers? After all, WE have the hamburgers, and they don’t!”

There’s still a little bit of that mentality left in Russia, and although customer service here is still not up to US standards, it’s gotten much better than my last visit in 2003.

To read Professor Perry’s blog click here.