About Customer Service

Customer service is... different. This is what "clerks" do here:

They´ll ask you questions that might not be mandatory.
For example, when I got out of the plane the clerk who stamped my passport asked "And what are you studying in the United States?" and I responded, but the way he asked sounded more out of curiosity than mandatory.

They want exact change.
No matter where you are, when you pay they´ll ask you if you have any change for them so that they can give you back a bigger bill, especially if it goes below 5,000 Bolivares (the Venezuelan currency). The closer you are to exact change, the less the chance that they´ll ask you the question.

They assume that you know how the system works.
The system for everything here is as complicated as possible, and clerks assume that you´re not fresh off the boat like me and know where to stand in line, pick up a ticket, and wait for the right time. Even if you have to do the process once every ten years, they still assume that you know what you´re doing.

It´s served in parts.
Twice I´ve been to a restaurant/food place where the waiter brings the food in parts, as it´s coming out of the kitchen, even if the rest of the food for your table is not done and might take some time to be ready. Shouldn´t they wait to serve it all at once?


In the Oriente (eastern side of Venezuela) they are notorious for being more rude than the rest of the country. Here are some of their additional rules:

They own the place.
A lot of clerks here think that they own the business where they work. They act like they know how stuff works and can treat you like shit accordingly. Sometimes they might make you some kind of offer or say that they don´t offer a certain service even if you´ve been there before and receieved such service.

No change for you!
The "want exact change" rule applies, but if you say that you don´t have any change they might not give you change back and keep it! My sister told me a story about a time she went to pay the electric bill and she didn´t have any change for the clerk in the counter, and she ended up in a heated discussion followed by him throwing the change back at her.

You´re inconvenient.
If clerks are talking on the phone, and it´s your turn, they´ll make you a signal to wait for them to stop talking. Their conversation is not with a client; they´re actually talking to their friend about the night before or what they´re doing later, and you have to stand there and learn about their private life. Oh, and they´ll give you a look that means "Shit, a customer. What do you want?"

It varies from person to person.
All clerks are different, and so sometimes you have better luck with one than the other. So, if you can´t get something done, then you can try again with another clerk and it will most likely work out.

Basically, in Venezuela, the customer is never right.