[alex_c]

>What's the alternative? A customer service job where you can be rude? There are cultural norms which we all have to obey in a workplace.

Yes, it is a cultural norm. It varies from culture to culture.

There are lots of countries / cultures where "neutral" customer service - say, at a restaurant - is perfectly fine. Others have a baseline expectation for "friendly" service. To the latter, the former might come across as rude...

[Jon_Lowtek]

and vice versa the later seems inauthentic, off-putting and weird to the former

[apelapan]

When visiting the US, I time and time again started telling service staff about how my day was, because they seemed so sincerely happy to meet me and interested in how I was doing.