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Why so glum? Hong Kong shop workers ranked third last in ‘service with a smile’ survey

Hong Kong is among three places in the world where customers are most unlikely to see a smile on shop workers’ faces, a survey by a group of mystery shoppers has found.

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An Apple shop member of staff shares a joke with a customer at the launch of the Apple Watch in Hong Kong last week. Photo: Nora Tam

Hong Kong is among three places in the world where customers are most unlikely to see a smile on shop workers’ faces, a survey by a group of mystery shoppers has found.

The city was ranked 39 out of 41 countries or regions in a “smiling index” of the service sector conducted by the Mystery Shopper Service Association last year.

The latest poll was released yesterday and is the annual survey’s 11th edition.

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About 2,000 undercover shoppers visited shops in the city specialising in 40 different products and found only 48 per cent of customer service staff members smiled at them.

The rating was just ahead of South Korea, which had 47 per cent and Slovenia at 46 per cent, to complete the bottom three of the ranking.

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Ireland was ranked first with 97 per cent of staff smiling at customers. Greece and Puerto Rico shared third place with a score of 93 per cent each.

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