In America your merchant class was idolized as self-made, uh, “men”… in Canada merchants were seen as lowly “vendors”. Serving a customer was not regarded as a noble pursuit. We do it and sometimes with a smile and sometimes with excellent results, whatever, I can’t be bothered finishing this sentence.
In Canada, service may sometimes come with a smile, but more often it comes with a mild-mannered indifference, bordering on passive aggressive, insubordination.
Don’t get me wrong, people are very friendly and known for their hospitality in Canada. In fact, there was a wonderful hit musical running on Broadway before Covid shut all that down, about how incredibly hospitable we are. “Come From Away” tells the story of Gander, Newfoundland when the town opened up their homes and community to accommodate 6000 grounded airline passengers, who were forced to spend September 11, 12, and 13th 2001in Gander after American airspace was shut down for everyone except a few members of the Bin Ladin family, who I guess had business class tickets or something.