Respond, if you please

A standard stereotype almost everywhere in the world is that staff behaviour in terms of responsiveness is usually of a poor standard in public services such as post-offices, and much better in private institutions. The reasons are not hard to decipher, for it is usually a factor of how much customer feedback affects an appraisal of a staff-member's "performance".

I've observed two exceptions to this everyday thumb-rule, one on either side of the public-private division. The staff at KReSIT's office (my department at IIT-B) is atypically responsive for a government academic office. While my interactions with most of the rest of IIT-B have been disappointing (though on an average, the number of offices here are better at public relations that at my undergrad institution of COEP, where most of the staff was as responsive as a three-toed sloth on heavy sedatives on a Sunday afternoon), KReSIT's staff have been a credit to the place. (Unless they're not covered by the usual terms that others in the place are? - such as being on contract)

In contrast, the staff at British Library, Pune can be impressively rude and condescending. Starting from the guys outside at what can only be termed as the "baggage and now let me eye you with suspicion until you prove you aren't sneaking that book out" counter and proceeding to the disdainful people inside, they're a morose bunch. Things have improved these days and some of the attitudes have changed a little, but on the whole, they never inspired confidence since the day I went there to join the library and my friend was asked to "stand aside and not block the counter" despite the fact that there was no one else around.