Retail: Australia vs. U.S.

Now this is a very biased view but here's what I observe when you walk into a "decent sized" chain store (whatever that is but we're not talking about a specialty store where it's so small that basically the owner/operator is right there all the time).

At the entrance:
Australia: a loss prevention person is there to check your bags to see if you are shoplifting 
U.S.: a person is there to greet you and to ask you "Hi how are you today..." of course this isn't simply to be nice it's to start engaging you towards making a purchase (i.e. the personal pressure is on).

In the store:
Australia:  no one is around for you to ask if you have a question about a product or where to find something... they are busy at the cashier or at the entrance.
U.S.:  there area a few people around to immediately ask how they can help you (note it's not a yes or no question), to immediately start backing you into a corner where social graces would indicate that you have no excuse not to buy something... When's the last time you had someone just say, "Hi, I'm _____, if you have any questions while you are here, just ask."

Background music/store theme music - both countries: really bad.

At the Cashier -
pretty much the same, except in supermarkets Australia is big on self checkout - which is incredibly slow because the loss prevention settings are set on high... it basically thinks that half the time you didn't place an item in the bagging area when you did etc.  In Australia I recommend going to the cashier 99% of the time... even if you have one item and have to wait... it's that much faster.  That being said, self checkout is slower than the cashier in both countries. 

It would be nice if the two retailing systems could kind of meet half way in the middle.