I think the minimum wage in the US, combined with low unemployment forces companies to try to squeeze $15 / hour of productivity from people who aren’t the most competent. You get people answering the phone who have no authority to make their own decision or take initiative, and who just follow a script.

In Ukraine, by contrast, the economy is still young, and not sorted out, so you have very talented people working in low positions. They think and they often have authority to make common sense decisions. Except for the banks. Stay away from Ukrainian banks.