I was at the Pike Place Market Starbucks in Seattle and picked up a mug special to that shop for my (native Italian) wife. I took it home in DC and found it had a hairline fracture. No problem, I told her, and promptly called the Pike Place Market Starbucks and explained the situation. They immediately mailed me a new one at no cost and apologized.
She remarked that this would NEVER have happened in Italy: no shop would ship something like that, as it would be ripe for abuse. And she's right, there is a big difference in the culture of trust which makes such a thing possible in the USA.
She remarked that this would NEVER have happened in Italy: no shop would ship something like that, as it would be ripe for abuse. And she's right, there is a big difference in the culture of trust which makes such a thing possible in the USA.