Are the people who talk to customers motivated correctly?

So often the people who are in most contact with the customer in companies are not motivated to satisfy, never mind delight, the customer. We see this frequently in the front office staff of medical businesses. The employees there see the doctor or hospital as being at the top of the pyramid and the patient at the bottom. They see themselves as representatives of the doctor, so feel no compunction in talking down to the patient as though they are the unworthy supplicant, rather than the customer and as such, the boss.

Recently, in three seperate incidents, I encountered receptionists who were rude rather than helpful, and expected the patient to plead and go through major inconvenience without complaint to see the doctor. Of course, this could not happen in regular commercial enterprise - or could it?