German-style would be rude, actively hostile, malicious even. Funny how American and German customer service cultures are at the two ends of the spectrum, both unpleasant to deal with though.
I guess in the end its a matter of taste, if you prefer your bad service personnel to be hiding between shelving to avoid customers or serving you a fake smile while staring through you and wishing they were dead.
> The service workers I met were mostly pleasant.
No. Simply nope. Perhaps you visited only for couple of days during the summertime?