Customer Service, where did you go?

So as the holidays approach I have been taking frequent shopping trips to buy, return, and exchange. One symptom that most likely has assisted our floudering economy is the complete lack of customer service. I spent 20 minutes standing in a group of Walmart employees yesterday waiting for one of them to help me return some broken Christmas lights. Once I was finally helped the young lady took 2 phone calls during the exchange and then attempted to play charades with me to finalize the transaction. All in all the event should have taken less than 5 minutes and ended with a salutation like, Thank You and have a nice day. Walmart certainly isn't the only culprit, I have had similar experiences in multiple stores like, Kohls, Old Navy, and Macys. Don't these employees understand that by making the consumers shopping experience a pleasant one that they are in essence ensuring the survival of there company...the answer is a resounding NOOOOOO! I guess pride in doing a good job only occurs above $8/hr.